Funeral Pre Planning is helpful - Scotty's wishes carried out - He is sent to his final frontier

While this story is unusual and entertaining the average individual will not want to be sent to the final frontier in space but it is important that they determine their preferences and make them known.

In Florida heirs can object to a cremation and need to agree on final arrangements if the proper forms and arrangements are not made in advance. Final arrangements should be done directly with a funeral home or other provider of such services in advance. Also to ensure a persons wishes are carried out and avoid disputes it should their wishes should be communicated to their family.

James Doohan to be sent to his final frontier
Thursday, July 21, 2005

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- He made his name in Hollywood beaming his colleagues back to the safety of the Enterprise on "Star Trek." Now, actor James Doohan's family is hoping to beam him up to the "final frontier" that Doohan's character "Scotty" loved so dearly.
The actor, who died Wednesday at age 85, had told relatives he wanted his ashes blasted into outer space, as was done for "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry.

Houston-based Space Services Inc., which specializes in space memorials, plans to send a few grams of Doohan's ashes aboard a rocket later this year. The remains, which will be sealed in an aluminum capsule, will eventually burn up when they re-enter Earth's atmosphere.
It should be a fitting finale for an actor who, as the Starship Enterprise's frazzled chief engineer saved the Enterprise almost every week from blowing up, burning up or being overrun by renegade aliens when the warp drive, the phasers, the shields, the power cells or some other futuristic collection of doohickies failed.

As the man who commanded the Enterprise's particle beam transporter, Doohan's character also inspired the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty." Capt. Kirk and other members of the Enterprise crew never really issued the order quite that way, however, until the fourth "Star Trek" film when Kirk said, "Scotty, beam me up."

"Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years," he said in an 1998 interview. "It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun."

Married three times, Doohan was the father of nine children.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press