'Green burials' gaining popularity

WASHINGTON - Norma Hooks described laying her sister, Leona Miller, to rest in the Chesapeake Bay as a "wonderful experience."

Miller's cremated remains, combined with an environmentally safe cement mixture, were cast as an artificial "memorial" reef and personalized with Miller's "jewelry and knickknacks," said Hooks, 64, a Finksburg resident.

The memorial reefs, also located off Ocean City, become new habitat for sea life, according to Don Brawley, founder of Eternal Reefs, Inc., a Georgia-based company that provided the service.

Hooks said it's "quite possible" that...