Cremation Gaining Popularity in NE Iowa Cemeteries

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The completion of a structure with space to store funeral urns at an eastern Iowa cemetery highlights a trend toward cremation rather than traditional burials.

Work on a new columbarium recently finished at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Dubuque County. It's the cemetery's second columbarium, with the first being built in 2013.

According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the cremation rate in the United States was less than 4 percent in 1960. The rate has climbed steadily since then, surpassing 20 percent in the mid-1990s and reaching 40 percent in 2010.

The organization projects that 2015 will mark the first-ever year in which cremations will become more popular than traditional burials.