Egress Spreads to Door County

When Susan Martinek walks around her family’s Door County property, she feels a connection to the ancestors who first landed on the peninsula in 1853.

“Cremains of family members have been scattered there for decades,” Susan said. “There’s a feeling that you have that they’re there… It’s just a feeling, it’s something that you hold in your heart.”

In 1993, Susan and her husband Dennis started a cremains scattering service to help spread that feeling to other families. After 20 years they, along with their daughter Sara, are expanding the Chicago-based business to Door County.

The service is called Egress, which means “to go out of, or leave, a place.” The scattering is done by plane, piloted by Dennis, often over water. Services can be as simple as an unattended scattering, or can be coordinated with an event on land or with family members aboard. The Martineks can even add rose petals to the cremains to make the scattering more unique.

The emotional element of the ceremonies vary, too. Some families have very sad releases, sharing heartfelt memories and mourning as the cremains are scattered, while others are more celebratory, toasting their loved ones as the plane flies past.

Cremation has become increasingly popular since the company started, and Dennis said it’s often a cheaper option than a traditional burial. The National Funeral Directors Association said the U.S. cremation rate was 43.2 percent in 2012, up from 26.17 percent in 2000.

The Martineks said they find many families that don’t know what to do with loved ones’ cremains, and they believe a scattering ceremony can help create closure.

“There’s no hurry with cremation,” Susan said. “It’s not something [family members] have to do immediately. They can hold the cremains for years until they decide when they’re ready to release them, where they want to release them, how they want to release them. We offer the option to release them over their favorite spot or a place that was very meaningful for them or the family, so the family can revisit that area and think of the family member that’s no longer with them.”

Sara, who has recently taken over the business side of Egress, is working on promoting the service and coordinating with area businesses so families can hold ceremonies on shore while the scattering takes place.

“[We want to bring] that service to Door County, a place that’s not only special to us, but to a lot of people,” Sara said. “I think that would bring us a lot of happiness and give people in Door County the opportunity to remain up there.”