RIVER VIEW CEMETERY WITH THE BELOVED

The River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon held a burial service on Wednesday.

Friends, family, and those who knew the deceased gathered.

It was as heartfelt and touching as anything I’ve seen for a life well lived.

If you’re planning a ceremony for a loved one, or yourself, this was a blueprint.

But there’s a catch: you need to be beloved.

If someone has lived right, no matter how long, you’ll know by who shows up to say goodbye.

Wednesday’s gathering at the chapel was a beautiful beginning.

The crowd leaned in and passed the plan to drive to the gravesite.

A motorcade a quarter mile long wound its way behind the hearse across the monumental hillside.

We parked and assembled at an outdoor pavilion for last words.

If you are beloved it will sound like it did yesterday.

We crossed the street and followed a path through graves old and new, to the newest, and stood ten deep in an overflow gathering.

Following more words of passing, the plain wooden coffin was lowered slowly with a hand-cranked winch.

The line of huge trees and silence of the crowd brought out the song of the winch winding downward.

One after another, mourners came forward to pick up a shovel.

The hollow thump of dirt clumps landing on flat wood signaled the ultimate finality to the day.

For a last goodbye, women stood on one side or the road, men on the other, while the family walked past, stopping at the end of the line to thank each person who walked past them to their cars.

The reverence for the man, and acute sense of loss, held the group together.

If you’re not sure you are beloved, or not, there’s still time.

Ken Rifkin was beloved.

Ken was one of the first in Oregon to hold dual licensure as both a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist.

Through his decades of care, he helped thousands of patients with dedication, warmth, and a deep belief in the body’s ability to heal.

Ken was a loving father, brother, and grandfather, known for his strength, sharp mind, and unwavering dedication to those around him.

Good-bye to a good man with more to do, more to teach, and still eager to learn.

If you’re a baby boomer, or millennial, wondering why life takes the turns it does, stay grounded by lifelong learning and pass it along.

Be beloved, that’s the plan.