On the outskirts of Zion National Park there’s a fellow named Fig who makes caskets in a Quonset hut.  I noticed his sign and his workshop last year while driving through the little town of Orderville, Utah on a road trip with my daughter.  This year, the same intriguing sign caught our eye and my uncle and I turned down a gravel road off Highway 89 to meet the man who builds boxes for burials.

Merlin “Fig” Figgins and his wife Stacy have been making wooden caskets by hand for 23 years.  They started out by constructing a casket for Stacy’s dad when he he died.  “The best thing about caskets,” Fig joked, “is nobody every complains.”  The custom woodworkers also make cabinets, cedar chests and cremation urns.

Fig told us business has picked up enough that they’re getting out of cabinets to focus full-time on caskets.  They offer three models – constructed of  knotty pine, red cherry, or red cedar.  Prices range from $1,800 to $2,000 and more.  Woodburned artistic scenes created by Stacy’s twin sister can be ordered to decorate a casket.

Our chat in the Quonset hut set up a deeper philosophical conversation in the car as we continued our drive to Bryce Canyon.  Fig impressed us with his deep sense of pride in the craftsmanship and quality products of the Orderville Casket Company.  Yes, it was out of the ordinary and even ironic to meet up with a casket man while on this bucket list trip.  But aren’t we all potential customers, sooner or later?