Don Veldt

I retired in 1993 from teaching, and I have also been a pastor and a builder in Rockland, Michigan. But when I retired, I didn’€™t find anything that really fit for me.

Woodworking had always been a hobby – cedar chests, tool chests, boot boxes. I have been building things since I was 12. I am pretty much self-taught. I built my first house in 19€™71, after losing ours in a fire. A builder suggested I rebuild it myself and showed me the basics. I got some of my students at the time to help out.

One day, my father Gerben said to me, “€˜Just so you know, I want to be buried in an oak casket.” I remember asking him if he knew how expensive that would be and he said, “I didn’t plan to buy one; I expect you to build it.”

That was the first casket I built, back in 2004, when my dad died at the age of 94. I have been building caskets and urns for families and friends ever since. The second one I built was for my stepmother. I only had five days to build it, so I had help for that one.

Don VeldtThen there was Darcy – a girl nearby who, at the age of 40 or so, adopted my wife and me as second parents. She got leukemia in October of 2013 and asked me to build her a casket. She assured me that she would live to see another Christmas, but she died in just two days. I only had a matter of days to build hers.

In all, I have built eight caskets and I also build urns, turning them on my lathe. Right here in our basement, I have a white casket with redwood handles that were once part of my wife Genevieve’s quilting frame. She’s spoken for that one. My wife and a sister-in-law pitch in on the quilting that lines the frames. I think they do beautiful work.

It’€™s not something I advertise, but if someone is in need -€“ maybe they can’€™t afford one from the funeral home -€“ I do my best to help out. It is a hobby that does somebody some good besides me.