{"id":101742,"date":"2026-01-31T18:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101742\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T18:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T18:36:09","slug":"death-of-dog-provides-inspiration-for-pet-funeral-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/101742\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of dog provides inspiration for pet funeral services"},"content":{"rendered":"

The death of a beloved dog led Lauren and Chris Calvey to establish a place where pet owners can give their furry friends a proper sendoff.<\/p>\n

The Calveys founded Aspen Meadows Pet Aquamation & Memorial Services in September \u2014 one of three such providers throughout the state \u2014 in memory of their German shepherd, Aspen, said Lauren Calvey, CEO and supervisor for Aspen Meadows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believe people should have the same options for their pets as they do for humans,\u201d Calvey said. \u201cMany people don\u2019t have kids and don\u2019t have loved ones. These animals live in our houses. It\u2019s something that I have a lot of faith in and pride behind. It kind of goes with our branding with Jennings-Calvey that just wanted to be a one-stop shop for people. We wanted people to be able to be comfortable with the brand and say we can go to Jennings-Calvey and we can take care of our loved ones, whether they\u2019re people or pets.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Calveys faced a difficult decision following the sudden death of Aspen in June, they decided to take him back home from the Plains Animal Hospital and place him into refrigeration at the funeral home while they considered the next steps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t imagine leaving him behind without honoring the love he had given so freely,\u201d Lauren Calvey said. \u201cAspen wasn\u2019t just a pet; he was my therapy dog, our best friend, our steady companion, a member of our funeral home family, and a source of comfort to countless grieving hearts. He was our first dog as a couple \u2026 he was kind of like our first kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Calveys opted to bury Aspen after holding a small viewing at Jennings-Calvey Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Clarks Summit so the staff, and their other dog and toddler, could say goodbye.<\/p>\n

Lauren Calvey recognized the luxury of being able to temporarily preserve their pet, an option many others don\u2019t have, which led her to launch Aspen Meadows.<\/p>\n

\"COO<\/p>\n

COO Chris Calvey and his wife Lauren, CEO and supervisor for Aspen Meadows Pet Aquamation and Memorial Services discuss the aquamation machine in Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Services in Clarks Summit Tuesday, January 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Various<\/p>\n

Various urns used for pet remains are for sale in Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Services in Clarks Summit Tuesday, January 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Animals<\/p>\n

Animals can be placed in seperate compartments before they are lowered in the solution conisiting of 95% water and 5% potassium hydroxide to gently decompose of the bodies in Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Services in Clarks Summit Tuesday, January 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

COO Chris Calvey and his wife Lauren, CEO and supervisor for Aspen Meadows Pet Aquamation and Memorial Services discuss the aquamation machine in Jennings-Calvey Funeral and Cremation Services in Clarks Summit Tuesday, January 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn these situations where you have to move so quickly, and make serious decisions so quickly, you have no time to breathe or even know if you\u2019re making the right decision,\u201d she said. \u201cI said to my husband this has been so traumatizing, but it would have been way worse if I had to just leave him there to get cremated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Jennings-Calvey introduced an on-site crematory for humans in 2020, it can\u2019t be used for pets, Lauren Calvey noted.<\/p>\n

The Calveys began offering pet cremation, performed by Cherished Companions Pet Memorial Center in Dupont, in September and plan to offer aquamation \u2014 a more eco-friendly alternative to cremation that uses water and alkaline solution instead of a flame \u2014 during the first week of February, Calvey said.<\/p>\n

The aquamation machine, which has a roughly $110,000 price tag, represented a significant investment for the Calveys, although they received a full machine loan from NEPA Alliance, Lauren Calvey said.<\/p>\n

The aquamation process \u2014 which is legal for pets but not humans \u2014 involves 95% water and 5% alkaline and takes about 18 hours, according to Calvey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt heats, and it rotates around, and you get remains, but all you have is bone,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very clean process and you get remains to pulverize to return to people. The good thing about aquamation is you can do a semiprivate communal, which means we can run more animals at once and they each have their own compartment without having to commingle the remains, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

As cremating a pet can be costly \u2014 about $300 for a dog that is 1 to 10 pounds \u2014 Calvey stressed some aquamation options offer a more affordable solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to have full private, semiprivate and communal aquamation services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Through the communal services, multiple pets are respectfully placed together in the same basket and processed during a single cycle, Aspen Meadows officials said. Then, instead of returning the remains to the families, they are blended into soil and used in tree plantings within the community.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the leftover water from the aquamation process \u2014 called effluent \u2014 will be collected and donated to local farms for soil enrichment as a fertilizer, Calvey added.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re basically leaving no carbon footprint of death at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Although Aspen Meadows operates as a separate LLC, the business works in conjunction with Jennings-Calvey.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody seems really excited about it,\u201d Lauren Calvey said. \u201cPet owners seem relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen Meadows provides a variety of memorialization options, including goodbye sessions, memorial and viewing services, burial and interment assistance, postmortem refrigeration, transportation options and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything you want to do for a human, you can do for a pet,\u201d Lauren Calvey said. \u201cSome people look at me like I\u2019m crazy, and some people say I\u2019m a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The death of a beloved dog led Lauren and Chris Calvey to establish a place where pet owners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,1993,201,182,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-101742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-clarks-summit","10":"tag-lackawanna-county","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news","16":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}