The 104-year-old woman who refused to be screwed

 

Before Reba Cohen passed away in Steelton at the age of 104 in 1908, she had a peculiar final request: That no nails or screws be used in the construction of her coffin. 

While Mrs. Cohen's dying wish might seem strange, she was merely following the burial custom of her native land; in the Lithuanian city of Kovno (also known as Kaunas), bodies are not transported in coffins to the graveyard-- the corpse is carried on a board and both board and body are lowered into the grave. Additional boards are placed around the body until a box is formed. Dirt is then packed around the box until the burial is complete.

The following account of Reba Cohen's Kovno-style funeral appeared in the Harrisburg Daily Independent on December 21, 1908.