Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993                   TAG: 9312080285
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL MILLER WASHINGTON POST NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CHILDREN MAKE A MASTERPIECE OF DAY'S FINAL REST

A coffin.

The 72-year-old Northern Virginia building contractor died in September after battling lung cancer. He had told his 12 children that he wanted to be buried in a simple pine box, and he suggested in jest that they build it themselves.

His homemade coffin of glossy pine was of superb craftsmanship, no surprise because many of Kramer's children are carpenters. It is perfectly sawed, shaped and stained, with a domed oval top, two thin strips of walnut and gleaming brass handrails. The satin burgundy bedding was sewn by the children, too.

Kramer's widow, Ginnie, 68, took photographs as the children toiled for several days and nights. "He'd love every minute of this," she said. "We're a family full of carpenters," said George J. Kramer III, 41. "There's no reason we couldn't do this."

The names of everyone who worked on the project were inscribed in the lid, including the youngest helper, Colleen Kramer, 3, one of George Kramer Jr.'s eight grandchildren.

In the swirl of sawdust, daughter Chris Kramer-Harnage said she felt the presence of her father. "I looked up and I thought, `Dad, you've done it. You pulled us all together. We're all right here, doing this for you.' "

The children delivered the coffin to Murphy's Funeral Home in Falls Church, where the manager and others marveled at its beauty. "I can't really think of a time we've had anyone do this," said Lawrence Kline, who has managed the funeral home for 21 years.

"This is not in any way just a stark pine box. This is like a fine piece of furniture," he recalled.

Despite the sadness they felt - and more than a few tears were shed - the children, who range in age from 27 to 44, said the work soothed them. They paused frequently to look at pictures of their father, visit with friends who stopped by, and trade decades of happy stories.

The children remembered the recreation rooms and kitchens that Kramer built in Northern Virginia as a general contractor during the last 35 years. Five of his eight sons followed him into the building business, George Joseph Kramer Jr. & Sons, which Kramer ran out of his busy home. Though slowed in recent years by emphysema, Kramer, a lifelong smoker, continued to work alongside his children.

The men did most of the carpentry, and the women did most of the sewing. The construction began four hours after their father died in the farmhouse. "We sort of laughed when Dad talked about the pine box," Kramer-Harnage said. "But he did teach us to do quality work, and that's what we did."