about 40 motorcycle hearse companies in the United States, according to American Motorcycle Hearse Association

A Harley guy's last ride: Motorcycle firm offers funeral service: John
DeHoop, who died of cancer in May, wanted an unusual send-off, and he
got it: a funeral procession around White Bear Lake in a custom-designed
Harley-Davidson hearse.

By Mary Divine
Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Thursday, July 8 2010
http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social-assistance-lifestyle/religion-spirituality/14786812-1.html

July 08--John DeHoop loved Harley-Davidson motorcycles : He rode one,
had a tattoo of one and outfitted the family room of his White Bear Lake
home with Harley memorabilia.

Before he died of cancer at age 55 in May, DeHoop told his wife, Kathy,
he wanted a motorcycle hearse at his funeral.

During their rides along the St. Croix River, the couple had seen a
Harley hearse parked outside Afton Leather, a motorcycle-apparel shop in
Afton's Old Village.

"He wanted that hearse," Kathy said. "Before being cremated, he wanted
to go for one last ride."

About 75 motorcycle riders followed Jim Kaempfer, owner of the Ride In
Peace Motorcycle Hearse Co., after DeHoop's funeral May 28 at St.
Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi. Kaempfer rode his three-wheeled
Harley motorcycle around White Bear Lake, pulling the matching
custom-designed caisson containing DeHoop's casket.

A personalized etching -- applied to the back of the hearse -- read
"Celebrating the Life of John E. DeHoop" and featured a drawing of a
bald eagle. "He loved eagles," Kathy DeHoop said. "He just thought they
were beautiful creatures."

Kaempfer makes a copy of the etching for the families. Kathy DeHoop said
she plans to have it framed and display it in the couple's "Harley" room.

The unusual send-off is a way for survivors "to celebrate the lives of
their departed loved ones rather than just mourning their life," said
Kaempfer, who with his partner, Donna Schindele, owns Afton Leather

and launched Ride In Peace this spring. "It's a unique memorial choice
and a dignified alternative to an ordinary funeral hearse."

The service is offered free to police officers, military members and
firefighters who die in the line of duty.

"We're located on the busiest motorcycle route in the state of
Minnesota, and our apparel business has actually been doing very well,
but I was just looking for something else to do," said Kaempfer, who
taught sales and marketing at Century College in White Bear Lake. "I was
asking customers, and a friend of mine had seen one of these (hearses)
down South. ... It intrigued me."

Kaempfer worked with several friends to build the hearse. It features
glass sides, mahogany wood and a spiritual scene with an eagle and a
road heading off into the sunset. Inside, the ceiling lining features
"the same star pattern that flew over Valley Forge," he said.

The back window can be personalized and decorated with a "picture or a
Bible verse or a poem," Kaempfer said. "The whole idea is to be a unique
memorial choice, individualized to the person."

Kaempfer, who lives in Hastings, bought a matching Harley-Davidson trike
-- with the license plate "RDINPC" -- to pull the hearse. The service
costs about $475, which Kaempfer says is comparable to a regular hearse.

"It's the same price as a regular Cadillac, but it's so much more than
just basic transportation," Kaempfer said. "A death is not an ordinary
event -- it is not like losing a job or part of your 401(k). When you
die, that is everything. We do everything we can to make it an
extraordinary event."

There are about 40 motorcycle hearse companies in the United States,
according to the American Motorcycle Hearse Association, which is based
in Whitewater, Wis. The business has grown steadily since it began in
the 1990s, said Clint Marlin, the association's president.

"Back in the old days, everybody just had a traditional funeral with a
traditional casket and a traditional hearse," Marlin said. "There have
been a lot of changes in the funeral industry over the past decade.
Everybody wants to have their funeral the way they want it, and people
who enjoyed riding motorcycles want to have their last ride be on a
motorcycle."

Mary Kaye Sandberg, owner of Sandberg Funeral Home in North St. Paul,
handled the arrangements for DeHoop's funeral and said she expects to
have many more people opt for the motorcycle hearses.

"I think it's a great option," she said. "With the generation coming
forward now and burying their loved ones, they like to personalize
everything. This gives them a chance to do that."

She said her grandfather, Gustaf Sandberg, who founded the business in
1942, would approve of the trend. "His goal was always to make sure that
families had what they wanted," she said. "He was all about service, so
if this is what they want, then that's what he would make happen."

Kathy DeHoop said Rest in Peace will likely be busy in the decades to come.

"All of our friends who were (at the funeral) -- and there were a lot of
them, believe me -- they were in awe of this hearse, and quite a few
said, 'This is the way I'm going.' "



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