The Green Burial Council (GBC; Folsom) named Lee Webster as recipient of its 2024 Leadership Award, which is presented to “an individual or organization that demonstrates foresight, innovation and extraordinary commitment to the environment in the area of human deathcare practices.”

Webster is an internationally known educator, author and advocate for funeral reform, home funerals and green burial. She has served in leadership positions with the National Home Funeral Alliance and Green Burial Council as president, and as co-founder and board member of the Conservation Burial Alliance, National End-of-Life Doula Alliance and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s End-of-Life Doula Council. She is also the longtime director of New Hampshire and Vermont Funeral Resources & Education, as well as the co-designer of the Funeral Partnership.org series of state-specific funeral resource websites.

Books she has authored or contributed to include The After-Death Care Educator Handbook, The Future of the Corpse: Changing Ecologies of Death and Disposition, and Changing Landscapes: Exploring the Growth of Ethical, Compassionate and Environmentally Sustainable Green Funeral Service.

In addition, Webster designed the first GBC certification course for funeral professionals and co-teaches the “Green Burial Masterclass” for cemetery operators. Along with the many contributions she has made to other publications are the educational programs she continues to teach in mortuary schools, universities, senior programs and public venues.

“I can’t tell you how much it means to be recognized this way for this work,” Webster responded on hearing the news. “More importantly, it feels good to have been even a small part of the legacy of this great organization. The GBC demonstrates what can happen when we dedicate ourselves to advancing cultural and environmental changes around death practices. greenburialcouncil.org