Today we’d like to introduce you to Krystal LaDuke.
Hi Krystal, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Years ago, when we started our deathcare company, our hope was to bring intimacy back into the process of dying, to return compassion, power, and control to the individual and their family.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my 21 year young son would become my first truly intimate experience within this work.
I was with Jay throughout his entire journey, from his cremation, to his celebration of life, to his scattering service. I made sure he was cared for with the same love, reverence, and presence that we strive to offer every family we serve.
No matter where you are in your life, Carousel of Life is here to walk with you through every transition. There is nothing too heavy, too tender, or too sacred for us to hold with care, compassion, and deep intimacy by your side.
We have one vessel to experience this thing called life and the human experience, It’s a beautiful freedom to accept it all. That is what living on the carousal of life is all about. And this is where our foundation of Live Well Die Well was born.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Are we really living if the road is smooth? This last 245 days of learning to love my son in a different way has not been a struggle but a reminder of how precious life is and we are here to experience it all. I have a different relationship with death which allows me to move through deathcare with a difference lens than most people. The struggle comes from standing in my own truths in regards to my faith and understanding of the human condition while advocating for importance of living a healthy, balanced life in all our four human modalities of our spiritual, physical, emotional and mental well-being. Especially within our BICOP youth and the communities, they belong too.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Carousel Of Life LLC?
Carousel of Life offers intimate birth keeping and deathcare services, honoring life’s sacred thresholds with compassion, ritual, and reverence. Proudly serving Kansas City, Lawrence, and Topeka, we hold space where presence meets purpose and families reclaim their power in life’s most transformative moments.
Kindred Keepers of the Threshold
Two souls, one sacred calling — to transform how we hold space for death, and how we honor the beauty within it.
Krystal and Melissa’s journey began over 15 years ago as Care Assistants at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where their shared compassion and presence at life’s fragile beginnings laid the foundation for a profound bond.
Over time, their paths deepened — intertwining friendship, intuitive calling, and a sacred reverence for life’s final passages. What emerged was a shared vision: to reimagine deathcare as a sacred, intentional, and transformative experience.
As co-founders of Carousel of Life, Krystal and Melissa bring together clinical wisdom, spiritual insight, and ceremonial grace. They serve as stewards of the threshold — holding space for grief, healing, and remembrance with heart-led precision and soul-deep care.
Together, they honor the alchemy of endings and beginnings, walking alongside individuals and families with tenderness, truth, and presence.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
We should not fear death but embrace it as our next step in the wheel of life. With the idea of death starting to become our next natural step of our human journey, deathcare is only going to grow in it’s understanding and knowledge of how intimate of a relationship our body has with it outside of what the corporate funeral homes would have you believe. With green burials, home funeral and cremations on the rise, more people, families and individuals are taking their power back when it comes to our birth plans, living in health bodies and having the final say in our death plans.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carouseloflife.net
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/carousel.of_life
- Facebook: Carousal of Life LLC
- Other: [email protected]
