Nevertheless, toward the end of her life she found an explanation for the age-old desire of humans to preserve their dead when she discovered that having the bodies nearby makes them easier to remember.

...dwellings, like human beings, are vessels of memory. A succession of individuals flits through the rooms of buildings, playing out the dramas of existence: births and deaths, violent acts and domestic routines. The rooms remain, the walls stand, And the next wave of residents move in, unaware of their predecessors.