Funerals, Etc.

Each  culture has its own traditions and ceremonies for burying their dead.  Diverse funeral services enable those who remain to celebrate and honor  the life of those who have passed. Often religion, personal preference,  or honorary traditions dictate the rites of passage involved in the  disposal of one's mortal remains. These funeral service options may vary  significantly. Ultimately, these services and conventions serve to  provide formalized rituals of respect and comfort and allow loved ones  and friends to say goodbye.

The  actual service may vary and will dictate the arrangements for the  physical remains, the structure of a ceremony, and fulfuillment of  religious traditions. Traditional funerals, green/hybrid funerals,  cremation, and military funerals offer some of the more typical formats,  it will depend largely on the deceased's final wishes and religious  customs. 

1. Burials & More Options 

2. Moving the Body

3. Death Certificates

4. Memorial Services

5. Notification Reminders

by Patty Lennon

A few weeks ago my dad and I planned his funeral.  It wasn’t done because he or I had some premonition he was going to pass.

He’d been asking me to do this for a while and then he saw the funeral home he wanted to use was running an event. 

He called me up and told me when he attended a similar event 10 years ago they offered a $500 discount on your funeral if you “booked in advance.”  He didn’t want to miss out on that discount this time. 

This is my dad.   

We took regular trips to furniture stores that opened in the area because if you went in during the grand opening you got a free set of glasses.  I have 4 sets. 

I was going to be at a business event during the big “funeral sale” but I knew it would bug him if he missed out on a discount.  I called the funeral home and explained. 

“Any chance we can have a private meeting and still get in on whatever discount you were planning to offer in the room at your upcoming event?”   

I knew a “fast action bonus” when I saw it so I was pretty sure they’d be thrilled to lock in a sale. 

They were and we arranged a private meeting and secured his extra special discount. BONUS – it was $600 (not the $500 we expected)!!! 

Maybe having those plans in place helped him release his human experience. I doubt it. That day I spoke with him about updating his health care proxy – seeing how we were dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s”.

I asked him if he wanted to put a DNR (“Do not resuscitate” directive) in place. He said no. In the past, he has refused it. He said “Do whatever it takes to keep me alive” with a silly grin on his face.  He loved living.