Helping You Understand
Our family and staff understand how overwhelming the funeral planning process can be especially with the emotional stress you must endeavor. This is especially true if this is your first time facing the many responsibilities of losing a loved one. Therefore, it is very important to us that you understand why you will need to make certain decisions. No question is irrelevant or unimportant to us. It is our desire to make this process as simple and stress-free as possible. We will do the majority of the work required but there are basic decisions and information that will need your assistance. Listed below are terms you will hear during our journey together. These terms explain different services that you can choose for a loved one, depending upon your individual needs, preferences, and situation. Helping you understand these terms will make this process much easier. If more information is desired, it will be provide at your request.
Types of Services
Direct Burial - means that your loved one will be buried or entombed immediately without a public service or gathering.
Visitation - also called a viewing, wake, or calling hours, is a set time and location that allows family and friends to gather together (1) with the departed loved one in an open or closed casket or (2) with an urn containing cremation remains. This is a special and priceless time as those gather to say goodbye or offer their support and sympathy to the bereaved.
Funeral/Memorial Services - can take place at a funeral home, in a church, or even at your home. This service is a ceremony which will serve to celebrate, honor, and remember the life of the deceased. Whether traditional or unique, both the visitation and the funeral service can be personalized to reflect the individuality of your loved one.
Graveside or Committal Services - can take place at: a cemetery, a family plot, a memorial site, a cremation niche, an urn garden, or a variety of other indoor and outdoor locations. This allows family and friends to be present as their loved one is laid in their final resting place. Entombment and Interment refers to the traditional burial of the body and Inurnment refers to the entombment of your loved one's cremated remains.
Truth about Cremation Services
The biggest misconception about cremation is that there can't be a funeral service or visitation. This is absolutely not the case. You have a right to select any service style to celebrate the life of a deceased. We want you to know there are many options open to you when it comes to honoring your loved one's life. For example, many families have a full traditional service and visitation using a rental casket or purchasing a cremation casket followed by the cremation. Other families have the cremation and host a memorial service and a visitation with or without the cremains present. Also, you should be aware that after all tributes are held, there are a variety of choices for your loved one's final disposition:
Scattering Ceremony - allows you to spread your loved one's cremated remains in a memorial garden, a cemetery, over water, or across any other meaningful site. You also can choose to scatter some of the cremated remains and retain the rest in an urn for interment or another form of disposition.
Sharing of Ashes - allows the placing of cremated remains in multiple urns allowing family members who are separated by distance to each feel the comfort of having their loved one's final resting place in a nearby location.