Thinking About Cremation?

In actuality, cremation is only part of the commemorative experience.
In fact, cremation can actually increase your options when planning a funeral.

Why a Funeral?

Funerals fill an important role for those mourning the loss of a loved one. By providing surviving family members and friends a caring, supportive environment in which to share thoughts and feelings about the
death, funerals are the first step in the healing process.  The ritual of attending a funeral service provides
many benefits including:

• Providing a social support system for the bereaved.

• Helping the bereaved understand death is final and that
  death is part of life.

• Integrating the bereaved back into the community.

• Easing the transition to a new life after the death of a loved one.

• Providing a safe haven for embracing and expressing pain.

• Reaffirming one’s relationship with the person who died.

• Providing a time to say good-bye.
   

It is possible to have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. The importance of the ritual
is in providing a social gathering to help the bereaved begin the healing process.

Types of Tributes

A funeral is so much more than a way to say goodbye; it’s an opportunity to celebrate the life of someone special.

Today, a funeral can be as unique as the individual who is being honored. From simple touches like displaying personal photographs to events created around a favorite pastime, funerals or memorial services can reflect any aspect of a person’s life and personality.

Following are questions you can use to help you decide how to personalize a service:

• What did the person like to do?

• What was the person like as an individual?

• What was the person like as a professional?             

• Was the person spiritual?

• Was the person proud of their heritage?

What did the person like to do?

Often people have hobbies that become more than just a casual pastime. Their activity could have been as much a part of who they were as their smile. Why not showcase that important part of their life during the funeral or memorial service?

Incorporating a hobby can be as simple as:

• Displaying items used for their hobby;
  e.g. sports equipment, gardening tools,
  or collections.

• Personalizing the casket or urn with a
  symbol of their hobby.

• Displaying trophies or awards they won.

• Creating a picture board or presentation featuring
  pictures of them engaged in their hobby.

• Having someone speak about the person’s passion for the hobby.

By adding these or other personal touches to a funeral or memorial, the service becomes a reflection of the person’s life and personality.

Traditional Cremation

A service with the body present, followed by cremation, is now recognized as a life-affirming experience.
And by allowing friends and family to view the body, families can be helped to deal with their loss in a
positive and healthy way, acknowledging the reality of death, while celebrating the life that has been lived.

Contemporary Cremation

This option allows for friends and family to gather together, to support one another, to
remember and to share, but without the body present. The family is provided the opportunity to
acknowledge the death and celebrate the life of the individual with a special gathering of
 friends and family, followed by a ceremony of remembrance.

Direct Cremation

In cases where there is no desire to have a gathering or service of any sort, we provide for the direct disposition of the body.