In this community, I find we all have one thing in common … We take great pride in the work we do for the families we serve.
We strive to do everything we can to be attentive to the family. We shoulder the burden of the business aspect of loss. We keep our facilities elegant and presentable. We arrange the floral sprays to display our attention to detail. We are prompt, professional, efficient, detailed, caring, and sensitive. Most importantly, we tend to every aspect of the family experience. Not a single element is overlooked.
This is a checklist manifesto of Common Components of a Funeral
- Compile information for the obituary
- Choose a funeral home
- Decide on the type of disposition (traditional burial, cremation, green burial, interment in a mausoleum, etc.)
- Select a casket or cremation container
- Select a grave marker and inscriptions
- Identify a location for interment
- Identify a location for the service
- Decide on the type of service (memorial, wake, military, Jewish ceremony, celebration of life, etc.)
- Choose a florist and desired flower arrangements
- Pick photos to be displayed at the service
- Prepare any other displays, videos or memorabilia for use at the service
- Write the obituary
- Communicate the preference for flowers, donations to charitable organizations or both in the obituary or death notices
- Pick funeral music or songs to be played/sung at the service
- Select clothing for the deceased to wear
- Choose passages to be read at the service (scripture, poems or other meaningful readings)
- Purchase and compile photos for a memorial register or guest book
- Purchase memorial cards
- Create and print memorial folders or programs for the service
- Arrange transportation to and from the service for family members
- Coordinate transportation for the casket
- Choose an officiant to lead the service (religious leader, family member, etc.)
- Decide who will perform the eulogy
- Decide who will read the chosen passages
- Choose pallbearers
- Obtain legal pronouncement of death from an attending doctor or hospice nurse or call 911
- Arrange transportation of the body to the funeral home (or coroner if an autopsy is required)
- Obtain death certificates (multiple copies)
- Identify any burial benefits or services the deceased may be eligible for (veterans benefits, military honors, religious groups, fraternal organizations, etc.)
- Obtain a burial permit (sometimes referred to as a permit for disposition)
- Set a time and date for the service
- Arrange any food or beverages to be served during or after the service
- Arrange embalming and preparation of the body if desired
- Submit the obituary to selected newspapers
All of the time, the detail, and hard work leading up to one defining moment. The moment that will decide the value of this experience for the families.
How Their Loved One Looks
In their hearts, in their minds the greatest impact…
The First Viewing
Stressful and emotional for the families, demanding and pivotal for us, this one moment can change the outcome of our services. Our complete checklist manifesto may come under step by step, detail by detail scrutiny if we don’t get the loved one “Perfectly Presentable”
We have the ability to change this.
The family is spending thousands on the entire event, yet they remember what costs only hundreds – the presentation of the loved one.
This hits home for me! There is nothing more important to me than creating that family memory that will be cherished for years to come. The last image in the mind of the dearly beloved.
The Treasure is the Memory our preparation creates.
Technology has made the art of body presentation easier.
Click on the link for some FREE tools to aid in creating a better family experience.