Funeral Services Provided

Most funeral homes strive to be the one place for all the needs of the family at the time of a death in the family.

These services will include:

• Removal of the body from the place of death whether it occurs at home, a nursing facility, hospital, accident site, or location where the death was pronounced or investigated.
• Preparation of the body for services determined by the family. This may include washing, cleaning, embalming, dressing, make-up, hair styling and restoration work.
• Meeting with the family to obtain information necessary to file a death certificate, Social Security notification for benefits, notification for veteran benefits. Filling out forms for other sources of benefits such as retired railroad workers'.
• Contacting local clergy as needed, and arranging for services either at the church, funeral home or graveside.
• Advising the cemetery of the need for the already existing grave to be opened.
  Taking the family to a cemetery for selection of a gravesite.
• Contacting the florist of the family's choice and assisting in making any selections if required by the family. Not all services are required or desired by all families. But by being a one-stop facility, the funeral home minimizes the number of visits and stops required of the family, which is already stressed and harried.
• Other services may include offering a suitable gathering place for visitation. Very few residences can offer the room necessary for a large number of friends and family to gather together in honor of the decedent.
• Alternatives to traditional earth burial are also offered, including but not limited to cremation, body donation following visitation, and memorialization of cremains by either entombment, placement in urns or, in some locations, scattering.
• Merchandise offerings include caskets, burial vaults, (often required by cemeteries), urns, clothing, religious mementos such as crucifixes, rosaries and Bibles, guest books, prayer cards, candles for the grave and memorial markers.

In some locations, the funeral home is actually built on the grounds of the cemetery and will have an attached floral shop so that all the items may be placed on one all-inclusive bill for a single billing for the total.

Funeral homes are one of the last refuges for the independent business owner. Although there are several conglomerates which operate out of numerous locations, there are few totally binding regulations nationwide. But a clear-cut, easy-to-understand general price list is one such requirement. Available upon request, this will allow you the opportunity to compare services and prices before there is an actual need.

A listing of optional services may be included, with the price for each clearly described. Some locales make certain items a necessary part of doing business with them. An example would be a cemetery needing the casket to be buried in an outer container, in order to keep the grave from caving in over a period of time. A respectable funeral home will advise you as to your options in such a circumstance. Likewise, a flush mounted memorial may be required in certain cemeteries or within certain sections of a cemetery. Once again, the funeral home may be able to advise you as to those requirements, since they work with all local cemeteries.

A family will experience death, on average, twice in a generation. With that degree of unfamiliarity, it is only normal to be overwhelmed when it does occur. Your local funeral professional has experience in these uncharted, mysterious waters. Allow him or her to guide you through them, all the while honoring your requests to honor your loved one in a manner as unique as they themselves, were. Take advantage of all the services they can offer.