1 of 3

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 4

of the newer trends in funerals include a favorite video of the departed, playing beside his open casket, on a wide screen TV. Many funeral directors have become "event managers" and video is playing a big part in that. Two plasma screen TVs hang in the funeral home of Robert Biggins, President of the National Funeral Directors Association. He comments, "If you told me three years ago, that I would have these here, I'd have said you're crazy." (Now he considers them essential.) Biggins stresses that the trends are moving away from expensive, fancy, morbid funerals with garden sized flower arrangements, black suits and solemn funeral parlors. He warns that funeral directors will need to "think more creatively" or face extinction. The focus needs to be on services, rather than products. A teleconference on the Directors Association's web site suggested service themes. One was for "an avid cowboy or cowgirl who may want to ride off into the sunset one last time." A covered wagon replaces the traditional hearse, and mourners attend a barbecue after the service. Families today are not focused as much on the death, as they are on the celebration of life. At his funeral home in Rockland, Massachusetts, Biggins arranged a service for Harry Ewell, an ice cream vendor. Harry's ice cream truck led the procession, and Popsicles were given out at the end of the service, at the cemetery.

Ron Hast, publisher of Mortuary Management magazine and the Funeral Monitor newsletter, said, "It's about hospitality and refreshments-comfort food." He mentions, that in a seaside community, "Someone may be cremated, and then people go to the Yacht Club for Sunday brunch, and to watch a video tribute."

A St. Louis funeral director, at the Wade Funeral Home, has won awards for his innovative idea of themed viewing rooms. One is called "Big Momma's Kitchen", and is a Sunday dinner setting, complete with a platter of real fried chicken on the stove, and a loaf of Wonder bread on top of the refrigerator. Another favorite themed room is a living room set with antique furniture. Family members can bring their own pictures to hang on the wall, as well as personal items of the deceased. The sets are constantly in use and have received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.

If you want to go out with a bang, the Celebrate Life Program will turn your cremains into a private, personalized fireworks display. If a heavenly send off is desired, at Celestis.com, your remains can be launched into Earth's

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about A new generation hits the mortuary field?
We want to hear your view. Write now!