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Funerals fill an important role for those mourning the loss of a loved one. By providing surviving family and friends with an atmosphere of care and support in which to share thoughts and feelings about death, funerals are the first step in the healing process. It is the traditional way to recognize the finality of death. Funerals are recognized rituals for the living to show their respect for the dead and to help survivors begin the grieving process.
You can have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. Planning a personalized ceremony or service will help begin the healing process. Overcoming the pain is never easy, but a meaningful funeral or tribute will help.
What to do When a
Death Occurs
No
matter if a death is sudden, or if it something that was a long time coming,
the loss of a loved one makes us feel emotional and overwhelmed. No
amount of preparation can fully prepare you for the loss of a loved one.
When you are in a heightened emotional state, even the most basic
decisions can seem staggering. The following is a rough guideline of what
needs to be done within the first 24 hours after death.
When death occurs at home
or a place of business
If
the person was not under hospice care, the police will have to be notified
immediately. The police will be dispatched to the home and place the call
to the coroner/medical examiner. From there the coroner/medical examiner
will take the body and determine whether further action is necessary. The
coroner/medical examiner must release the body before a funeral home can do
anything. If the person was under hospice care, contact the hospice
representative if they were not present and they will notify family members
what the proper procedures are to follow.
When a death occurs at a
hospital/nursing home/hospice facility
The
staff of a care facility such as a hospital or a nursing home will notify you
and the necessary authorities immediately after a death has occurred. If
a funeral home has been provided to the hospital or nursing home, they will be
notified at the time of death. If you are present at the hospital when
the funeral director arrives, they will ask a few questions about the deceased
wishes and set up a time to come into the funeral home to make arrangements,
however, if you are not present a funeral director will contact you by
telephone to discuss these arrangements.
Informing a Funeral
Director
Once
everything has been cleared with the proper authorities, the next call you
place should be to Keith Matthews Funeral Home. Our Funeral directors are
here to help you obtain a death certificate, transport the body, and in the
event pre-planning was not done, select a casket/urn and arrange the
funeral/memorial service. Our Funeral directors will also help you notify
the employer and insurance company of the deceased to assist with those
arrangements. Our Funeral directors are here to help and advise you and
will work very hard to relieve the stress and logistics involved in funeral
planning.
Meeting a Funeral Director
You
should meet with a funeral director within 24 hours of a death to begin to make
final arrangements for your loved one. Deciding on these final
arrangements may seem like a very daunting task, especially when you are in heightened
emotional state, but, Keith Matthews Funeral Home staff have years of
experience dealing with these issues, and strive to ensure everything goes as
smoothly as possible.
Making Arrangements
·
First
the Funeral Director will gather information required for the death
certificate. This includes:
·
Full
Name and Address
·
Social
Security Number
·
Marital
Status and Name of Spouse (if married or widowed)
·
Race/Ethnicity
·
Date
and City of Birth
·
Highest
Level of Education
·
Father’s
Name and Mother’s Name (including maiden name)
·
Occupation
and Employer
The
funeral director may also need documents for other paperwork, including:
·
Birth
Certificate
·
Life
Insurance Policies
·
Living
Will
·
Veteran’s
discharge papers (DD-214) if applicable
If
no pre-planning has been done, necessary arrangements need to be made for the
funeral service. These include:
·
Scheduling
the location, date and time of the visitation and funeral service
·
Selecting
burial or cremation
·
Choosing
Funeral/Cremation Products
·
Arranging
a cemetery plot
·
Preparing
an obituary notice
·
Scheduling
transportation arrangements
A
funeral director will guide you through all these steps, using your wants,
needs and desires as a foundation to create a memorable funeral for your loved
one. From here the funeral services can be personalized. Did your loved
one have a favorite sports team? What was their favorite type of music?
What activity was your loved one known best for? Recalling fond
memories assists with the grieving process and will help honor the life of your
loved one.
If you request immediate assistance, yes. If the family wishes to spend a short time with the deceased to say good-bye, that’s perfectly acceptable. Your funeral director will come when your time is right.
Burial in a casket is the most common method of disposing of remains in the United States, although entombment also occurs. Cremation is increasingly selected because it can be less expensive and allows for the memorial service to be held at a more convenient time in the future when relatives and friends can come together.
A funeral service followed by cremation need not be any different from a funeral service followed by a burial. Usually, cremated remains are placed in urn before being committed to a final resting place. The urn may be buried, placed in an indoor or outdoor mausoleum or columbarium, or interred in a special urn garden that many cemeteries provide for cremated remains. The remains may also be scattered, according to state law.
Viewing is a part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of death. Viewing is encouraged for children, as long as the process is explained and the activity is voluntary.
Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.
The Federal Trade Commission says, "Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law. Embalming may be necessary, however, if you select certain funeral arrangements, such as a funeral with viewing. If you do not want embalming, you usually have the right to choose an arrangement that does not require you to pay for it, such as direct cremation or immediate burial."
When compared to other major life events like births and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding costs at least three times as much; but because it is a happy event, wedding costs are rarely criticized. A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), these expenses must be factored into the cost of a funeral.
Additionally, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise, like caskets, but the services of a funeral director in making arrangements; filing appropriate forms; dealing with doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and others; and seeing to all the necessary details. Funeral directors look upon their profession as a service, but it is also a business. Like any business, funeral homes must make a profit to exist.
It really depends entirely on how you wish to commemorate a life. One of the advantages of cremation is that it provides you with increased flexibility when you make your funeral and cemetery arrangements. You might, for example, choose to have a funeral service before the cremation; a memorial service at the time of cremation or after the cremation with the urn present; or a committal service at the final disposition of cremated remains. Funeral or memorial services can be held in a place of worship, a funeral home or in a crematory chapel.
With cremation, your options are numerous. The cremains can be interred in a cemetery plot, i.e., earth burial, retained by a family member, usually in an urn, scattered on private property, or at a place that was significant to the deceased. (It would always be advisable to check for local regulations regarding scattering in a public place-your funeral director can help you with this.)
Today, there are many different types of memorial options from which to choose. Memorialization is a time-honored tradition that has been practiced for centuries. A memorial serves as a tribute to a life lived and provides a focal point for remembrance, as well as a record for future generations. The type of memorial you choose is a personal decision.
You might choose ground burial of the urn. If so, you may usually choose either a bronze memorial or monument. Cremation niches in columbariums are also available at many cemeteries. They offer the beauty of a mausoleum setting with the benefits of above ground placement of remains. Many cemeteries also offer scattering gardens. This area of a cemetery offers the peacefulness of a serene garden where family and friends can come and reflect.
If you wish to have your ashes scattered somewhere, it is important to discuss your wishes to be scattered ahead of time with the person or persons who will actually have to do the cremation ashes scattering ceremony, as they might want to let your funeral professional assist in the scattering ceremony. Funeral directors can also be very helpful in creating a meaningful and personal ash scattering ceremony that they will customize to fit your families specific desires. The services can be as formal or informal as you like. Scattering services can also be public or private. Again, it is advisable to check for local regulations regarding scattering in a public place-your funeral director can help you with this.
Yes — Depending upon the cemetery's policy, you may be able to save a grave space by having the cremains buried on top of the casketed remains of your spouse, or utilize the space provided next to him/her. Many cemeteries allow for multiple cremated remains to be interred in a single grave space.
Uncertainty about income tax issues can add to the stress experienced from the death of a spouse. You should meet with your family attorney and/or tax advisor as soon as possible to review your particular tax and estate circumstances. Bring a detailed list of your questions to the meeting. If you do not have an attorney or tax advisor, call the IRS toll-free at 800-829-1040 for answers to specific tax questions.
There are a number of options available, including: