Cemetery

In Memoriam: Robert Waltrip, SCI founder — Services today

By Funeral Director Daily / March 3, 2023 /

        Robert L. Waltrip, age 92, founder of death care company Service Corporation International, died on Monday, February 27, 2023.  A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for today (March 2).  Interment is scheduled in the Reflection Garden of Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, Texas.   You can access an obituary powered…

Read More

Bucking the trend

By Funeral Director Daily / March 2, 2023 /

    “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated” is a popular misquote attributed to author Samuel Clemens, known by his pen name, Mark Twain.  However, that quote has stayed with Clemens (Twain) forever and is now simply a part of his lore.   The same thing may be said for cemeteries.  The demise…

Read More

The interesting ownership of New York’s Pinelawn Cemetery

By Funeral Director Daily / December 15, 2022 /

I live in flyover country so I don’t pretend to be an expert on the customs and traditions of New York’s funeral and cemetery business.  However, I’ve been in the death care business my entire life and never had heard of the business set-up of New York’s Pinelawn Cemetery.   I read a recent article…

Read More

Wreaths Across America . . . Remember-Honor-Teach

By Funeral Director Daily / December 7, 2022 /
WreathsAcrossAmerica2005

If you are part of the Death Care business in North America part of your goal is to move families from grief to remembrance of their loved one.  And, if we are honest about it, we should never want anybody to ever be forgotten.  That’s why so many are so strong in recommending a place…

Read More

Winter at the Cemetery

By Funeral Director Daily / December 5, 2022 /
Kinkead Cemetery Alexandria, Minnesota

As you may know I have lived my entire life in Minnesota. . . and this past weekend winter arrived.  We had a little brush with snow and then our first Zero degree day was Saturday.  It made me think of my working years with committal services out at the cemetery following a church service…

Read More

Another reminder that our work matters

By Funeral Director Daily / October 26, 2022 /

I attended a somber event last Sunday that at least in part reminded me, among other things, that funerals and memorial services matter to people.  And, they are one of the events in a person’s life that can rekindle passionate memories. Last Sunday I attended the church service at tiny East Moe Lutheran Church in…

Read More

The only thing harder to find in Malibu than a hotel room is a grave. . .

By Funeral Director Daily / September 28, 2022 /

Malibu, California was incorporated into a city in 1991 and that led to a moratorium on new development that included, among other things, hotels.  So, Malibu has famously become known as a very tough place to get a hotel room. Back in 2015, however, a group known as Green Acres, LLC, began a push to…

Read More

The consumer choice for cremation is not always financial

By Funeral Director Daily / August 31, 2022 /

Over the years I’ve heard from many consumers that their choice for a cremation disposition had nothing to do with price.  Even though I heard that often, and believed the people that told me that, as a funeral professional it was always hard to fathom when it seemed that everywhere you turned you saw cremations…

Read More

A killer among them

By Funeral Director Daily / July 8, 2022 /

Arlington National Cemetery is known as “hallowed ground”.  On May 13, 1864, the first burial of military personnel was completed there when Private William Christman was interred.  Just over a month later Arlington officially became a national cemetery on June 15, 1864, by order of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. In the 158 years since…

Read More

Is this the future of small rural church cemeteries?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 30, 2022 /

If you don’t live in “flyover land” like I do, you are probably not even aware of the small rural churches that have been closed.  Churches built by the pioneer throngs when they settled in rural America seem to have have run their course as it is now easier for rural families to commute to…

Read More

Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily
Enter your email address to join 3,187 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles.

advertise here banner