Cemetery

Are the days of helping each other over

By Funeral Director Daily / February 18, 2022 /

Throughout my entire career in a small community, the funeral homes and the cemeteries helped each other out.  We had somewhat of a mutual dependence on each other that helped us both. For instance, when our funeral home served a family we would always suggest earth burial or entombment for the full body casketed funeral…

Seventy-Five years since the Capone burial

By Funeral Director Daily / February 2, 2022 /

I recently finished Bill O’Reilly’s book “Killing the Mob”.  It is one of about a dozen books in a series by O’Reilly all with the “Killing” titles. I’ve learned that “Killing” is just the title series and the books are really about the history of people, movements, and time periods. Of the books I’ve read…

A new idea for permanent memorialization

By Funeral Director Daily / January 14, 2022 /

I would guess it was twenty years ago or about that length of time that I was asked to volunteer as a board member of our community’s largest non-denominational cemetery.  The cemetery was large enough and did enough business that it had a full-time caretaker who took care of sales, provided interment services using cemetery…

Wilbert merges Memorial Monument into fold

By Funeral Director Daily / January 13, 2022 /

In a transaction announced last week but completed on December 27, 2021, according to this press release, Wilbert has merged operations with Memorial Monuments & Vaults (MMV) headquartered in Meridian, Idaho. According to the press release, MMV has 19 locations in the western part of the United States and provides monuments and related funeral services…

Out with the old. . .

By Funeral Director Daily / December 31, 2021 /

This article will be sent to Funeral Director Daily subscribers on the last day of 2021.  By that time America will have passed the 800,000 number of deaths due to Covid-19 and will have had more deaths in 2021 than in 2020.  That’s 800,000 individual human beings who have lost their lives and it is…

9th century Viking sword discovered in Scottish grave. . and a discussion on heritage families

By Funeral Director Daily / December 28, 2021 /

Not every article that appears in Funeral Director Daily has a direct bearing on the business world of funerals, cremations, and burials.  However, if you stick with me with this article, dealing with this discovery, we will discuss the power of heritage funerals among other things. A sword found buried in a Scottish grave in…

New Hampshire community delays “Green Burial” decisions

By Funeral Director Daily / December 10, 2021 /

A New Hampshire community has again delayed – until at least Spring 2022 – the decision on an ordinance to allow “Green Burials” in two city owned cemeteries.  The City Manager of Lebanon City, New Hampshire, Shaun Mulholland, was quoted in this article from Valley News as saying, “This has gone on for two years…

Reflections on “Our” world

By Funeral Director Daily / November 17, 2021 /

Writing on “Death Care” gives me very wide latitude.  There’s a lot to it — and it’s not only about funerals and cremations, funeral homes and crematories, cemeteries and burials, but there is the finances of the industry, the manufacturing of the industry, the mortuary training of the profession, and all of the interesting people…

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — The history behind this “Soul of America” Memorial

By Funeral Director Daily / November 12, 2021 /

The numbers 11-11-11 have always been significant when I think of November 11.  Yesterday was that day that we now refer to as Veteran’s Day in America or is referred to as Remembrance Day in Canada.  Those numbers, 11-11-11, refer to the day and time that the cease fire that ended World War I in…

Back to the Future

By Funeral Director Daily / November 4, 2021 /

The World Series has been played for the past two weeks and I’m a baseball fan. . . and former little league coach.  I’m “Old School” and don’t particularly like the “data-driven” strategy decisions used in today’s game of baseball.  I like the past when you watched a hitter’s feet move to determine if they…