Regulations
Just a couple of days ago Funeral Director Daily brought you an article about a group or residents who live in a neighborhood where a crematory is being built. As many times happens these days, those neighbors are opposed to the establishment of a crematory in their neighborhood. That friction seems to happen a…
A permitted crematory under construction in the Dallas, Texas, suburb of Frisco is coming under scrutiny by neighbors who are not happy with it being located in a residential neighborhood. However, according to this article “Frisco City officials insist that the crematorium’s approval predates the nearby neighborhood development, with plans available publicly since…
I’m old enough to remember that one of the earliest cries for increased cremation was that cemeteries will soon take up too much space in America. A rebuttal to that thought back in the 1980’s was always the quote “. . .if everyone in America died today we could bury them in 1/3 the…
One of the interesting stories of 2023 in the Death Care business was the release of a full-length Hollywood production of the movie “The Burial” released in October by Amazon Studios. It was a story in Death Care simply because it is not every day that you see our profession covered in this way…
The “darkest day of the year” in the northern hemisphere occurs on December 21-22 each year. It is known as the “Winter Solstice” and the sun shines the least during that time period in the northern hemisphere than at any other 24-hour period of the year. Well, today happens to be December 22.…
An interesting situation concerning “non-combustible” cremation remains was brought to light by this front-page lead story article in an edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week. The article is entitled, “Lakewood Cemetery alleged theft spotlights market for metal implants left after cremation”. It goes on to explain that a former employee of the…
When you look at the map the Ohio River separates the states of Ohio and West Virginia as well as the cities of Steubenville, Ohio, and Weirton, West Virginia. Now, however, the bridge over the Ohio River will not only connect the states and cities but two historical funeral homes as well. It…
Imagine it is lunch time at the funeral home you work at when you get a call from the hospital two miles away that you need to immediately bring the best casket you have to the hospital. And, by the way, it is for the President of the United States. That’s the call…
According to this recent article from Stat, life expectancies in America have dropped and the gap between Men’s life expectancies and Women’s life expectancies continues to widen. The statistics show that men now have life expectancies 5.8 years less than women. Overall United States life expectancies have dropped from 78.8 years…
An ongoing debate with cemeteries: Community assets for enjoyment or sacred spaces for the deceased?
There is no doubt that with the advent of rising cremation in our society cemeteries are used less and less, as a percentage of all deaths, by families as places of permanent memorialization. However, there is still a large group of families that “do” select a space in a cemetery for the permanent…
