An Illinois funeral home used a simple, but effective, way to showcase their commitment to the environment during an Earth Day celebration last Saturday. According to an article in the Quincy, Illinois based Herald-Whig, Quincy based Hansen-Spear Funeral Home held their first “Celebration of the Living Green” on Saturday afternoon. The funeral home, who has…
The Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home of Fayetteville, Georgia, has been granted a Special Exception from the Fayettevill City council to allow for a crematory on the site of their existing Fayettville funeral home. According to an article in the Fayette County News, a Special Exception was needed because under current zoning laws a…
Ricky Holland has been co-Owner and President of Corinthian Funeral Home for the past 25 years. He loves his job, loves the people he has served, and is now going out of his way to make sure that no client of Corinthian Funeral Home is forgotten. In an article published in the Daily Corinthian of…
Owners of the Heafey Hoffmann Dworak & Cutler Funeral Home in Omaha, Nebraska, and their insurers, Cincinnati Casualty Company and Cincinnati Indemnity Company filed a lawsuit on March 20, 2017, against Mathews International concerning a fire at the mortuary that happened over a year ago. The Omaha World Herald has reported that on January 26,…
American icon, John Glenn, was laid to rest with full Military Honors on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at Arlington National Cemetery. According to an article in the Columbus Dispatch, the interment followed a short, private service at the Old Post Chapel at Arlington. Glenn, age 95, had died on December 8, 2016, but was laid…
BUSINESS
Can your funeral home afford to increase prices amid rising costs?
I operated my funeral home from 1980 to 2013 and in that time period we increased prices every year. I always looked for an average of about 3% but was able to increase…
Indiana Court: “Death Doula” does not need a funeral director license
According to this issue of the Indianapolis Star an Indiana court of appeals ruled in late August that the State of Indiana “violated the First Amendment rights of a Fort Wayne “death…
CANA’s Peer Support Meeting tomorrow night will focus on “Stress”
Dwight Thompson, a seasoned social worker, psychotherapist, and former funeral director with more than 20 years of experience in mental health and grief care will highlight the monthly interactive Peer Support meeting for…
FINANCE
Your funeral home’s cash-flow: Investment vs. Enjoyment
I read a lot of different articles. Recently I read an article about investing that contrasted “Dividend Investing” and “Growth Investing”. The article was very interesting but it also made me think about…
Carriage Services jumps back into acquisitions with Central Florida purchase
It’s been pretty easy to recognize that the management team that replaced founder and long-time CEO Melvin Payne at Carriage Services has been building the foundations of the business in order to begin once…
Death Care Index flat Year-to-Date. . . .Carriage Services shows share price growth
There is no doubt that while many investors (and President Trump) have waited for the Federal Reserve to set lower interest rates going forward and negotiated tariff rates lots of other investors have…
REGULATIONS
Indiana Court: “Death Doula” does not need a funeral director license
According to this issue of the Indianapolis Star an Indiana court of appeals ruled in late August that the State of Indiana “violated the First Amendment rights of a Fort Wayne “death…
Funeral Directors are heroes
The beginning of a recent article on the ASD Blog, authored by Jessica Farren, had a quote without, to my knowledge, an author’s acknowledgement. I will post it here with no acknowledgement…
Airlines, cemeteries dealing with “Wide-bodies”
Just last week according to this article from Newsweek “Southwest Airlines announced that it was ending a policy that allowed plus-size travelers to book an extra seat without extra costs. Under the new…
CEMETERY
Airlines, cemeteries dealing with “Wide-bodies”
Just last week according to this article from Newsweek “Southwest Airlines announced that it was ending a policy that allowed plus-size travelers to book an extra seat without extra costs. Under the new…
Cemetery put in trustee’s hands
Last month a judge in Indiana removed the obligation of taking care of a non-profit cemetery away from the cemetery corporation and placed it in the hands of the government. . . in this…
Interment eligibility case playing out at Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific
There is an interesting case, which you can read about and see a news video of here, blowing through the tradewinds of Hawaii at this time concerning the eligibility of burial in a…
CREMATION
Are we nearing the “Cremation Peak”?
There are some interesting survey results out that question if the United States will soon reach the “Peak Percentage” of cremation rates as the disposition of choice. Last year at this time…
Dilemma: The affluent consumer and traditional Death Care
On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers. So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the…
Pension funds investment in Cremation is an interesting development
Pension funds and endowments have the responsibility of shepherding for safety, growth, and income their assets into a multitude of investments. I’ve learned that most of those types of investors invest in bonds…
PRENEED
What is the “Data point” for Preneed?
It’s s question that I have a hard time answering or getting an answer to. The question being, “What is the number of preneed policies a funeral home needs to write to move…
Report: Record number of preneeds sold in 1st half of 2025
It’s the end of summer in Minnesota and lots of our friends get ready to embark on the journey to warmer climates soon. So, it is a good time to say good-bye to…
Pennsylvania funeral home acquires “down and out” operator
There’s always a risk when a funeral home firm acquires another location. There’s even more risk when a funeral home acquires a location that has had its license suspended by a state board…
PRODUCTS
Dilemma: The affluent consumer and traditional Death Care
On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers. So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the…
Airlines, cemeteries dealing with “Wide-bodies”
Just last week according to this article from Newsweek “Southwest Airlines announced that it was ending a policy that allowed plus-size travelers to book an extra seat without extra costs. Under the new…
Tukios offers new enhancements for funeral home websites
One of the leaders in funeral technology solutions, Tukios, informed us last week that they have brought to market new enhancements for websites that will allow funeral homes to streamline event planning, registration,…
