It's important to recognize that funerals and memorial ceremonies are for the living ... for those who are affected by the loss of a loved one. It is through the funeral process that a number of emotional needs are met for those who grieve.

A funeral is similar to other ceremonies in our lives. Like a graduation ceremony, a wedding, a baptism, and a bar mitzvah, a funeral is a rite of passage by which we recognize an important event that distinguishes our lives.

The funeral declares that a death has occurred. It celebrates the life that has been lived, and offers family and friends the opportunity to pay tribute to their loved one.

The gathering of family and friends for a time of sharing and funeral service helps to provide emotional support so needed at this time. This will help those who grieve to face the reality of death and consequently, to take the first step toward a healthy emotional adjustment.

The funeral can and does take on many varied forms. Funerals can last from minutes to months and are usually influenced by the lifestyle and values of the bereaved family and friends.

"What Options Are Available in Services and Disposition?"

A valuable aspect of contemporary funerals is their individuality. Whether a ceremony is elaborate or simple, funerals are often individualized to reflect the life of the deceased and to hold special meaning for family and other survivors. It may reflect one's religious beliefs as a reaffirmation of faith in a greater life beyond this world.

It may reflect the occupation or hobbies of the deceased. It may center around an ethnic background or social affiliation.

In our society, three basic forms of final disposition are practiced. The first is earth burial, which continues to be the form of disposition chosen most often.

Cremation is also a choice. This is a process of preparing the body for final disposition whereby the body is reduced by intense heat over several hours to a few pounds of small fragments. These cremated remains are usually placed in an urn, which may be buried, placed in a memorial niche, or kept in some other location. Cremated remains may also be scattered where permitted by law.

Finally, entombment in a crypt is also a choice and is one of the oldest forms of disposition. Today many cemeteries maintain crypts for entombment, which may be in a mausoleum or in an outdoor garden.

"What Does a Funeral Director Do?"

It has been estimated that over 136 individual activities must take place in order for one funeral to be conducted. The funeral director is actually an organizational specialist.

Here is a condensed list of some of the more visible activities of a typical funeral director:

• Removal and transfer of the deceased from place of death to funeral home.
• Professional care of the deceased, which may include sanitary washing, embalming preparation, restorative art, dressing, hairdressing, casketing and cosmetology.
• Conduct a complete consultation with family members to discuss specific arrangements for a funeral and gather necessary information.
• File all certificates, permits, affidavits, and authorizations, as required. · Acquire certified copies of the death certificate as requested by a family. · Compile an obituary and place in newspapers of a family's choice. · Make arrangements with a family's choice of clergy person, church, musicians, etc.
• Make arrangements with cemetery, crematory, or other place of disposition. · Provide a register book, prayer cards, funeral folders, and thank you cards, as requested by a family. · Arrange for clergy and musician honorariums, flowers, additional transportation, etc.
• Care and arrangement of floral pieces and the post funeral distribution as directed by a family. · Arrange for casket bearers, automobiles, and special services (fraternal or military) as requested by a family
• Care of all floral cards, mass cards, or other memorial contributions presented to the funeral home.
• Your funeral director, with his/her staff personnel, will direct the funeral in a most professional manner, and be in complete charge of the funeral procession to the cemetery or other place of disposition.
• Assist a family with Social Security, Veteran's Benefits, insurance claims, and other death-related claims.
• A post funeral meeting, by the funeral director, with a family, to deliver such things as the register book, floral and mass cards, and to ascertain whether or not he/she can be of further assistance.