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At
some time in our lives, most of us will make or assist in making
funeral arrangements for a family member or friend.
The
funeral is an important ritual. As difficult as it may be to
face, most of us accept death as an inevitable part of life.
Today, a dignified funeral ceremony and opportunity to say
"good-bye" to the deceased remains an important part
of life.
When
Death Occurs
Nothing adequately prepares you for the initial shock of a loved
one's death. Feelings of panic and helplessness may be
overwhelming, but it's important to know you are not alone. It
is important to reach out to close relatives, friends and
professionals for the help, support and comfort you need.
Call
your funeral director and clergyperson right away, regardless of
time of day or location. Immediate assistance and guidance from
your funeral director will be extremely valuable to you,
especially if you are faced with the added difficulty of making
initial arrangements from a distance.
Family
and friends should be notified. Call immediate family members
first—parents, grandparents, children and siblings of the
deceased. Again, do not worry about waking others. Grief
researchers say those close to the deceased feel left out if
they aren't told about death immediately.
It's
not necessary or practical for you to call every family member
and friend. News of a death travels quickly. Rely on others to
make sure everyone is notified. Although it may be difficult to
do, telling others of a death is therapeutic. By saying aloud
that a loved one has died, the death is confirmed in your
mind—an important step in the grief process.
Your
funeral director will help you create a meaningful funeral
ceremony by discussing your options, guiding you through the
arrangement process, handling many details and giving you the
information necessary to make decisions.
For
more information select one of the following:
Whatever
decisions our families make after the death of a loved one are
long lasting. This is why it is important to check out all
options available to your family.
The
Funeral Service
The
Funeral Service has three rites: the visitation, the service,
and the interment. Each rite is separate and distinct. However,
together they create a powerful and necessary means of
expression.
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The
Visitation
The visitation allows the family an opportunity to view the
deceased. The families see the reality of death and admit to
its presence. This is the first step to accepting death and
beginning the healing process. The visitation is also a time
when the community is invited to share experiences about the
deceased. This part of the ritual is so crucial to both the
family and the community because it forces discussions about
the things that are often swept under the rug. In this way,
we do not experience this crisis alone. Instead, we
celebrate the life of our loved one with the community. The
visitation rite also provides a socially acceptable time to
grieve and express very strong emotions: a healing time for
the living.
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The
Service
The service is a time of affirmation of a life lived. It is
a time for memorialization. It provides a time for religious
and spiritual recognition. The service is a ritual for the
deceased. Throughout time, we have honored the dead by
offering thoughts and prayers. A service ritual is intended
to strengthen as well as test our personal spirituality.
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The
Committal
The final rite is the committal service. The committal
service, the actual burial or cremation, is a symbolic
demonstration that a relationship has ended. When you turn
away from the place of final interment, it is a realistic
but traumatic moment. It is, however necessary to recognize
that we must say goodbye and turn to the future. The
committal rite should not be avoided nor should it be faced
alone. It is important that you and members of the community
are able to share freely the expressions of sympathy and
sorrow at the committal service
There
are many choices and options involved in dealing with the death
of a family member. We're here to help families through the
process and to make sure they are well informed and consider
everything before making final decisions. In recent years, after
the death of a loved one, cremation has become a more common
choice for disposition throughout the United States.
In
some ways the choice of cremation as the form of disposition
actually increases a family's options. The greatest
misunderstanding about the process of cremation is the belief
that there is no need for funeral services. There are many types
of services available when you have services with earth burial,
entombment, or cremation.
The
gatherings at the funeral ceremony help us all begin the healing
process. All funeral services may be custom-designed based on
what is determined appropriate and desirable to the family and
the community. Your Kedz funeral director can show you a variety
of cremation containers to meet your particular choice in style
and price. You may select from traditional caskets to caskets
specifically created for cremation which are simpler in design
and typically less expensive.
The
selection of the urn is very important since the urn provides
both a protective and dignified container for the cremated
remains. An urn can also provide a memorialization of a certain
aspect, lifestyle or interest of a lost loved one. Permanent
urns are crafted from various materials including solid
hardwoods and bronze. An urn may be buried in a family plot at a
cemetery, placed in a niche in a columnbarium, or kept at home.
Some families prefer to scatter remains in a scattering garden
in a cemetery, or over land or in water. When scattering is
selected, many families choose to keep a small portion of the
cremated remains in a keepsake urn. Throughout our country,
families have selected to have semi-permanent memorial urns.
Fountains and wind chimes are just a few creative ideas that
have captured the emotional value. These urns provide a place
where current and future generations may go to remember their
loved one
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Many
of us have experienced the emotional trauma associated with the
death of a loved one. However, very few of us have combined the
emotional distress with the financial obligation that comes with
the funeral service and merchandise selected. Regardless of the
simplicity or complexity of a funeral service, humanistic or
religious, the service chosen by you or your family comes with a
price.
Just
as we prepare for retirement and long-term care for ourselves,
the birth, schooling and marriage of our children, and even when
we purchase our first home, we discuss, research and discuss
more at length, the benefits and results of our decision. Yet,
we often refuse to plan for our death. The inevitable funeral
celebration held in our honor and for the well being of the
survivors is often disregarded. Today, the trend of funeral
pre-arranging is a personal experience that is increasingly
changing the way we in the funeral profession serve families.
Through prearranging, we are able to satisfy family members by
eliminating some of the emotional, physical and financial pain
associated with the death of a loved one. Our funeral directors
are able to help you create a personalized funeral celebration
through prearrangements.
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