FuneralNewsCentral.com

Unrecorded Burials Cause Problems

Bob — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:05:16 +0000

The Village of Groveport, Ohio ran into a disconcerting issue recently. When cemetery staff opened what was supposed to be a new grave, they found a century-old unrecorded burial.

Village history mentions surreptitious burials in connection with an 1830s cholera epidemic; legend says that families would not mention the death, then bury their loved one at night, without benefit of a marked, recorded plot. Carla Cramer of the Groveport Heritage Society says the village knows basically where the “cholera section” is though.

There are plans to map the cemetery using ground-penetrating radar, but those ahve been put on hold for at least a year due to current economic conditions.

Museum On Brink of Closing

Bob — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:11:12 +0000

The Museum of Funeral Customs, in Springfield, Illinois is dangerously close to closing. The Springfield Journal reports via the New York Times that the IFDA has laid off the curator, and museum hours are now by appointment only.

“The original idea was that we’d get enough spillover from people visiting the Lincoln sites,” said Duane Marsh, executive director of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, which operates the museum. “But for whatever reason, that just hasn’t happened. When a business isn’t paying its way, as everyone knows, you have trouble.”

Newsweek Profiles The Funeral Industry

Bob — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:27:56 +0000

In this week’s issue of Newsweek magazine, Associate Editor Matthew Philips in “Where Death Comes Cheap,” that the $15 billion funeral industry has always been seen as recession-proof. But this recession is proving different. Families are beginning to seek ways to cut bills that were once seen as sacrosanct. Long-term trends (like the growing acceptance of cremation) are coalescing with the down economy to lead some industry veterans to sense a shift.

Consumerist on Funerals

Bob — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:46:09 +0000

Much of it is common sense, but it bears repeating, since many people aren’t in a common-sense frame of mind when making arrangements.

It boils down to knowing the Funeral Rule, and being an informed consumer.

There are also links to online casket sellers, and the Funeral Consumers Alliance.

Consumerist article

Carriage Services Announces Results

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:50:05 +0000

Melvin C. Payne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated “This past year and especially the last quarter were challenging to say the least, but we finished with a strong December primarily because of our funeral operations. We have positioned our company for improved performance in 2009 on the strength of our funeral operations and the repositioning of our trust fund portfolio during the fourth quarter and early 2009. We do not expect to repeat the large amount of special charges that impacted our 2008 performance, and notwithstanding the extraordinarily difficult economic environment, we expect modestly improved cemetery performance in 2009. All in all, we believe we are in position to not only survive this unusual period, but to thrive and exploit any opportunities that come our way.”

The full release includes information about a class action settlement, stock repurchase, and changes in the Board of Directors.

Long-Distance Funerals

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:02:08 +0000

Two articles, from Michigan and Colorado, discuss the growing use of technology to make it easier for scattered families to participate in funeral. One family used a free teleconferencing service; the other used the funeral home’s webcast option.

Phil Montgomery used a free web service to set up a teleconference funeral for a cousin today, hoping to virtually reunite family and friends from across the country. His cousin lived in Sacremento; they both grew up in Colorado Springs. Montgomery now lives in Huntington Beach.

Rodney C. Wakeman, co-owner of Wakeman Funeral Home in Saginaw, says friends and families have responded positively to their recently added option of live or delayed webcasts. Wakeman offers either a private webcast at a non-public website, or links to the video on the main funeral home website. “So far,” he says, “everybody who has worked with this has gone by the way of a more public option.”

Other Saginaw-area directors aren’t so sure. Sam Leppert, owner and director of McIntyre Funeral Chapel in Saginaw says despite the proliferation of sites like YouTube, families don’t want funeral services “plastered all over the Internet.”

“Quite honestly, folks in Saginaw are not ready for that yet. Funerals are more traditional.”

Maryland Directors Weathering the Downturn

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:43:05 +0000

Central Maryland funeral directors are weathering the current economic downturn fairly well at the moment.

“With the changes in the economy, funeral homes are not a whole lot different from a business standpoint,” says G. Douglas Stauffer, co-owner of Stauffer Funeral Home. “Operating costs and overhead are far greater than they were. … Contrary to what many people believe, the large profits simply aren’t there. You’ve got to be a good manager and provide good service to survive, and you can’t take shortcuts.” Stauffer Funeral Home has 6 facilities in the area, and recently consolidated their administrative operations in Frederick, to save money.

Stauffer and Keith Roberson of Keeney & Basford Funeral Home in Frederick both say families have not been cutting back significantly on their options, saying that many families have already made provisions for funeral costs. Still, Stauffer says prearrangements are starting to fade slightly at his business.

The Gazette has more.

NY Funeral Home Closes After 133 Years

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:31:09 +0000

Valentine Funeral Home and Monument Works, located in Millerton, New York, is closing its doors this week, after 133 years in business. The current owner, Dick Valentine, took over in 1960; the business opened in March of 1875.

Valentine was prepared to sell the business, he said, and had a buyer lined up; he was making final preparations to close the deal. Then a month ago, the buyer backed out, leaving Valentine with no legal way to run the business. “By that time, all of my licenses expired and I just turned 74 and I didn’t want to start over again. I had a friend look into the legalities of it but then his wife got sick. I just can’t continue, there’s no sense any more. The hardest part is not the financial thing, it’s what will the people in town do now?”

The village of just under 1,000 is located near the NY-Mass-Connecticut border. The nearest funeral homes are now 10 to 20 miles away. Valentine hopes his son can keep the monument business open.

Alabama Funeral Director Arrested

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:19:15 +0000

The Gadsden Times is reporting the arrest of Harold Watson, Sr., owner of Watson and Sons Funeral Home, for felony abuse of a corpse.

Edna Kathleen Woods died of natural causes in 2007, and her family entrusted her care to Watson and Sons Funeral Home.

Watson claims the family never paid him for her services, then he lost contact with the family. After storing her remains at the funeral home for at least a year, Watson allegedly put the body in a shipping container, loaded the container in the hearse, and drove the hearse to property he owns some two miles from the funeral home. There, he allegedly parked the vehicle outside a building, and removed the battery to prevent theft of the vehicle.

Watson is claiming the family wanted their relative cremated, but never paid for the service. A death certificate states that she was cremated a week after she died, however.

More from the Gadsden News, and the Associated Press.

Matthews International Executive Appointments

Bob — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:36:11 +0000

Matthews International, a designer, manufacturer and marketer principally of memorialization products, announced two executive appointments recently.

Jennifer A. Ciccone, Corporate Human Resources Director since 2006, has been appointed Vice President, Human Resources. She’s been with the company since 1998.

Brian D. Walters has been appointed Vice President and General Counsel. He has previously served as Corporate Legal Counsel since 1995.