Burial Services

Traditional Funeral

It is through the funeral process that a number of emotional needs are met for those who grieve.  The funeral

declares that death has occurred.  It commemorates 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 the visitation 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 following material will allow you to understand some of the arrangements available when choosing a traditional funeral with viewing and earth burial.

Of course, we don't expect you to make selections based on this information alone.  We will be glad to set up an appointment for a conference to fill in needed details.  During that conference, an itemized list of actual expenses will be provided.

Costs associated with this type of funeral can include:

• Transfer to the funeral home
• Embalming, custodial care, dressing and casketing, cosmetology
• Non-declinable basic professional arrangement fee, other funeral director and staff charges and use of facilities
• Livery equipment the day of funeral
• Casket ($995 Carbon metal variety to $3,400 Premium select hardwood)
• Outer interment receptacle (when required by cemetery) $695 - $1,595
• Flowers or other funeral tributes
• Memorial book, cards and bulletins

Other considerations associated with the traditional funeral are cash advance items paid to third parties involved, such as; cemetery charges for opening and closing the grave, charges by newspapers for obituaries, clergy honoraria, and certified death certificates.

People often confuse not having traditional earth burial as not having a funeral.  Even if a family chooses cremation over traditional earth burial, they can still have a meaningful memorial service. 

Cremation or Burial

This is one of the major decisions that needs to be made when a death occurs and it usually depends on a variety of things.  If the family has traditionally chosen burial in previous generations, they may decide to choose earth burial as the family might own plots together in a local cemetery.  Furthermore, a family may not like the idea of cremation and opt for burial.  There are certain costs associated with burial.  Some of them include casket selection, plot within the cemetery and headstone in the cemetery.  Each cemetery is governed by their own board of directors therefore prices and guidelines differ from one cemetery to the next.

"Disposition" is the term used by the funeral industry to describe the final handling of the deceased's remains. Although your initial decision for the disposition of the body is between burial and cremation, there are several variations on each. Whichever choice you make, the body will return to its natural elements.

Burial Choices

• It can be interred (earth burial)
• It can be entombed in a crypt within a mausoleum (above-ground burial)
• It can be buried at sea

Reasons For Choosing Burial

1. Burial is traditional within your family, religious group, or geographical area. 
2. You do not like the idea of the body being "burned"
3. You prefer to have the body slowly return to the elements.
4. You want to erect a monument on the grave
5. Perhaps you want to visit the grave in the days to come, and you find a graveyard more appealing than say, a columbarium.

Decisions You Must Make If You Choose Burial

• Whether or not the body is to be embalmed
• Which kind of casket(or coffin) will house the body
• Whether to buy a casket, rent one, or build your own
• Whether or not the cemetery requires a vault or grave liner
• Which cemetery to use
• What kind of plot
• What to put on the gravestone