I know I've mentioned before that some people decide to pre-plan their funeral services, and that it insures that their wishes are followed after they die. Well, we had a death this week for a woman who had done just that, and pre-planned a funeral service in the chapel, followed by burial in a cemetery here. She picked out everything, and prepaid for it all, so when she died we got started arranging for everything and found out she has no family. Apparently the state (or county or whatever) appointed a public guardian to her to help take care of her (find a nursing home, figure out medical care, take care of finances, etc.) since her husband died 20 years ago and she had no other family. Normally in that sort of case the public guardian will just have the remains cremated and then buried somewhere, using any funds that the deceased has left, but in her case it was all taken care of, so the guardian let us take care of it all.
Anyway, we knew no one was going to come to the service. It seems sad to think that, and I suppose it is, but all of us were kind of excited that we would get to be the attendees for the service. Our very own Buck was the officiate, and Monica, Tank and I sat in the first pew of the chapel. Boss sat in the back (he was the only one that knew the deceased at all), and Big Bird popped her head in a few times. The service lasted about 25 minutes, and at the end Buck and Buffy sang Amazing Grace a cappella, and it was beautiful. We were all given a chance to say a few words about the woman that had died, and although we didn't know her we said what was on out hearts. It was really a wonderful service, and a great end to my week.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mourners, party of 3...
Posted by Doll Face at 4:23 PM
Labels: death, funeral, importance, pre-arrangement, staff
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9 comments:
maybe it's due to a raging case of pms, but this made me teary.
If that ever happens to me, I hope that there are people like you around.
This made me smile, but it also made me very sad.
I will rejoice in knowing she's reconnected with her husband now... and am thankful you and the staff there have such good hearts.
RIP sweet lady.
That is so sad, but I have to say it was very kind of all of you to attend her service and send her off appropriately.
I wonder if those folks at the "big chain" burial companies would make the same effort?
I think it's sad that the family owned funeral parlors are disappearing.
Of course I also think it's sad that the cemeteries aren't dual use. They'd make great miniature golf courses.
I love that y'all attended the ceremony and it lasted TWENTY-FIVE minutes. That speaks a lot about you and your funeral home.
I also like that I can pre-plan my funeral. I LOVE planning and am quite particular. Do I have to be old or dying to stop by?
HS- I know what you mean. However, it would have been WAY more sad had we not had the service.
Jane, Anne, and Ashley- Thanks guys. We were glad to have been a part of her funeral, and I'm glad it didn't come off as being weird that we did that.
IT- I don't know if the big guys would have done the same, but I like to think they would. And they've kinda shot themselves in the foot buying so many funeral homes at such high prices, now having to charge $8,000 for a service when family-owned ones are about half that.
ANd I've been saying cemetery/golf courses would be a GREAT idea for years. I mean, my dad would LOVE to be buried in the rough on hole 8, you know?
Alex- you don't have to be old *or* dying. And you can plan it all right down to the song selections. It's kind of a fun (okay, maybe that's not the right word) thing to do, and you can usually make payments, and if you're young the payments work out to be *less* than if you paid it all at once. Who knew?
This was a really lovely post. So sweet.
Amanda- Thanks!
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