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Cover photo taken in Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, California, by Greg Abbott.
January 2004
Past - Present - Future Ron Hast
Ron presents anecdotes of funeral service stages through the years and examines patterns of change that the business will continue to undertake.
Mortuary Management
Salutes Pillars and Personalities
This month's honoree is a very special person whose talents and efforts are appreciated for many reasons. The profile must be read in its entirety to be understood.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
A discussion with someone critical of traditional burial services; why it is that most of the News Briefs in Mortuary Management contain bad news; some of the serious and humorous matters people think of when preparing their final arrangements; the significance of keeping the funeral garage environment neat and clean; the location of conventions relative to their success; and the matter of flower arrangements left behind when arrangements are made that can't utilize them.
Just As I Am Thomas Lynch
Thomas Lynch recounts his presentation to Project Compassion, an end-of-life issues advocacy group, on the subject of the good death, good grief and the good funeral. Everyone was in agreement until he came to the part about the good funeral, and the importance of dealing with the body.
Employee Issues Douglas O. Meyer
Adopting a policy that affects your employees -- no matter how fair or reasonable you think the policy is -- may have unforeseen consequences that you did not take into consideration.
SCI To Pay $100 Million (Houston, Texas)
Service Corporation International agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-action suit that alleged negligence and misconduct at two cemeteries in Florida.
Judge Makes Rulings In Tri-State Case (Lafayette, Georgia)
A judge has denied a request for indigent status to cover costs in the trial of a crematory operator accused of dumping decaying bodies around his family business.
Family Sues Over Disfigured Corpse (New York, New York)
A family filed a $6 million lawsuit against the city and two funeral homes, claiming his body was eaten by rats while in their care.
Body-Parts Dealer Sentenced (San Diego, California)
The owner of a cremation company that dismembered dozens of human bodies and sold the parts for profit was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Cemetery Operator To Pay Back Customers (Jackson, Ohio)
A former cemetery operator convicted of frauding dozens of families has agreed to return more than $25,000 for burial plots, vaults and grave markers they never received.
Court Approves Class-Action Lawsuit (Rockland, Maine)
Justice Kirk Studstrup ruled that the 21 people who are suing a former Camden and Windsor funeral director can do so together.
Former Manager Accused Of Theft (Stafford, New Jersey)
A former manager of a Stafford funeral home was charged with forgery and theft from the business.
Funeral Home Sued Over Preneed Funds (Garden City, Idaho)
The Idaho Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against the former owners of a Garden City funeral home.
Salesman Accused Of Embezzling (Clinton, Connecticut)
A salesman at a Service Corporation International funeral home was charged with embezzling some $14,000 from the parent company.
Couple Accused Of Stealing (Marksville, Louisiana)
A former funeral home manager and his wife were arrested on charges that they doctored the company's financial records and stole from its owner.
Court Says Caskets Are Taxable (St. Louis, Missouri)
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that caskets are subject to sales tax, while reaffirming that sales tax should not be charged on the sale of outer burial containers.
Independent Funeral Homes Thriving (Washington, D.C.)
Family-owned funeral homes seem to be fairing well while the major industry corporations struggle.
Sale Of Non-Existing Crypts (Clinton Township, Michigan)
Alarmed over a mausoleum project that has left customers frustrated and angry, state officials have launched an investigation.
NFDA To Enforce Guidelines (Brookfield, Wisconsin)
The National Funeral Directors Association has developed a system for disciplining or expelling funeral directors for violating its ethics code.
Bill Takes Aim At Funeral Industry (Venice, Florida)
State Representative Nancy Detert announced that she will propose legislation aimed at cleaning up what she called "outrageous offenses" in the funeral industry.
Body-Tracking Bill Signed (Albany, New York)
A new law requires that a receipt be given in exchange for a body whenever it changes hands, and a copy of that receipt must go to the family of the deceased.
Funeral Home Sues Competitor (Paradise, California)
A mortuary is suing a former employee based on allegations of fraud and slander in connection to a number of insurance policies it says were sold.
Funeral Home Under Scrutiny (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Alberta Government Services is investigating a Calgary funeral home after allegations surfaced that bodies were being cremated on discarded scrap plywood or cardboard.
Family Makes Plea Agreement (Hilo, Hawaii)
The manager of a Big Island mortuary and two of his family members pleaded no contest to charges of stealing $500,000 from a funeral plan trust fund.
Funeral Home License Revoked (Toledo, Ohio)
A Toledo funeral director pleaded no contest to abusing a corpse and to a theft charge stemming from a $1,100 payment for funeral services that were never provided.
Mortician May Lose License (Mattapan, Massachusetts)
State funeral regulators are threatening to strip a Mattapan mortician of his license after he admitted harboring a corpse in his cellar for two years.
Cryonics Activities Frozen By State (Clinton Township, Michigan)
The state of Michigan has ordered a halt to activities at a cryonics organization, accusing it of operating as an unlicensed funeral establishment and an unregistered cemetery.
Family Sues Over Deteriorated Casket (Knollwood, Ohio)
Family members have sued a cemetery and a funeral home, saying they were robbed of their peace of mind and their loved one's gun.
Tombs Increasing In Popularity (Glendale, California)
Cemetery owners are plotting high-end mausoleums that contain amenities like waterfalls, interactive technology, elaborate chapels, gazebos and even cafes.
Accidental Cremation Of Infant (Boston, Massachusetts)
State investigators launched a probe into how a stillborn baby could have been accidentally cremated with an elderly corpse at a Boston funeral home.
Concern Over Cremating Mercury (Scotland)
Researchers have found that families living near crematoriums face a greater threat from mercury poisoning.
Trends In Earth-Friendly Burials (Denver, Colorado)
Nature lovers are looking for more Earth-friendly ways to rest in peace, and that quest is changing the landscape of American cemeteries.
First Green Cemetery In Florida (Glendale, Florida)
The first of its kind in the state, the Glendale Nature Preserve in Walton County offers an ecological alternative for burials.
Intern Claims Sexual Harassment (Acadiana, Louisiana)
A former embalming intern claims in a lawsuit that his two male supervisors sexually harassed him and that he was fired after he complained.
More Women Entering The Industry (Chicago, Illinois)
Recent data shows that 51% of students in funeral-education programs are female, up from just 5% in 1975.
Program Awaiting Accreditation (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Two years after Southern University at Shreveport started a funeral services administration program, students are waiting for the program to be accredited.
Cemetery Pressured Over Entertainment (Brooklyn, New York)
Officials at Brooklyn's famous Green-Wood Cemetery have come under increasing pressure over their policy of hosting entertainment events there.
Cover photo taken in a colorful cemetery located north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, by Allan Abbott.
February 2004
A Saga Worth Watching Ron Hast
The consensus among death care providers in California is a desire to be governed by sensible, even-handed rules and regulations. However, the present system is unprofessional and interferes with funeral service business to comply with regulations.
Mortuary Management Salutes Pillars and Personalities
A profile of Jacquelyn Taylor, Executive Director of the New England Institute at Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
A funeral home manager recalls a hilarious sign in his motel room when he to a Colorado town to attend a funeral; the unusual items that sometimes accumulate in a funeral home; how a mischievous funeral director would tempt customers to purchase a particular casket; a public relations effort by a funeral home that still produced comments many years after; how a funeral home owner recognized her limitations with age and took appropriate measures to ensure the best ceremony for her clients.
Things To Do Douglas O. Meyer
Some suggestions for your first to-do list of the year, including adopting a policy to deal with poor performing employees and paying a visit to the crematory you use, if you don't own your own.
New Law Protects Burial Wishes (Glenwood Springs, Colorado)
A new Colorado law gives people added guarantees that their funeral and burial wishes will be carried out as they desire.
State Regulations Vary (Washington, D.C.)
A recent study finds that state regulations of laws dealing with cemeteries and crematories vary widely.
Congress May Allow Bereavement Visas (Honolulu, Hawaii)
An increasingly stringent immigration policy has prompted a push in Congress to loosen restrictions that have barred entry to the United States for grieving families trying to reunite with dead or dying loved ones.
Woman Doesn't Fit Casket (Norwood, Ohio)
After the burial of an Ohio woman who did not fit the casket properly, her family is contending that she'll never be at peace.
Industry Adapting To Obesity (Lynn, Indiana)
The issue of obesity in America is vividly illustrated at Goliath Casket of Lynn, Indiana, specialty manufacturers of oversize casket.
Grave Consequences Of Slow Economy (South Portland, Maine)
Low interest rates and poor investment returns have left cemeteries trying to maintain eternal resting places with little or no income from trust funds established to provide perpetual care.
Mausoleum Business Thriving (Roslindale, Massachusetts)
At a time when baby boomers are inching closer to old age, some are pointing to a resurgence in the popularity of private mausoleums.
Graveyards Support Biodiversity (Falls Church, Virginia)
In recent years there has been growing recognition that graveyards support biodiversity and offer refuge for endangered plants and animals.
Secular Memorials (Dallas, Texas)
In a society where half the population claims no religious affiliation, a growing number of people don't want a minister conducting their funeral.
Regulation And Competition (Gambier, Ohio)
A Kenyon College professor believes that state laws and regulations in the funeral industry drive up the cost of burials.
Test Marketing Of Simple Tribute (Nashville, Tennessee)
Stewart Enterprises opened Simple Tribute in Nashville a little over two years ago as part of a three-city venture that includes Jacksonville, Florida; and Rockville, Maryland.
Roadside Memorials Spark Controversy (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Roadside memorials are cropping up with growing frequency and challenging transportation departments charged with regulating materials on public rights of way.
Funeral Operator Pleads Guilty (Shreveport, Louisiana)
A funeral home operator has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with a scheme that involved faking her nephew's death to collect insurance money.
Mobster Burials (Elizabeth, New Jersey)
A mobster undertaker allegedly used "double-decker coffins" so that victims of mob hits could be buried secretly in the same box as legitimate clients.
Sale Of Bogus Plots (St. Augustine, Florida)
Two women are charged with selling burial plots that didn't exist and pocketing the money.
Crematory Problems With Traditional Coffins (Hong Kong, China)
Chinese undertakers are experiencing difficulties in getting traditional Chinese coffins to fit the ovens at Hong Kong's newest $17.6 million crematorium.
Taxman Targets Funerals (Australia)
The Australian Taxation Office is reportedly targeting prepaid funeral fund "friendly societies" by taxing those who pay for their burial service in advance.
Funeral Home Break-In (Seaboard, North Carolina)
The Faison Funeral Home in Seaboard was broken into, most likely with the motive of obtaining embalming fluid for use in drug making.
Clowning Around (Washington, D.C.)
A lifelong Shriner clown, known to fans as "Kurlie," wanted to be buried in full clown makeup with pallbearers in clown costumes.
Scientists Study Near-Death Experiences (Manchester, England)
Scientists in Britain hope to set up an experiment to find out whether the mind can leave the body at the brink of death.
Web Logs Of The Dead (Seattle, Washington)
A Seattle-based freelance writer has launched one of the many obituary sites springing up online.
Director To Return Stolen Funds (Magor, South Wales)
A former funeral director who duped grieving relatives in order to steal from the company she was working for has been ordered to pay compensation.
More Japanese Choose Non-Traditional Burial (Tokyo, Japan)
More people in Japan are starting to plan their own funerals, leaving behind the traditional Buddhist practice of being buried with their ancestors.
Greek Cremation Laws Under Fire (Athens, Greece)
Current laws in Greece prohibit cremation, but advocates are trying to change that.
New Eco-Friendly Caskets (East Sussex, Ireland)
A company in Ireland is making caskets in unique designs with environmentally-sound materials.
Focus On The Environment (Sofia, France)
European undertakers are bracing for aging baby boomers and looking for eco-friendly ways to handle a sharp increase in business in the coming years.
Wife's Body Stored For Years (Prescott, Arizona)
A 75-year-old man stored his wife's body for nearly six years in his backyard because he hoped she could someday be brought back to life.
Chief Medical Examiner Resigns (Washington, D.C.)
The Chief Medical Examiner resigned amid a furor over operational problems and allegations of sexual harassment.
The Emperor's New Clothes (Moscow, Russia)
The preserved body of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin received its first change of clothes for more than 60 years.
Funeral Ads Pulled (Norway)
A Norwegian newspaper has pulled an advertisement for a local funeral parlor on the grounds that it was offensive.
A Mortician's Hobby (Madison, Wisconsin)
An energetic 83-year-old who works at the Fitch-Lawrence-Sanfillippo-Cress Funeral Home in Madison is well known for his hobby of taxidermy.
Coffin-Shaped Smokers' Shelter (Manchester, England)
A coffin-shaped smokers' booth has been placed outside an office in Manchester to discourage workers from lighting up.
Hearse Driver Loses Coffin (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
A Dutch funeral director fired a hearse driver for losing a coffin on the way to a funeral.
Thieves Rob From Casket (North Charleston, South Carolina)
Police in North Charleston are looking for whoever broke into a casket and stole cash that the woman's relatives had placed inside.
Awaking In A Morgue (Hanoi, Vietnam)
An elderly Vietnamese man, thought to have died in a hospital, revived after spending a night in the morgue.
Man Dies At His Funeral (Ramos Majia, Argentina)
Doctors in Argentina say a 94-year-old man died at his own wake.
Teens Sentenced In Grave-Robbing (Riverhead, New Jersey)
A Long Island teenager who pleaded guilty to taking human remains from a cemetery has been sentenced to five years of probation.
Man Lies Dead For Several Years (Hamburg, Germany)
A German man lay dead in his bed for almost three years before being found.
Man Jailed For Eating Neighbor's Corpse (Purbalingga, Jakarta)
A Indonesian cannibal was sentenced by a Javanese court to five years in jail after he dug up the corpse of his neighbor and ate parts of her.
Remains At A Discount (Columbus, Ohio)
A man who bought a wooden box for about two dollars at a thrift shop in Ohio found it contained human ashes.
Cover photo of an altar for home worship in Japan taken by Steve Nimz.
March 2004
Japan: Impressive Wisdom in Service and Style Ron Hast
Ron compares Japanese and American standards in service and style, and touches upon the elaborate cremation formalities held in Japan.
Mortuary Management Salutes Pillars and Personalities
A profile of Terry O'Neill, President of Specialty Hearse & Limousine Sales Corporation.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
The diminishing number of holiday cards with a religious message; a discussion of the practicality of natural burial sites; taking advantage of equipment updates in the office environment that allow for additional services to be offered; and some humorous tactics that have been used to get a doctor to quickly sign a death certificate.
Japan: Conduct and Standards
Beyond Rules and Regulations Ron Hast / Steve Nimz
A photographic profile of a Japanese funeral company that operates 19 funeral service locations and a company that specializes in air and waste purification, emphasizing the point that in Japan, it is common practice to go above and beyond operating regulations and requirements.
Arbitration Clauses and Other Contract Language Douglas O. Meyer
Many businesses now include arbitration clauses in their contracts, which state that the parties agree to resolve any dispute between a neutral third party instead of through the court system. However, before you add an arbitration clause to your contract, there are a number of factors you should consider.
Settlements Reached Over Discarded Bodies (Rome, Georgia)
A federal court has given preliminary approval to a $300,000 settlement in a lawsuit against a funeral home over uncremated bodies.
Marsh Declared Indigent (LaFayette, Georgia)
The former operator of a crematory, who faces felony charges for his alleged mistreatment of corpses, has been cleared to seek public money for his defense.
Is Corporate Death Care Dying? (Houston, Texas)
Financial struggles, combined with the nation's slowing death rate and a surge in the popularity of lower-cost alternatives, have left funeral providers in a pinch.
More Challenges For SCI (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
SCI may have resolved one of the largest cemetery abuse cases in history with a proposed $100 million settlement, but its problems are far from over.
Medicare Act Keeps Exclusion For Preneed Trusts (Washington, D.C.)
President Bush has signed into law the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which does not eliminate the current exclusion for preneed funeral and burial trusts in order to qualify for this benefit.
Industry Bracing For Shortage Of Directors (Phoenix, Arizona)
Fewer students are heading into the funeral industry, creating concerns that there may not be enough undertakers to meet demand.
City Death Tax Thrown Out (Fall River, Massachusetts)
To the Silvas, a family of funeral directors and lawyers, the bereaved in their native Fall River were being taxed to death.
Funeral Home Sued (Fairfield, California)
The state of California has sued Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, alleging unfair business practices and civil fraud in how it has handled burials.
Restitution Made In Case Of Overcharging (Fresno, California)
A Fresno man has been paid a settlement in a case involving allegations of overcharges for services from a funeral home.
Reflecting Pools Chosen as WTC Memorial (New York, New York)
A design featuring two reflecting pools where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood was chosen as the winning design for a memorial to the terrorist attack victims of September 11, 2001.
Historic Gravestones Find A Place Online (Worcester, Massachusetts)
A unique collection of historic grave markers have been preserved in photographs and are now available on the Internet at www.davidrumsey.com/farber/.
New Mausoleums Designed For The Living (Saint Louis, Missouri)
Two mausoleums being built in the Saint Louis area represent the latest in style and construction.
Death Care Attendants Underpaid (Washington, D.C.)
According to recent salary and wage figures, funeral home attendants are among the 10 most underpaid jobs in the United States.
Dallas Funeral Home Fined (Dallas, Texas)
State regulators have fined a North Texas funeral home for allowing an unlicensed employee to embalm hundreds of bodies.
Customers Get Some Funds Back (Boston, Massachusetts)
The Attorney General's office announced that $273,224 has been returned to customers of a Fall River funeral home because the owner had not honored prepaid funeral contracts.
Cemetery Bookkeeper Sentenced (Denver, Colorado)
A bookkeeper has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing an estimated $401,486 from one of the state's first cemeteries.
Graveyards Packed With Preserved Bodies (Hamburg, Germany)
At least 40 of the country's largest graveyards are no longer usable as they are full to capacity with undecayed bodies.
Cemetery Ordered To Pay Family (Jacksonville, Florida)
A civil court jury ordered Restlawn Cemetery to pay $600,000 to a family who claimed the body of a loved one was buried in the wrong plot.
Sale Brings Closure (Tallahassee, Florida)
A Tallahassee woman said the sale of a funeral home and cemetery she operated brought closure to an ugly chapter in her life, after her parents and brother were involved in a scandal over improper burial practices.
Former Senator Reburied (Rockledge, Florida)
The late Senator Howard Futch has been reburied after a cemetery mistakenly sold an adjacent plot meant for his wife.
French Dead Go Digital (Saint Andre de la Roche, France)
A cemetery in southern France has joined the information age, thanks to a new computerized system that maps the way to graves and enables people to leave electronic condolence messages.
Glow-In-The-Dark Gravestones (Vienna, Austria)
An Austrian company is selling solar-powered, glow-in-the-dark gravestones.
Preneed Sales Suspended At Funeral Home (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
An Oklahoma funeral home was issued an order prohibiting it from selling pre-paid services.
Family Seeks Settlement From County (Snohomish County, Virginia)
The family of a deceased man filed a $250,000 claim against the county because the man's remains were given to the family twice.
Funeral Firm Faces Charges (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
A Toronto funeral company and its western regional director were charged as an Alberta funeral home was accused of cremating bodies on scrap plywood and cardboard.
Funeral Director's Licenses Revoked (Brattleboro, Vermont)
The owner of a funeral home had two of his licenses revoked for failing to pay his personal income taxes for several years.
First Park-Like Burial Ground Opens In Taipei (Taipei, Taiwan)
Taiwan's first site for the burial of cremated remains under trees in a park-like setting has opened.
Arrest In Connection With Missing Funds (Ayer, Massachusetts)
A woman was arrested in connection with missing money and property from the funeral home she used to be employed by.
Stopping Junk Mail To The Dead (Toronto, Canada)
A new service in Canada is taking aim at stopping junk mail and marketing calls to people who are dead.
Warning On Preneed Contracts (Taipei, Taiwan)
The Consumers' Foundation has warned against preneed funeral contracts that require advance payments without putting the money into trust funds.
Biohazard Cleanup For Leaking Crypt (Boynton Beach, Florida)
City officials had to coordinate a biohazard cleanup at a mausoleum where workers discovered a leaking crypt.
Hearse Ejects Corpse Into Traffic (Duesseldorf, Germany)
A hearse overturned on a German highway, shattering the coffin and ejecting the corpse onto the road.
Gravestones Laid Flat (Manchester, England)
Workmen have toppled 2,000 gravestones at Manchester's Southern Cemetery because of safety concerns.
Cold Shower Wakes The Dead (Molapalayam, Tamil Nadu, India)
An 80-year-old man whose relatives thought he was dead came "back to life" after being doused with cold water.
Fraud Counts Added In Suit (Valparaiso, Indiana)
Four years after a lawsuit against a Valparaiso funeral home and cemetery for losing ashes, the family's attorney said it appears the matter has been cleared up.
Smuggling Cigarettes In Hearse (Przemysl, Poland)
Polish customs officers caught an undertaker whose hearse was packed with illegal cigarettes.
Burglars Scared Off By Corpse (Paris, France)
Two burglars who broke into a house were scared off when they came across the body of the owner.
No Gorilla For Corpse Exhibition (Berlin, Germany)
The remains of a gorilla were to be added to a controversial exhibition of human corpses, but an animal rights group says the exhibition has no right to the body.
Cover photo of a river in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, taken by Allan Abbott.
April 2004
White Elephant Mansion Ron Hast
Ron briefly reviews a history of the facilities used for funeral homes and discusses how entrepreneurs often bring fresh ideas to their facilities, embrace simplicity and sensible pricing, and compete effectively with long-established funeral directors.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
A insightful discussion by many funeral directors and others related to the industry regarding natural or "green" burial sites.
Mortuary Management
Salutes Pillars and Personalities
A profile of Gerald Davis, President and CEO of Vandor Corporation.
Reflecting Upon a Culture of Kindness Jerry J. Brown
Jerry explores the idea that the funeral profession is a culture of kindness that has withstood and responded to the ebb and flow of challenge and change. Yet, throughout the inevitable shifting sands of tempest and tranquillity, the funeral and its rituals of tribute and love have stood strong and unbending.
A Passing Douglas O. Meyer
Douglas takes a reprieve from his usual discussion of legal matters to reflect on the dying process of his own grandmother and how much a funeral service carried out well affords a family the opportunity to gracefully reflect back on a loved one's life.
Mortuary School Lawsuit Widens (Boca Raton, Florida)
The first of 23 families who are suing Lynn University and other parties over the unauthorized use of their loved ones' bodies has been given permission to seek punitive damages.
Tax Court Makes Preneed Decision (Boston, Massachusetts)
The United States Tax Court found that a Massachusetts funeral home correctly did not include payments as income in the year they were received under preneed funeral contracts.
SCI's Insurers Refuse To Pay (Houston, Texas)
Two insurers say they shouldn't be required to pay millions of dollars to resolve charges that Service Corporation International desecrated graves at its South Florida cemeteries.
Shareholders Sue SCI (Miami, Florida)
A group of investors is suing SCI, accusing executives of failing to disclose problems with mishandled remains and not having enough money in reserve to deal with lawsuits stemming from the mistakes.
Funeral Attendance Down (Spokane, Washington)
In a survey taken by the national Funeral and Memorial Information Counsel, funeral attendance is down 27% since 1995.
Body Resumes Breathing At Funeral Home (Clovis, New Mexico)
A funeral home owner received the surprise of his career when a man pronounced dead at a hospital came back to life just before he was to be embalmed.
Court Dismisses Decision On Preneed Contracts (Shillington, Pennsylvania)
A Commonwealth Court panel dismissed a decision by the Pennsylvania State Board of Funeral Directors that had ruled that consumers could move their preplanned funeral package to another funeral home anytime before their death.
Bills Target Funeral Industry (Washington, D.C.)
Several new bills aimed at the funeral industry are being called contentious.
Group Sells Over 100 Properties (Boca Raton, Florida)
A Boca Raton investor group that paid $253 million for the assets of Prime Succession Inc. has sold off more than 100 funeral homes and cemeteries.
Stiffer Penalties For Desecrating Historic Cemeteries (Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania)
A bill co-sponsored by Representative George Hasay will dole out stricter penalties for those caught desecrating ancient cemeteries.
Calls For Tougher Cemetery Rules (Des Moines, Iowa)
The proposed Iowa Cemetery Act would require cemetery corporations to keep detailed records of burials to prevent mix-ups.
Budget Cuts Reduce Monitoring Of Industry (Portland, Oregon)
Budget problems have reduced the size of the board that monitors funeral homes and cemeteries in Oregon.
Preneed Fraud (Bridgewater, Massachusetts)
Police investigated a funeral home owner based on an anonymous tip that he illegally spent nearly $150,000 from preneed contracts.
Need For Independent Planners (Boston, Massachusetts)
The director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AgeLab has sighted a need for independent death-care planners.
Cryonics Institute Licensed As Cemetery (Clinton Township, Michigan)
An organization known as the Cryonics Institute is now licensed as a cemetery in Michigan.
Judges Reverse State Preneed Ruling (Raleigh, North Carolina)
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that a cemetery can't sell preneed caskets unless they are licensed by the state as a funeral director.
New Green-Burial Site To Open (San Francisco, California)
A Los Angeles cemetery entrepreneur is planning a nature-friendly burial ground that will be a haven for hikers.
Wrong Corpse Cremated (Austin, Texas)
Travis County officials are investigating how the medical examiner's office accidentally released the wrong body to a funeral home.
Decorations On Grave Cause Controversy (Brewster, Massachusetts)
A grieving mother said she plans to fight after her town set a deadline for her to remove decorations on the grave of her son.
New Rules Anger Mourners (Merced, California)
Controversial changes at the Merced Cemetery District have nearly doubled the cost of burials, and new regulations don't allow visitors to leave memorabilia at gravesites.
Funeral Home Fined For License Violation (Union City, New Jersey)
A Union City funeral home was shut down after state inspectors discovered it had been conducting funeral services for several months without a licensed manager.
Phone Rings Inside Casket (Rochefort, Belgium)
Mourners were shocked when a mobile phone started ringing inside the casket.
Company Offers DNA Vault (Boulder City, Nevada)
Nevada-based ZORNEX Corporation has created Personal (DNA) Genome Vaults to preserve a loved one's genetic strands in a miniature pyramid with a memorial bust on top.
Mausoleum For Sale (Oakland, California)
An exclusive dwelling in the Oakland hills with panoramic bay views is being offered for sale at only $250,000, but there's a catch.
Personalized Funerals Increasing In Popularity (Arlington Heights, Illinois)
Increasing numbers of people are breaking out of the traditional funeral routine and turning death into a celebration of life.
Bogus Funeral Clubs Fleece Pensioners (South Africa)
Fraudulent funeral clubs are stealing from elderly people and getting away with it because South Africa has no governing organization to regulate the industry.
Irish Church Cracks Down On Funerals (Dublin, Ireland)
Downing pints of beer and telling jokes at funeral services will no longer be tolerated by Roman Catholic priests in Ireland.
Police Trace Trail Of Body Parts (Kirkwood, California)
After the leaking contents were accidentally discovered at a shipping facility, three boxes containing human limbs were intercepted by police.
Scottish Woodland Burial Site Wins Award (Fyvie, Scotland)
Scotland's first commercial woodland burial site has received a special award from the Natural Death Center.
Man Declares Parents Dead 40 Times (Berlin, Germany)
A man has been jailed for declaring his parents dead 40 times in order to get charity hand-outs, even though both were alive and well.
Corpse's Head Stolen (Eaton, Ohio)
Vandals broke into a mausoleum and took the head of a corpse from a casket that had been in a vault for about eight years.
Gunfight At Funeral (Los Angeles, California)
A shootout at a mausoleum during a funeral sent hundreds of mourners and visitors at Inglewood Park Cemetery crouching or running for cover.
Vertical Burials Considered (Selangor, Malaysia)
A Malaysian state is considering burying people vertically because it is running out of cemetery space.
Wife Jailed For Grave Fraud (Brisbane, Australia)
The wife of a cemetery caretaker was jailed over a $700,000 grave-plot-selling scam.
Jury Awards Settlement Over Burial (Beaumont, Texas)
A jury recommended $350,000 in damages to a family who sued a cemetery, contending their infant was left unburied in a casket for more than a week.
Corpse Ignored For Two Months (Osaka, Japan)
Police say a man's dead body was ignored by crowds on a busy street corner for two months.
Police Car Rammed During Funeral Procession (Valparaiso, Indiana)
A Valparaiso woman was arrested on drunken-driving charges after police say she rammed a squad car during a funeral procession.
Claims Of Trade In Corpses (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
A member of parliament in Kyrgyzstan has sparked outrage by alleging that the country's prisons and hospitals illegally sold off tons of corpses and body parts that ended up as museum exhibits.
Skin Hunting (Lodz, Poland)
A Polish paramedic has been charged with killing a patient in order to sell her body to a funeral parlor.
Funeral Museum To Open (Fletcher, Ohio)
A couple that operates a funeral home plan to open a funeral museum.
Casket Mix-Up (Cheltenham, England)
Undertakers who took the wrong casket to a funeral have apologized to two grieving families.
Cemetery Worker Buried (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
A man preparing a cemetery vault for a burial was injured when an 800-pound vault cover fell on him, temporarily trapping him inside a grave.
Man Draws Pension Of Dead Mother (Goeppingen, Germany)
A German man hid his dead mother in their backyard in order to continue collecting her pension.
Some Cuban Funeral Services Said To Be Lacking (Havana, Cuba)
Residents of the town on the outskirts of Havana say funeral services provided by the government in the area leave a lot to be desired.
Cover photo of a mustard field in Napa, California, by Michael Abbott.
May 2004
A Pitiful Experience Ron Hast
Ron describes a recent visit to retail casket store that shocks him in many respects. He follows up with a discussion on appropriate pricing strategies that funeral homes should employ to remain competitive. Several examples are related in which funeral directors have had awkward experiences with third-party caskets.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
The story behind the origin of the Telophase Society; an example from Japan of how funeral businesses may embrace an all-in-one approach; how the founder the Telophase Society had been invited to speak at a funeral directors association meeting and was then ridiculed; the use of water-based art objects in the funeral home; and a funeral home that supplies personal-comfort items in each restroom.
Colleague Wisdom
Leadership in death care encourages funeral directors to educate their communities about the value of funerals. We asked for comments and received many insightful responses from our colleagues.
Ridin' High With Jerry Brown Bill McReavy, Jr.
A tribute to the long-standing friendship between the author and "cowboy" Jerry Brown, formerly with Brown-Wilbert Vault Company, who now holds a position with Wilbert Funeral Service Inc.
Mean What You Say Douglas O. Meyer
Whether it's your firm's slogan or following through on an employee matter, mean what you say.
Arrest In Body-Parts Sale Probe (Los Angeles, California)
A probe was launched into whether body parts from cadavers donated for research purposes to the UCLA's medical school were stolen and sold for profit.
Industry Needs More Workers (Atlanta, Georgia)
Industry experts say that the demand for workers is beginning to exceed the supply.
Family Businesses Still Dominate Industry (Houston, Texas)
Revenue is down, the nation's death rate has declined for two straight years and life expectancy is at its highest.
Oklahoma Casket Law Challenged (Ponca City, Oklahoma)
A woman who sells caskets over the Internet asked a federal appeals court to toss out an Oklahoma law that limits such sales to only licensed funeral directors.
Sears Test Markets Funeral Insurance (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Sears Canada Inc. quietly launched a test of a funeral insurance package for its 50+ club members that covers the costs of everything from cremations to funerals.
Dignity To Float Stock (London, England)
A funeral services company that conducted more than 100,000 burials and cremations last year plans a float on the London stock exchange.
SCI To Benefit From Dignity's IPO (Houston, Texas)
Service Corporation International looks poised to reap a multimillion-dollar payday in the United Kingdom.
State Issues New Preneed Rules (Boston, Massachusetts)
New regulations designed to make it easier and safer for consumers to pay in advance for funerals are being issued in Massachusetts.
West Virginia Sues Over Advance Contracts (Elkview, West Virginia)
An Elkview funeral home and its owner were sued by the Attorney General's office in an effort to seize advance contracts the business allegedly took without the proper license.
Arizona Considers Regulation Of Cryonics (Scottsdale, Arizona)
The Arizona Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, state officials and representatives of the cryonics industry have been discussing a proposed bill to bring a cryonics company under state oversight.
Cremation Fee Increase (Boston, Massachusetts)
Massachusetts has increased the fee for cremations by 50% to raise money for the embattled Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, prompting outrage among funeral providers.
Resolution May Be Close In SCI Case (West Palm Beach, Florida)
In the latest development in the litigation involving Service Corporation International, the Assistant Statewide Prosecutor said both sides were close to working out a plea agreement.
Punitive Damages Sought (West Palm Beach, Florida)
Lawyers for more than 60 families suing Menorah Gardens asked a judge to add punitive damages to their claims.
Funeral Homes Reach Settlements (Rome, Georgia)
All funeral homes sued by family members whose loved ones were taken to the Tri-State Crematory have now reached settlement.
Insurance Agents Fined (Severna Park, Maryland)
Two Maryland insurance agents have been hit with a record fine and ordered to pay the money back.
Insurance Company To Pay For Overbilling (Fairfield, Ohio)
Cincinnati Life Insurance Co. agreed to pay approximately $1 million to settle allegations that a company it bought charged blacks more for burial insurance.
Brain Disease Causes Concern (Pensacola, Florida)
A rare and fatal brain disease with no known cause or cure could be dangerous for those who work with infected bodies.
Funeral Home Operators Face Federal Charges (Prescott, Arkansas)
A husband and wife have been indicted on federal charges stemming from their operations at a Prescott funeral home.
Cemetery Owner Charged With Check Fraud (Suffolk, Virginia)
A cemetery owner has been charged with passing a worthless check.
Industry Adapting To Declining Death Rates (Rockland, Massachusetts)
The nation's slowing death rate and a surge in the popularity of lower-cost alternatives have left funeral providers in a pinch.
Body Worlds' Creator Denies Allegations (Frankfurt, Germany)
Gunther von Hagens, who preserves human bodies to exhibit them, has denied using corpses of executed Chinese in his shows.
Director Pleads Guilty To Preneed Theft (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
A funeral director pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from prepaid funeral accounts.
Upright Gravestones Making Come-Back (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
A Vancouver company that supplies grave memorials thinks upright monuments are regaining popularity.
Casket Floats From Grave (Fairfield Township, Ohio)
When family members returned to the grave two days after burying their mother, they found the coffin floating upside-down in about eight feet of water.
Burial Money Stolen (San Bernardino, California)
A man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing from a 95-year-old woman who bought a burial policy from him.
Vases Stolen From Cemetery (Honolulu, Hawaiian)
Thieves stole nearly $7,000 worth of bronze vases from the Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery.
Green Burial Concept Gaining Momentum (South Burlington, Vermont)
A growing number of people want environmentally friendly or "green" burials.
Natural Scatterings Gaining Acceptance (Tokyo, Japan)
In Japan, where 99% of the dead are cremated, scattering the ashes in the hills or the sea has long been considered taboo.
Funeral Home Adds Kitchen Facilities (Bremen, Indiana)
A Bremen funeral home is planning to expand its facility to enhance the lounge and cooking areas.
Cremation Ads Under Fire (Daytona Beach, Florida)
A cremation firm in Florida has created some controversy with their brash advertisements.
City Cemeteries To Be Closed Mondays (Cleveland, Ohio)
The 12 cemeteries owned by the financially-strapped city won't be open on Mondays anymore, and funeral directors are outraged by the cost-saving move.
Deceased Grows Mustache (Ballyhoo, Oklahoma)
A family had to postpone a funeral after the corpse appeared to have grown a mustache.
Officials Consider Pet Cemetery (Oregon City, Oregon)
Oregon City officials may try to increase revenue at the city-owned cemetery by adding plots for pets.
Temple Sues Over Pet Funeral Tax (Tokyo, Japan)
A Buddhist temple in Japan is suing local tax authorities over the levying of taxes on funerals for pets.
Canine Vigil At Funeral Home (Bristol Boro, Pennsylvania)
The faithful dog of a deceased Pennsylvania man seems willing to follow his master anywhere.
Memoirs Of A Model Mortician (New York, New York)
America's most outrageous undertaker has posed for Playboy, dated gangsters and made love in a coffin.
Lawyers Fear Bad Vibes (Manukau, New Zealand)
A firm of lawyers, afraid that a funeral business would put off its Asian clients, has failed in its attempts to stop the undertakers from moving in.
Sports Bar May Become Funeral Home (High Point, North Carolina)
If the city approves a rezoning request, a sports bar may soon be a funeral home and crematorium.
Former Funeral Home Becomes A Tavern (Stanford, Illinois)
When an Illinois funeral home closed, it left a bar in its wake.
Do-It-Yourself Funeral Service (Caracas, Venezuela)
A Venezuelan man was arrested for keeping his grandmother's body in a refrigerator.
Friends Hold Wake In Bar With Stolen Corpse (Junin, Peru)
A group of people stole their friend's body from a morgue and took it to their favorite bar to mourn it.
Office Death Unnoticed For Two Days (Helsinki, Finland)
A tax official who died at his desk in Helsinki went unnoticed by colleagues for two days.
Lavish Funerals Causing Financial Hardship (Bobonong, Batswana)
An official of Batswana has called on people to be prudent and stop spending lavishly on funerals.
Cover photo of giraffe statues in a garden, by Stephen Nimz.
June 2004
Brutally Facing Facts Ron Hast
Our routine has become stale to many who observe us. Some believe that our structure and what we appear to be doesn't fit in with their intentions. Holding on to our status quo, in many circumstances, will sicken our future.
Mortuary Management
Salutes Pillars and Personalities Ron Hast
A profile of Dick and Donna Smith, and the personality they've fostered in their business, Wyant & Smith Funeral Home.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
A "mountain man" arranges a funeral with minimal services; the gradual transition from full-time embalmers on staff to alternative options; several interesting examples of funeral homes with unique "personalities," and proliferation of cremation in regions with transient populations.
Colleague Wisdom
Many in-depth opinions relating to paid preneed funeral arrangements.
When Communities Beg for More Open Space
In London, England, and beyond, many small grave yards have become full. Innovative thinking has transformed them into public parks with a twist.
Managing Your Employees Douglas O. Meyer
Developing and maintain a cohesive staff takes astute management and constant effort, but it's well worth it because you'll have fewer claims and lawsuits by unhappy families and disgruntled employees.
Questions Over Cadaver Market (Los Angeles, California)
A scandal over the sale of cadavers from the University of California at Los Angeles has ignited a debate over the lucrative but shadowy body-parts market and its ethical questions.
Organ Donor Reimbursement Considered (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
The state committee that oversees a fund aimed at increasing organ donations has asked the Health Department to reconsider a previously rejected proposal to pay a portion of donors' funeral costs.
Conflict In Menorah Gardens Case (West Palm Beach, Florida)
A Broward Circuit Court judge indicated he's ready to give preliminary approval to the $100 million settlement in the class-action lawsuit against two troubled Menorah Gardens cemeteries.
State Rules Against Alternative Funeral Home (Nashville, Tennessee)
An attempt to start a low-cost alternative funeral home in Nashville has run into problems.
Casket Samples Prove Popular
Hoping to make the selection process less upsetting for their customers, many funeral homes have taken out the caskets and brought in the casket samples.
Crematory Civil Suit (Rome, Georgia)
The families of more than 300 people whose bodies were found strewn across the grounds of a Georgia crematory will receive nearly $40 million in a settlement with the business and 58 funeral homes.
Industry Changes (South Burlington, Vermont)
Death, as a business, has seen better times.
Man Charged With Bilking Cemetery Group (Nicholson, Pennsylvania)
An ex-Wyoming County fuel dealer has been accused of stealing from a cemetery association.
Embezzlement Of Prepaid Funds (Deadwood, South Dakota)
A former Deadwood funeral director was charged with embezzling money from prepaid funeral trusts.
Funeral Home Exonerated (Montgomery, Alabama)
According to a jury's verdict, Ross-Clayton Funeral Home was not responsible for the maggots found on a murder victim.
Cafe Opens In Chilean Cemetery (Santiago, Chile)
A Chilean cemetery has opened a stylish cafe with outside tables and chairs overlooking graves.
Humane Society Opens Pet Cemetery (Danville, Kentucky)
The Danville-Boyle County Humane Society has opened a cemetery for pets.
State Suspends Cemetery's License (Ocala, Florida)
The license of Lincoln Memorial Gardens was suspended, nearly bringing burial operations at the cemetery to a halt.
Unprofessional Conduct (Shreveport, Louisiana)
The state has suspended the operating license of Patterson's Funeral Home.
Dealing With Pandemic Deaths (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Canada's pandemic flu plan addresses the funeral-related problems if a virus proves especially lethal.
Accommodating Obesity (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Larger people mean larger caskets, which need larger vaults and grave sites in which they'll fit.
Lawsuit Over Botched Burial (Brooklyn, New York)
An Oakwood cemetery is being sued for allegedly disintering a body and reburying it in a different plot without his family's knowledge.
Frightening Graveside Discovery (Springfield Township, Ohio)
A Cincinnati woman, still in mourning, made a horrific discovery next to her boyfriend's grave.
Sentenced For Forgery (Shreveport, Louisiana)
A Shreveport funeral director will spend time in prison for allegedly forging a death certificate for her nephew who is still alive.
Delays With Death Certificates (Denver, Colorado)
Many families are suffering long delays getting death certificates because Colorado and other states nationwide have outdated vital records systems.
Sued For Failing To Embalm (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
A Bernalillo woman is suing a mortuary alleging they failed to embalm her husband or bury him in the clothes she provided.
Loved Ones Buried With Strangers (Orlando, Florida)
Some families in Florida were shocked to discover their loved ones have ended up in the same grave with a stranger.
No More Referrals To Funeral Homes (Inverness, Florida)
An Inverness county emergency medical services provider has been asked to stop giving business cards for funeral homes to grieving people.
Lender Sues Funeral Home (Dayton, Ohio)
A Texas bank has filed for foreclosure on Tobias Funeral Homes Inc.'s six locations and said the company defaulted on more than $2.1 million in loans.
Public Cost For Dying Reviewed (Fort Myers, Florida)
An audit showed Lee County taxpayers were paying more for those who cannot afford a final resting place than they had to.
Economic Alternative (Adelaide, Australia)
An Adelaide woman hopes to shake up the funeral industry by launching a service specializing in $30 cardboard caskets.
Casket Wouldn't Fit Grave (Bulwell, England)
A family was left distraught when their son's casket could not fit in his grave, which had been dug too short.
Memorial T-Shirts (New Orleans, Louisiana)
A New Orleans company specializes in memorial t-shirts and bandannas customized with the names and pictures of people killed on the streets.
Family Visited Wrong Grave For 15 Years (Varese, Italy)
An Italian family learned they had been praying at the wrong grave for 15 years.
Forensic Scientists Weigh Cremains (Knoxville, Tennessee)
Tennessee residents who are cremated still tip the scales more as a pile of ashes than their Florida counterparts do.
Funeral Costs Will Rise with New Laws (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada)
Funeral costs are expected to rise for British Columbia residents as a result of new legislation that is expected to be introduced.
Body Worlds' Creator Denies Allegations (Frankfurt, Germany)
Gunther von Hagens, who preserves human bodies to exhibit them, has denied using corpses of executed Chinese in his shows.
Vases Stolen From Cemetery (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Thieves stole nearly $7,000 worth of bronze vases from the Hawaiian Memorial Cemetery.
Do-It-Yourself Funeral Service (Caracas, Venezuela)
A Venezuelan man was arrested for keeping his grandmother's body in a refrigerator.
Funeral Home Adds Kitchen Facilities (Bremen, Indiana)
A Bremen funeral home is planning to expand its facility to enhance the lounge and cooking areas.
Officials Consider Pet Cemetery (Oregon City, Oregon)
Oregon City officials may try to increase revenue at the city-owned cemetery by adding plots for pets.
Woman Slept With Dead Husband For Two Years (Peckov, Czechoslovakia)
A Czech woman slept beside her dead husband every night for almost two years because she could not accept his death.
They Kept To Themselves (Hampshire, England)
A British retiree did not notice his brother had been dead for 18 months despite sharing a mobile home with him.
Freeze-Dry Burials (Goteborg, Sweden)
Concerns about the environmental impact of embalming fluids or cremation have led a Swedish company to offer freeze-dry burials.
Cremains Cause Panic At Post Office (New Brighton, Pennsylvania)
Cremated remains shipped via the U.S. mail caused near panic at a post office after a torn container spewed some of the ashes into the air.
Woman Lived With Sister's Corpse (Dublin, Ireland)
An elderly Irishwoman shared a room with her sister's corpse for up to a year and sometimes slept with it in the same bed.
The Bride Wore Black (Nice, France)
A 35-year-old French woman married her boyfriend 18 months after he was killed in a car accident.
Desperate For Business (Tokyo, Japan)
Japanese police arrested an undertaker for killing his aunt because he needed to drum up business for his cash-strapped funeral company.
Toppled Gravestone Angers Family (Newcastle Borough, England)
A furious son has lashed out at authorities after his parents' gravestone was toppled for being unsafe.
Graveyard Grazing Causes Complaint (Liverpool, England)
The Church of England launched an investigation after relatives complained about farm animals grazing on their loved ones' graves.
Canine Vigil At Funeral Home (Bristol Boro, Pennsylvania)
The faithful dog of a deceased Pennsylvania man seems willing to follow his master anywhere.
Cover photo taken in the Virgin Islands, by Peter Ehrlich.
July/August 2004
Selling, Renting, Buying and Donating Bodies Ron Hast
Ron provides some background about this often misunderstood business, and also discusses there are clues that funeral providers are looking in to the possibility of offering services to accommodate the rental and purchase of bodies and parts.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
The contents of a spilled urn are vacuumed up at a car wash; comparing the resilience of different gauges of caskets; old hearse clubs around the country; the importance of keeping extra keys and jumper cables handy; how to properly explain the benefits of embalming a family; and a woman who has found some good reasons to enjoy attending funerals.
Colleague Wisdom
Opinions about potential mandated non-declinable fees, as well as views on funeral vehicles.
Thinking About the New Overtime Rules Douglas O. Meyer
The new overtime rules adopted by the federal Department of Labor has raised the concern among some funeral directors that employers will now require them to work longer hours with little or no increase in pay.
Director Addresses Allegations (Staten Island, New York)
A New York funeral director who became entangled in the controversy about illicit trade in body parts offers advice to his colleagues.
Buying Back (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Industry consolidators have been restructuring from their days of overspending and growing too fast, and that has created a rare opportunity for independent operators.
Prepaid Funeral Laws Applauded (Clawson, Michigan)
State lawmakers passed two bills that require cemetery owners to hold in escrow any money made on pre-sold items.
State Bill Would Regulate Crematories (Madison, Wisconsin)
A state representative introduced an assmebly bill that would require cremation authorities in Wisconsin to be licensed by the state.
State Law Delays Cremation Plans (Yakima, Washington)
Nearly a month after her death, a woman's body remained in a refrigeration unit at Keith & Keith Funeral Home in Yakima.
Legislators Want To Make Tombstones Tax-Exempt (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
Two state legislators are hoping to exempt tombstones, memorial monuments and grave markers from the state's sales tax.
Panel Will Resolve Cemetery Issues (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Lawyers for the Menorah Gardens cemetery chain and families who sued it agreed to assemble a panel to oversee the resolution of grave location problems.
Lysol Wipes In Funeral Urn (Belen, New Mexico)
Family members of the late Edward Pacheco were stunned when they discovered that a cremation urn did not hold his ashes.
State Investigates Delay In Cremation (Jackson, Mississippi)
The state is investigating why a Columbus funeral home still had the embalmed body of a man who died six months earlier.
Dignity Creates Millionaires (London, England)
Directors of Dignity will become millionaires as trading in its shares gets under way on the London Stock Exchange.
Joining Forces (Manchester, Tennessee)
Operators of three independent funeral homes are discussing the possibility of consolidating as a means of both lowering costs and improving services.
Autopsies Aid Public Health And Safety (Los Angeles, California)
For people in the death business, it's not the celebrity drug overdoses or the serial killer slayings that stand out.
Industry Accommodating Cremation (Houston, Texas)
The percentage of people electing cremation is on the rise and the change has prompted the industry to become much more creative.
Insurance Company Records Subpoenaed (Iuka, Mississippi)
An Iowa insurance company is under investigation in Mississippi over preneed funeral contracts sold by unregistered agents.
University Scientists Study Cemetery Grass (Mississippi State, Mississippi)
The rows of white "tombstones" in Mississippi State University's North Farm don't mark final resting places.
Varying Prices (Houston, Texas)
There is a wide gap on the price of similar services from various funeral homes owned by Service Corporation International.
Strikers Upset The Bereaved (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Mourners were shocked when striking Urgel Bourgie workers cheered as the casket was loaded into a hearse outside a funeral home.
The Color Line In Death-Care (Waterbury, Connecticut)
There is a gradual shift from the tendency of many blacks to use black funeral homes and whites to use white funeral homes.
City May Buy Troubled Cemetery (Suffolk, Virginia)
In recent years, Suffolk's Carver Memorial Park Cemetery has been plagued by poor maintenance, litter and allegations that people have been buried in the wrong plots.
Past Meets The Present (Peoria, Illinois)
Historic Springdale Cemetery plans to enter the computer age.
Cemetery Columbarium (Augusta, Maine)
An increasing number of individuals and families are choosing to buy vault space for their cremains.
Extreme Makeover (Moscow, Russia)
The founder of Soviet communism has been dead for 80 years, but according to his curator, Vladimir Lenin has never looked better.
Mortuary Science Program Fills A Need (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
As an increasing number of funeral home jobs go unfilled, industry officials are worried about finding enough people to fill the growing need.
Bull Mourns Owner (Roedental, Germany)
A bull that pined for its owner has been led away from his grave after a vigil lasting a number of days.
Pet Treated To Highest Respect (Muskegon, Michigan)
In what may be a first in Muskegon, a funeral home that handles the final rites for people hosted a canine service.
Pet Funeral Home (Stamford, Connecticut)
For some grieving pet owners, handing over their deceased pet to a veterinarian just isn't good enough.
Crematorium Workers Collected Gold Teeth (Tokyo, Japan)
Employees from a crematorium in Japan made extra money by collecting gold teeth from the ashes of dead bodies.
Creamery Crematorium (Guilford, Vermont)
A Vermont creamery has diversified its business in a way that is sure to cause some confusion -- by opening a crematorium.
Funeral Home Abducts Body (New York, New York)
A widower alleged that a funeral home made off with the body of his wife without his knowledge or permission.
Obese Corpse Proves Problematic (Oakland, California)
After collecting the body of a 700-pound man, Alameda County coroner's officials were trying to figure out what to do with the corpse.
Painter Personalizes Caskets (Kent, Ohio)
An artist who specializes in painting on wood has decided to branch into painting caskets.
Hearse Of The Future (Reynolds, Illinois)
The owner of Family Funeral Services said he thinks his latest idea, a top-of-the-line sports utility vehicle modified into a hearse, is the wave of the future.
Casket Robbed Of Jewelry (Boonville, Kentucky)
Five people have been accused of taking more than $20,000 worth of jewelry from a woman's casket.
Man Accused Of Moving Gravestones (Morgantown, Indiana)
A man was charged with moving grave markers at a historic cemetery to make room for a septic system for his home.
Funeral Ceremonies Lighten Up (Roanoke, Virginia)
The last couple of decades have seen a shift from cloaking death in the darkness to celebrating life in the light.
Funeral Homes Offer DNA Retrieval (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
Some funeral homes now offer the option of buying DNA retrieval and storage services when planning a funeral.
Council Considers Grave Reuse (Stoke-on-Trent, England)
Some of Stoke-on-Trent's oldest graves could be dug up and reused to combat the shortage of burial space.
Celebrants Minister To The Non Religious (Nashville, Tennessee)
When somebody dies, their loved ones need a funeral to help them grieve, even when no one in the family is religious.
700-Year-Old Mummies Found (Arequipa, Peru)
Two of the oldest mummies found in Peru have gone on display after their discovery by building workers.
Bronze Age Cremation (Glasgow, Scotland)
The discovery of 4,000-year-old cremated remains has given archaeologists fresh insight into the bonds between humans and animals in prehistoric society.
Mortuary Science Program Fills A Need (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Industry officials are worried about finding enough people to fill the growing need.
Clamp Down On Funeral Pirates (Limassol, Cyprus)
An association of undertakers urged authorities to clamp down on "funeral piracy," where mortuary attendants are stealing away funeral work.
Corpse Wanted (London, England)
Two performance artists searching for a corpse for their newest production have put the word out in hope of a volunteer.
Cemetery Loot Recovered (Amite, Louisiana)
Police have put on display items recovered from a cemetery thief, so that people could come to see if any might belong to them.
For Educational Purposes (Berlin, Germany)
A German artist has written to the country's zoos to ask if they would feed his body to the piranhas once he's dead.
Man Found In Woman's Coffin (Candeal, Brazil)
The grieving relatives of a Brazilian woman were shocked when her coffin was opened to reveal the body of a man.
Mistaken Identity (Bhopal, India)
A 30-year-old man in Madhya Pradesh returned home hours after his cremation.
Poet's Missing Cemetery Gate Found (Amherst, Massachusetts)
After being missing for two decades, the wrought-iron gate that guarded the cemetery plot of poet Emily Dickinson has been found at an antique shop.
Vampire Troubles (Marotinu De Sus, Romania)
Before Toma Petre's relatives pulled his body from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he hadn't been in the news much.
Cemetery Scandal (Rome, Italy)
One of the grand dames of Italian fashion has been charged with trying to bribe her way into the most exclusive cemetery in Rome.
Cover photo taken in Seldovia, on the southern tip of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, by Greg Abbott.
September 2004
Hello, Knock-Knock, Is Anyone Listening? Ron Hast
Ron wonders what message we are seeing when he notes that the Illinois Funeral Directors Association explains to its members through its publication that attendance is low for the association's annual memorial service.
Colleague Wisdom
Opinions on whether funeral directors and staff should show attention and be ready to assist during the service, or whether they should be minimally apparent.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
Why you should take the high road in dealing with competitors; a detailed description of a unique and innovative death care center in Fresno, California; humorous examples of what to do with a body or ashes; and ideas about conducting a secular service.
When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do Jerry J. Brown
Within the past decade, the realm of funeral service and memorialization has responded to the persuasions of individuality and singular character traits by acknowledging and serving its clientele as never before.
Protecting Yourself Douglas O. Meyer
There are certain situations or issues that funeral directors deal with repeatedly and that commonly lead to problems and complaints by families. As your first line of defense, you should have certain statements or disclosures on your contract that the family initials or signs.
Casket Imports George W. Lemke
The executive director of the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America presents the key issues relating to casket imports: quality, delivery, variety, price, marketing and politics.
Cemeteries Sensitive To Diversity (San Francisco, California)
In the San Francisco Bay Area, diversity is redefining communities for the dead as well as the living.
World War II Memorial Opens (Washington, D.C.)
The national monument to the 16 million U.S. men and women who served during World War II opened to the public and immediately helped introduce another generation to the heroism that brought victory to America and its allies.
Federal Death Care Disclosure Act (Washington, D.C.)
Representative Mark Foley, R-Florida, has introduced the "Federal Death Care Disclosure Act."
Funeral Home Fraud (Murray, Kentucky)
Kentucky State Police are investigating a funeral home employee who has been accused of fraud in preneed sales.
Owners Plead Not Guilty (Boise, Idaho)
The former owners of funeral home, accused of taking $186,000 customers spent on prepaid funeral arrangements, are facing a jury trial on federal fraud charges.
Stolen Jewelry (Sapulpa, Oklahoma)
A funeral director was arrested and charged with possession of jewelry stolen from a dead woman.
Mortuary Operators To Pay Restitution (Hilo, Hawaii)
Three members of a family that operates a mortuary in Hilo, after pleading no contest to theft charges for failing to maintain a trust account, have been ordered to pay restitution to customers.
Homeless Man Arrested For Necrophilia (San Francisco, California)
In a bizarre twist to a disturbing case, a man who allegedly had sex with the corpse of an elderly woman cannot be charged for that act.
Cemetery Operator Indicted (Suffolk, Virginia)
The a former owner of the city's largest historically black cemetery was indicted by a grand jury for two felonies and a misdemeanor.
Funeral Home Murders Get Air Time (Hudson, New Hampshire)
The murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison were aired as a featured story on "America's Most Wanted."
Funeral Sector More Profitable (New York, New York)
The funeral industry is quietly making a comeback.
SCI Wants To Move Ahead (West Palm Beach, Florida)
SCI wants to "move ahead" rather than dwell on the shortcomings that led to disinterments and angst for thousands of people.
Crematorium Shut Down (Daytona Beach, Florida)
All State Cremation has been shut down by state officials, citing an immediate danger to the health, safety, and welfare of the general public.
Owner Loses License (Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada)
The operator of the Chapel of Angels Funeral Home in Nipawin and the Kushneryk's Funeral Home in Wakaw had his license to operate revoked.
Siblings Fight Over Mother's Remains (Syracuse, New York)
Feuding over a mother's last wishes for a final resting place has dug a bitter divide between two factions of siblings.
Cryonics Firm Won't Face Oversight (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Alcor Life Extension Foundation won't face direct state oversight this year, as a lawmaker has stopped his push for new regulatory legislation.
Mourners Send Unique Gifts To The Dead (Shanghai, China)
During the Qingming Festival, or "tomb sweeping day," many Chinese now stock up on elaborate sacrificial gifts to send to their dead relatives in the afterlife.
New Veterans Cemetery (Sacramento, California)
Home to one of the highest concentrations of military veterans in the United States, the Sacramento region is slated to become the next metropolitan area in the nation to get a new veteran's cemetery.
Reality Show Compared To Six Feet Under (Los Angeles, California)
Family Plots, which airs on A&E, is a reality show set in a San Diego family-run funeral home that is being compared to Six Feet Under.
The Business Of Body Parts (Baltimore, Maryland)
In a basement of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Ronn Wade's phone rings with yet another request for body parts.
Florida Moves To Consolidating Oversight (Tallahassee, Florida)
Oversight of cemeteries and funeral services in Florida would consolidate under one state board under a bill the Senate passed unanimously.
Green Cemetery Planned In New York (Newfield, New York)
The first green cemetery in New York state may be coming to Newfield.
Vertical Cemetery Plan (Camperdown, Australia)
Australia's first vertical burial cemetery is planned for land north of Camperdown.
Mausoleums Making Comeback (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Private mausoleums are back in vogue.
Australian Above-Ground Burials (Melbourne, Australia)
A boom in above-ground burials has swept Australia in the past decade.
Woman Driving With Dead Mother (Palm Coast, Florida)
An Oklahoma woman drove around for days with her mother's decomposing body in the passenger seat of her car.
Welsh Green Burial Site (Newtown, Wales)
A Welsh couple were so in love with their farm's rolling pastures, they decided to turn it into a green burial site.
Cars At Funeral Ticketed (Boulder, Colorado)
The sensitivity of Boulder's parking department came into question when several mourners emerged from a funeral to find parking tickets on their cars.
Freeze-Dried Burials Coming To Britain (Britain)
An icy alternative to cremation is to be available in Britain within two years.
Cremation Benches (Fairview, Tennessee)
The director at Fairview Cemetery hopes to utilize space as efficiently as possible with above-ground benches that house cremation urns.
Graves Hit Premium Prices (Shanghai, China)
Families in the Chinese city of Shanghai are finding it increasingly expensive to buy graves.
Koreans Prefer Cremation (Seoul, Korea)
According to a recent survey, seven out of 10 Koreans prefer cremation to burial.
Caskets With Panic Buttons (Santiago, Chile)
A cemetery in Santiago, Chile, is offering its clients caskets with a sensor that detects any movement inside them after they have been buried.
Fees Hamper Anatomical Gift Foundation (Hanover, Maryland)
A Maryland-based non-profit foundation specializing in corpse donations said it won't be able to serve clients in Mohave County, Arizona, anymore because local mortuaries are too expensive.
Director Looks At The Bright Side (Bolivar, Tennessee)
Facing death seven days a week can be taxing, but 100-year-old funeral director Lorenzo Miller says he has a trick for staying positive.
Sea-Burial Service Barely Afloat (Shanghai, China)
Few ship companies are willing to provide vessels for sea-burial ceremonies, stifling the city's promotion for the land-economy and eco-friendly service.
Graves Robbed For Religious Rituals (Newark, New Jersey)
A woman accused of being a high priestess in the Palo Mayombe religion was charged with directing followers to steal human remains from Newark cemeteries.
Sea Burials In Australia (Canberra, Australia)
A new Australian company is offering sea burials as a funeral option.
Juvenile Chain-Gangs To Bury The Dead (Maricopa County, Arizona)
A Maricopa County sheriff said that he was planning to use children to bury unclaimed bodies.
No Room For The Dead (Oxford, England)
Thanks to the Victorians' ban on reusing graves, both urban and rural cemeteries in England are crammed and burial space is becoming hard to find.
Teens Steal Famous Skull (London, England)
Two Scottish teenage boys escaped a jail sentence for breaking into the tomb of one of Scotland's most violent noblemen and taking a skull.
Shooter Goes Out With A Bang (Dublin, Ireland)
Friends of a champion Irish clay pigeon shooter have fulfilled his dying wish by packing his ashes into shotgun cartridges and blasting his remains over firing ranges around the world.
Thieves Take Van Containing Body (Manchester, England)
Thieves in England stole an undertakers' van with a body inside it.
Ancient Pet Entombment (Paris, France)
What may have been one of the earliest pet cats has been found in a richly furnished tomb in Cyprus.
Cover photo of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, by Greg Abbott.
October 2004
Costco Market Tests Caskets to Public Ron Hast
Since third-party casket vendors and Internet sales have been tried for a number of years, the response by the public has been lukewarm, at best. Costco's intervention changes the dynamics.
Colleague Wisdom
Colleagues share their opinions on the flow into the United States of American-style caskets made in China.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
American-style caskets made in China are flowing into the United States and hardwood caskets are soon to follow; more Japanese are choosing cremation with simplified services; how itemized pricing mandated by the Federal Trade Commission has often resulted in increases in overall service cost; looking to Asia and Europe as a possible sign of what's to come in cremation ceremony.
The Mover and the Shaker
Reveal Some Details of the Costco Concept Ron Hast
The easiest way to understand the path by which Costco has entered the casket sales arena is to realize that the wholesaler is nothing more than a third-party seller with vast knowledge of its customers incomes, education, habits and buying histories. But that information sells neither a casket nor a funeral. On the front end, a Mover is needed to distribute the boxes on time and at need. And at the back, a Shaker to ferret out trustworthy funeral providers willing and able to conduct themselves within Costco's business practices for a mutually beneficial relationship.
To View or Not to View Joshua Slocum
The executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance recounts his own personal experiences with funeral viewings in the process of examining the age-old debate between industry advocates and critics over the issue.
Accepting Insurance Assignments Douglas O. Meyer
Doug examines some of the complexities that may be encountered when accepting insurance assignments as payment for services, and explains how to avoid these problems.
High School Grieving Gardens (Rancho Cucamonga, California)
Grieving gardens are springing up at high schools across the country as students seek closure and administrators grapple with how best to honor dead youths.
Families Viewing Cremation (Aloha, Oregon)
Funera directors are getting an increasing number of requests from family members to watch the container that holds the body disappear into the retort.
Growing Interest In Home Funerals (Sebastopol, California)
Few Americans opt for funerals in their homes, but interest is growing as consumers look for ways to save money or more personal ways to bid their loved ones goodbye.
Casket Makers Face Competition From China (New York, New York)
Low-priced caskets made in China still represent a small portion of the U.S. market, but are viewed as a serious threat by the domestic industry.
Menorah Case Progresses (Coral Gables, Florida)
Two law firms announced that notices of the $65 million settlement agreement in the Menorah Gardens cemetery class-action lawsuit have gone out to thousands of class members.
Settlements In Crematory Case (Rome, Georgia)
A federal judge gave final approval to $13.5 million in settlements in a lawsuit over hundreds of corpses that were dumped at a Georgia crematory.
Bill Addresses Funeral Policies (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
A bill that opponents said could cheat some elderly Louisiana residents out of the funeral and burial services for which they paid received overwhelming approval from the House.
Memorial Gardens Becoming More Popular (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Memorial gardens are gaining popularity as cremation becomes a more popular alternative to caskets and traditional funerals, according to the International Cemetery & Funeral Association.
Network Of Death Disciplines (Fort Myers, Florida)
The Association for Death Education and Counseling is a group aimed at allowing people who deal with death and grieving families an opportunity to network and learn about the different roles each plays.
Regulating The Regulators (Houston, Texas)
For various reasons, the Texas Funeral Service Commission has had persistent problems and, once again, the TFSC is wrestling with a series of messy disputes.
Reagan's Mortician Reflects (Simi Valley, California)
Hours after the body of former president Ronald Reagan was transported to a Santa Monica funeral home, Bob Boetticher went to work.
Cremation Of Dental Fillings Releases Toxins (Stockholm, Sweden)
A Swedish government agency report proposed that amalgam tooth fillings made with mercury should be pulled out before people are cremated to cut emissions of the highly-toxic metal.
Director Killed In Front Of His Funeral Home (Shelton, Connecticut)
A Connecticut man who ran a funeral home and was heavily involved in town affairs was killed in an accident in front of his business.
Industry Prepares For Growth (Brookfield, Wisconsin)
As baby boomers age into retirement, the funeral services industry prepares for a surge in the nation's death rate and the increase in opportunities that will bring.
Exhumation To Resolve Dispute (Lubbock, Texas)
A funeral home that handled services for a woman agreed to pay the costs for identifying the body inside the woman's grave after a family member said she doubted they buried the right body.
Cremation Mix-Up (Oakland, California)
An apparent mistake in identification resulted in the body of a priest first being misplaced and then cremated in place of an elderly woman's body.
New System Tracks Cremated Remains (Fargo, North Dakota)
The manager of a cemetery says he has come up with an invention he hopes will prevent cremation mix-ups from happening.
Lawsuit Over Cremation Error (Norfolk, Virginia )
A father is suing a funeral home for $1 million for partially cremating his son's body by mistake.
Director Receives Two-Month Sentence (Hilo, Hawaii)
A judge ordered Robert Diego to serve two months in jail for his part in a theft case that drained an estimated $531,000 from a trust fund set up to hold money from funeral plans he sold.
Cemetery Faces Fines From State (Eugene, Oregon)
Sunset Hills Memorial Gardens is facing $80,000 in possible fines after state auditors alleged improper use of trust funds and a lack of required accounting.
Cemetery Caretaker Under Attack (Northside, Ohio)
The cemetery caretaker who spent 18 months in prison for stealing thousands of dollars from the cemetery's trust is out of prison and back in charge of the property.
Former Director Pleads Guilty (Crystal Lake, Illinois)
An Elgin man has admitted to embezzling more than $200,000, to support a gambling habit, from the McHenry County funeral home where he worked.
Director's License Suspended (New Britain, Connecticut)
The director of Haffey-Lyons & Kiniry Funeral Home had his license suspended by the state Board of Examiners of Embalmers and Funeral Directors.
Former Manager Pleads Guilty (Smith Center, Kansas)
A former partner in a Smith Center mortuary pleaded guilty to six counts of felony theft and four counts of misdemeanor theft, both involving money customers paid for funeral and gravestone services.
Embezzlement Trial (Texarkana, Arkansas)
A couple is going to trial in Texarkana to face charges that they embezzled funds from Shackelford Funeral Home.
Court Battle Over Body (Denver, Colorado)
The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that a widow does not have the right to overturn her dead husband's wish to be cremated.
Bargain Caskets Online (Hallandle, Florida)
Online casket retailers represent a real choice for a growing number of Americans who don't find the concept of clicking for bargain caskets at all bizarre in today's cyber-technology society.
Funeral Store Draws Criticism (Nashville, Tennessee)
Nashville's first independent retail funeral store promises to give the bereaved a budget break, but it's drawing a lot of complaints from area funeral directors.
Seeking More Representation (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Black funeral directors want more representation on the state board that regulates their industry and are pressing lawmakers to change how members are selected.
Transplant Groups Step-Up Campaigns (Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois)
Experts worry that disease trends, along with an aging population, will widen the gap between the supply and demand for organs.
Guide To Assisted Suicide (London, England)
Inspired by guidebooks for the discerning consumer, a euthanasia campaigner has compiled a guide listing organizations that help people end their lives and the relevant laws around the world.
Burned Casket Discovered (Orangeburg, South Carolina)
A visitor to Memorial Park Cemetery was startled to discover a burned, empty, open casket sitting on the ground near a work shed behind some shrubbery.
Illegally Overcharging Clients (Itami, Japan)
An undertaker illegally overcharged a man for his father's funeral service by including tips for employees, a local court ruled.
Botanists Cultivate Corpse Flower (Storrs, Connecticut)
Although the "corpse flower" has the odor of three-day-old road kill, botanists at the University of Connecticut couldn't be more excited about it.
Postman Delivers Tombstone (Cardington, Ohio)
Almost 40 years after his death, a man who fought in World War I will be united with his military headstone.
Body Lies Undiscovered For 20 Years (Tokyo, Japan)
The decomposed body of a man was discovered in an abandoned Tokyo apartment building 20 years after he is believed to have died.
Heartbeat Found In Boy Pronounced Dead (Rexburg, Idaho)
A hospital worker preparing a drowned toddler for the funeral home noticed the boy was breathing, more than an hour after he had been pronounced dead.
Judge Orders Strikers To Show Some Manners (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Mourners bidding adieu to their loved ones will no longer face the tribulation of striking funeral workers cheering as the departed is lifted into a hearse.
Back Yard Burial Request (Junior, West Virginia)
A man diagnosed with a terminal illness is fighting officials for the right to be buried in his back yard.
Woman Falls Into Grave (Kenai, Alaska)
A woman did not have a near-death experience at a cemetery, but she did have one foot in the grave.
Traders Store Fish In Morgue (Agartala, India)
Employees of a morgue in a hospital in Northeast India have been caught colluding with local traders to store fish amongst dead bodies.
Pre-Inca Graveyard Found (Lima, Peru)
A well-preserved graveyard has been discovered at an archeological complex of Inca and pre-Inca temples on the outskirts of the Peruvian capital.
5,000-Year-Old Necropolis (Cairo, Egypt)
Archaeologists have unearthed a 5,000-year-old necropolis with 20 well-preserved tombs in a poor neighborhood just outside Cairo.
Ancient Graves Found On Cliffs (Pembrokeshire, Wales)
A 1,250-year-old cliff-face cemetery has been found in Pembrokeshire, revealing the county's early Christian past.
Cover photo taken in the Tuolomne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park, by Greg Abbott.
November 2004
My Misunderstanding Ron Hast
Ron explains why it took him a long time to recognize the satisfaction that people gain regarding personal choices, and how those choices may often be made at the most minute levels.
Saga Update Ron Hast
An update to the editorial in the February 2004 issue of Mortuary Management ("A Saga Worth Watching") relating to problems with the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau (the regulating arm of the California Department of Consumer Affairs).
Just Conversation Ron Hast
The importance of a simple note of thanks or appreciation as part of a public relations effort; a funeral director at a large combo facility experiences price-comparison shopping; how itemization has led to higher profits; and a list of humorous anagrams.
New Developments Douglas O. Meyer
Doug discusses some of the legal ramifications relating to topics featured at the Mortuary Management 2004 Seminar, including caskets imported from China and offering funeral services for pets.
Funeral Service Education Patrick Davis
A discussion of the importance of guided hands-on experience as part of the education and the responsibility that funeral homes have in training apprentices in order to positively shape the future of the profession.
Mortuary Management 2004 Seminar Highlights John McDonough
John presents a visual essay highlighting what he saw, heard and tasted at this year's seminar.
Funerals Are Us
Once, burial rites were the exclusive domain of clergy. Now, people are turning to civil "celebrants" for more intimate, personal funerals -- a concept particularly popular in Australia and New Zealand.
Burial Policy Limits (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
The Louisiana state legislature has approved a law to limit burial policies to their face value.
Funeral, Cemetery Rules Signed Into Florida Law (Tallahassee, Florida)
Governor Jeb Bush has signed the Florida Funeral, Cemetery and Consumer Services Act, giving Floridians more choices and protections when buying funeral and cemetery services.
Approval For New Burial Law (New York, New York)
New York Senator Charles Fuschillo, Jr. has introduced legislation that would assist members of burial societies in being interred when no society officer can be located.
Court Backs Preneed Funeral Contracts (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Consumers who sign irrevocable contracts to pay a funeral home in advance may not withdraw the money and spend it at another funeral.
Cremation Trend Reversing Traditional Business Model (Plymouth, Minnesota)
In Minnesota, the number of licensed crematories has nearly doubled in recent years, as funeral homes scramble to meet demand.
Low-Cost Approach (Dallas, Texas)
The owners of a startup called ARIA Cremation Services are betting that North Texans are ready for a low-cost, cremation-only alternative.
No-Frills Funeral Alternatives (Augusta, Maine)
A growing number of funeral directors are establishing offices or displays in strip malls as a way of creating an opportunity to expand their businesses without an expensive investment.
Home Funerals (Anchorage, Alaska)
Elizabeth Westrate's documentary film "A Family Undertaking" is a quiet yet powerful examination of the home-based funeral movement.
Fantasy Burials At Sea (Miami, Florida)
A businessman plans to make the world's first man-made seabed cemetery, offering a final resting place for 21,000 people.
Cremating Pets Gains Favor (Tidewater, Virginia)
Cremation is becoming more of an after-life alternative for pet owners.
Family Claims Woman Buried In Wrong Grave (Hamtramck, Michigan)
A Hamtramck family has filed a lawsuit against a local cemetery the family claims buried a woman in the wrong gravesite.
Funeral Home Fined For Using Tri-State Crematory (Chattanooga, Tennessee)
Overseers of Tennessee's self-policing funeral industry handed out their first punishment to a funeral home for using the Tri-State Crematory in northwest Georgia where corpses were neglected.
Funeral Board Revokes Operator's Licenses (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
The Oklahoma Funeral Board revoked the licenses of a Sapulpa funeral home operator.
Funeral Director On Probation (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
A Myrtle Beach funeral director has been fined and placed on probation for not using cremation containers that comply with state law.
Councilman Pleads Guilty To Cheating Customers (Atlanta, Georgia)
A Fairburn city councilman has pleaded guilty to bank fraud by cheating customers of his funeral home out of $50,000.
Funeral Director Accused Of Insurance Fraud (Unionville, Missouri)
A funeral director has been accused in a civil suit filed by the state of collecting on the prepaid funeral policies of live customers by falsely reporting that they had died.
Former Cremation Service Owner Arrested (Daytona Beach, Florida)
The owner of a now-defunct cremation service, wanted for failing to show up in court to answer fraud charges, was apprehended in St. Lucie County.
Former Funeral Home Owner Faces Fraud Sentence (Garden City, Idaho)
A former funeral home owner accused of bilking clients has pleaded guilty to 51 counts of mail fraud.
Batesville Associates Seeking Union Representation (St. Paul, Minnesota)
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) announced an organizing campaign with the sales associates from the Batesville Casket Company.
Teamsters Anger Grieving Families (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Teamsters are picketing cemeteries in a strike on the Twin Cities' biggest maker of burial vaults, Brown-Wilbert Inc.
Police Interrupt Hmong Funeral (St. Paul, Minnesota)
Family and friends filed into the Hmong Funeral Home in St. Paul, only to have the ceremony interrupted by police, citing building and fire violations.
Grave Error (Bishop's Stortford, England)
Embarrassed officials had to make a public apology when a burial was delayed because the grave was too small.
Lawsuit Over Botched Cremation (Amarillo, Texas)
A woman has sued a Potter County funeral home over claims that her infant son's body was accidentally cremated with another person's remains.
Property Tycoon Sues Cemetery (New York, New York)
Billionaire Leona Helmsley is suing the New York cemetery where her husband is buried for $150 million.
Jewelry Stolen From Corpse (Lille, France)
Thieves dug up a woman's grave and stripped her corpse of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry that she had asked to be buried with.
Urns Pose Problems For Airport Screeners (Phoenix, Arizona)
Officials at Sky Harbor International Airport say passengers carrying urns have become a sensitive hassle at checkpoints.
Operators Say Funeral Rules Are Needed (Wellington, New Zealand)
New Zealand's funeral industry needs to be better regulated to stop "cowboy operators" and ensure there are standards to protect grieving families.
Dog Helps Funeral Mourners Cope (Rocky Mount, North Carolina)
In a funeral home, joy and excitement are two emotions rarely found, but at Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home, a special personality brings these tidings every day.
Dedication Of Idaho Veterans Cemetery (Boise, Idaho)
Idaho is ending its distinction as the only state without a veteran's cemetery.
Video Tombstones (Burlingame, California)
Robert Barrows is patenting video-equipped tombstones to let cemetery visitors watch messages from the dead.
Going Out In Style (Berlin, Germany)
Caskets shaped like a fish, a giant onion and a Mercedes have gone on show in Berlin.
Death A Laughing Matter (Sapanta, Romania)
Visitors to the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta stroll past rows of graves, pointing at epitaphs, reading them out loud and laughing unashamedly.
Only In Hollywood (Los Angeles, California)
Amid the mausoleums and headstones at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, about 1,700 living guests have unfurled picnic blankets and set up beach chairs for cinema cemetery-style.
Indigent Cases To Be Cremated (Richland, Florida)
With burial costs ballooning and cemetery space shrinking, Pasco County officials are switching to cremation for most indigent burial cases.
Call To Reuse Graves (London, England)
London's mayor has called for graves to be re-used to tackle a crisis in cemetery space in London.
Man Learns He's Been Buried (Moscow, Russia)
A Russian taxi driver got a rude shock when he discovered his ex-wife, who thought he had died in an explosion, had him buried in.
Man Selling Murdered Bodies For Cremation (Beijing, China)
Chinese police have detained a man who killed 10 people and sold their bodies to bereaved families to cremate in the place of loved ones who were secretly buried.
Sorcerers Nabbed With Bodies (Lagos, Nigeria)
Nigerian police have arrested 30 witch-doctors in a raid on fetish shrines in southeast Anambra state where over 50 decomposing bodies and 20 human skulls were discovered.
Kleptomaniac Raids Cemetery (Galva, Illinois)
Despite the arrest of Audrey Bruning, her cemetery robbing saga grows weirder and wider.
Vandals Ravage Historic Cemetery (Wooster, Ohio)
Vandals went on a rampage at a historic cemetery near Wooster, the oldest one in Wayne County.
Winged Culprits (North Shropshire, England)
Councilors trying to catch vandals wrecking flowers in a north Shropshire cemetery discovered the culprits were a pair of birds.
Public Told To Avoid Burial Sites (Pierre, South Dakota)
The recent discovery of another American Indian burial site exposed by falling water levels on Lake Oahe has prompted officials to renew their request that people leave such sites alone.
Restless Child (San Leon, Texas)
Some of the stories about the San Leon Cemetery are so fantastic they could go down as Texas tall tales.
Cover photo of a sunset taken in the small town of San Francisco, Mexico, by Allan Abbott.
December 2004
Itemization Ron Hast
The Federal Trade Commission mandates price itemization for death care services, with the intention of protecting consumers from paying for items not wanted or utilized. Good intentions by the FTC inspired funeral directors to take their mandates to heart, and many now itemize services and facilities never considered in the past, resulting in higher pricing and profits.
Colleague Wisdom: NFDA
Colleagues from coast to coast chime in with candid thoughts about the National Funeral Directors Association.
Just Conversation Ron Hast
Death care for pets; the cost of getting a hearse polished; how the purchaser of Abbott & Hast Mortuary in Los Angeles, Enoch Glascock, established BuyCaskets.com, an Internet casket retailer; casket sales at Costco expand to its website; how some associations have adapted to the cost of holding meetings.
Dealing With Employees Douglas O. Meyer
Creating a team-oriented atmosphere in the workplace and how to maintain it.
Remembering Rachel Steven Palmer
Steven recalls a funeral service in which the family seized control of the event and realizes that people don't need a funeral; they need a truly special, very unique experience that will help them know that they have truly paid honor to their loved one.
$80M Settlement In Crematory Suit (Rome, Georgia)
An $80 million settlement was reached in a lawsuit against the operators of the
