No-Frills ‘Green Burials’ Offer New Way to Go to the Great Hereafter
By MOLLY SMITH for Reporting Texas on Jan 6, 2017 Ellen Macdonald got the idea to open the first green cemetery in Central Texas while watching an episode of “Six Feet Under,” an HBO series about a family that owned a funeral home, in 2007. “It was the first time I ...
Continue ReadingDeath's Real Estate Troubles
There won’t be enough room to bury millennials when they die—but the alternative is way cooler By Vanessa Quirk for Quartz The death industry is about to experience a boom in business. In three years, the world’s population aged over 65 will outnumber children under 5 for the first time in history. By 2050, ...
Continue ReadingFuneral Glossary
Planning a funeral can be overwhelming and understanding funeral terminology is its own challenge. Below you can find definitions of common funeral terms that you may hear when planning a funeral. Alternative Container A simple, unfinished cardboard, wood, or other non-metal box that is without ornamentation, and is typically used for cremation, green ...
Continue ReadingIf You Want to Save On a Funeral You Better Shop Around
By NATASHA LINDSTROM for TribLive About 50 polished caskets line the showroom at Duster Funeral Home in Tarentum. Their price tags range from $1,100 to more than $15,000. "Solid bronze is really the top, then below that copper, stainless steel and, of course, expensive woods: cherry, mahogany," supervisor J. Rodney Duster said. ...
Continue ReadingKnow Your Options: Cremation
Cremation is quickly becoming one of the most popular funeral options with a national average topping 50% of Americans choosing cremation over burial. It has grown in popularity so much it is now recognized by the vatican as an acceptable means of final disposition. And while the process of cremation is ...
Continue ReadingCasket Guide
Picking out a casket for yourself or a loved one can be a daunting task. Before you pick out a casket, you should know what your options are. You have the option of purchasing caskets and urns from the funeral home or a 3rd party such as Amazon, Costco, Walmart, a local ...
Continue ReadingKnow Your Options: Burials
A burial is defined as an act or ceremony of burying a dead person or object in a grave, often synonymous with "interment," the placing of human remains in an underground enclosure. In the funeral industry, a burial is a means of final disposition that ends with burial in the ...
Continue ReadingThe Women Who Love Death
By JEN ORTIZ Oct 31, 2016 for Marie Claire Young women are more paranoid about their own demise than ever before. Enter "death positivity," a new female-driven trend aimed at turning that fear on its head. About a dozen people are gathered at the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn, New York for ...
Continue ReadingFCA Philadelphia Newsletter: Summer 2016
Beating the high cost of funerals: With hard work from our board and volunteers, we now have over 140 General Price Lists from funeral homes all over the greater Philadelphia area. Direct cremation ranges from $700 to $4,465 (for the same thing!), and immediate burial from $900 to over $7,000! ...
Continue ReadingAlternatives to Embalming
Embalming is not the only means of temporarily preserving a body prior to burial or cremation. In fact, the United States and Canada are the only countries in which embalming is still considered common practice, with countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Luxembourg, and Scandinavia having banned it years ago. If you are seeking ...
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