Selecting A Cremation Service

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Cremation with Dignity

This article presents many options available to those families who choose disposition by cremation. Many families recognize the importance of a time for gathering of friends and a ceremony of tribute when a loved one dies, and these needs can be met through several of the options offered through the funeral home. 

Also available on this site is information about the cremation process.  The information found there is intended to help you more fully understand what occurs in the cremation process.  The steps are detailed and should be carefully considered; however, there may be some differences in legal requirements due to variations in state and local laws.

CREMATION SELECTIONS

An ever increasing number of families are requesting cremation services. We have compiled a sampling of cremation services and ceremonies that we have the privilege of providing. For your convenience, cremation service options are grouped into three categories on this page:

• Public Viewing
• Private Family Viewing Only
• Identification by a Next of Kin/No viewing

OPTIONS WITH PUBLIC VIEWING

• Full service cremation includes visitation with public viewing and funeral service held at the funeral home or at a place of worship. This service also includes a private family viewing arranged at your convenience. These arrangements require embalming by company policy and, in most cases, by state law. At the end of the service or ceremony, family and friends are dismissed and the decedent is taken to the crematory for cremation.
• Full service cremation with a public viewing or visitation the same day as the service. The service may be scheduled either daytime or evening.
• Public viewing followed by cremation and then a graveside committal service.
• Public viewing followed by cremation but without a committal service, with cremated remains returned to the family.

OPTIONS WITH PRIVATE FAMILY VIEWING ONLY

• Memorial full service cremation with private family viewing prior to cremation. Includes embalming, sanitary care, dressing, cosmetizing and restoration as needed prior to viewing. After family viewing the decedent is cremated. A memorial service is held at the funeral home or at a place of worship. At the family's election, the cremated remains may or may not be present for the memorial service. After the memorial service, the cortege will go to the cemetery for a committal service. An urn and/or vault may be required.
• Memorial full service cremation with private family viewing prior to cremation but without a committal service at the cemetery. Cremated remains are returned to the family.
• Memorial full service cremation with private family viewing prior to cremation but without embalming, cosmetizing or restoration of the deceased prior to private family viewing. Cremated remains are returned to the family.
• Memorial full service cremation with private family viewing prior to cremation but without a committal service at the cemetery, embalming, cosmetizing or restoration of the decedent prior to private family viewing. Cremated remains are returned to the family.
• Private family viewing followed by cremation and a graveside committal service., This includes embalming, sanitary care, dressing, cosmetizing and restoration as needed prior to family viewing. An urn and/or vault may be required.

OPTIONS WITH IDENTIFICATION BY NEXT OF KIN NO OTHER VIEWING

• Immediate cremation with a memorial service at the funeral home or place of worship and followed by a committal service at the cemetery.
• Immediate cremation followed by a memorial service at the funeral home or a place of worship. Does not include viewing or graveside committal service. Cremated remains are returned to the family.
• Immediate cremation followed by a graveside committal service.
• Immediate cremation and funeral home delivery of cremated remains to cemetery. Burial or entombment of cremated remains will be at the cemetery's convenience. An urn and/or vault may be required.
• Immediate cremation with cremated remains to be picked up by family at the funeral home.

Disposition of Cremated Remains

There are many options for the disposition of cremated remains of a family member:

• INURNMENT is the most common form of disposition. This involves placing the cremated remains in an urn or permanent memorial which is selected by the family. Urns are available in a variety of styles and designs to meet a family's needs. Many urns can be customized with original artwork, verses, poems or scripture as well as the name of the deceased. Urns are also made of sculpture quality bronze fashioned as works of art and museum quality sculpture.
• BURIAL, most commonly on a family cemetery lot, enables family members and future generations to have a focal point in their thoughts and memories of a deceased family member. Many people take comfort in knowing that a monument or marker has been erected on the cemetery lot, ensuring that the individual will never be forgotten.
• ENTOMBMENT in a mausoleum involves placing the urn containing cremated remains in a niche specifically designed for cremated remains. This offers many of the same advantages of burial.
• SCATTERING of the Cremated Remains is a common request people mention. However, many people who have scattered the cremated remains of the deceased may feel that the deceased is simply "gone", and no one will remember them. That is why most people settle on performing a ceremonial scattering, where a small portion of the cremated remains are scattered at a favorite spot, and the majority of the cremated remains are interred where a permanent monument may be erected.