Today is the 15th annual Create a Great Funeral Day. This “holiday” was started by my esteemed colleague Stephanie West Allen to help get the funeral planning conversation started. You can read more about Stephanie and Create a Great Funeral Day in this blog post.
The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention and expo in Nashville October 12-15 was a real eye-opener! You’ve probably rarely or never thought about the business end of end-of-life.
Indeed, many people avoid thinking about end-of-life issues altogether, resulting in added stress on top of grief, family conflict, and other unpleasantness. It doesn’t have to be that way.
As the Doyenne of Death®, I educate folks about what they need to know before there’s a death in the family and get the pre-planning conversation going. Say it with me: “Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead – and your family benefits from the conversation.”
Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®
At the convention expo, I recorded short video interviews with all sorts of people in interesting businesses – 21 in all! A listing those that have already been published follows. There are more to come in the next week or so. You can scan all the posts through the Tools of the Trade category on The Family Plot Blog.
Upcoming talks and events of interest follow, along with a humorous quote at the end. Please call me at 505.265.7215 if I can be of assistance. And start a conversation today – Create a Great Funeral Day!
Live long and prosper, Gail Rubin, CT
NFDA Expo Exhibitors
Click on the link to read the blog post and see videos for each company! More posts are coming soon.
Services
- GiveForward offers families online fundraising options for funerals
- DNA Memorial offers options to save loved ones’ genetic material
- Life.VU provides a social media platform for memorialization
Products
- Starmark Funeral Products – how rental caskets work
- The Parlor Stool – an innovation for visitations
- Foreverence – makers of 3D printer-produced individualized urns
- Astral Industries – standing out in a sea of caskets with a living statue
- Orbis Robotics – a telepresence robot for funeral homes
- HONOR Funeral Products – new all-in-one bag for removals, cremation, burial
- Siv Stone Group – Stone of Anointment memorials from Israel
- Vilmain – charms and tokens for memorial service remembrance items
- Sorella Luna – intricately painted ceramic urns from Italy
- T-Shirts to Treasures – memorial quilts from loved ones’ old clothes
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, November 18, 7:00 p.m.: Gail Rubin presents “Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film” for the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada. MORE INFO
Wednesday, November 19: Gail Rubin presents “Laughing in the Face of Death” at the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association’s 2014 annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sunday, November 23, 11:00 a.m.: Gail Rubin presents “End-of-Life Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die” at the Albuquerque Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at the Albuquerque Center for Peace & Justice, 202 Harvard SE at Silver, Albuquerque.
Tuesday, November 25, 1:30 p.m.: OASIS book group discusses A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die with author Gail Rubin, CT. Location: OASIS offices at 3301 Menaul Blvd NE, Suite 18, Albuquerque, NM (just west of Carlisle NE in the building facing the American Home Furniture store).
Next ABQ Death Cafe: Date and location TBD
“I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.” — George Carlin (guess he can’t say that anymore)