The Family Plot Blog
Celebrating Life Free eBook Now Expanded!
A good eBook just got better with the release of an updated version of Celebrating Life: How to Create Meaningful Memorial Services, with Templates and Tips by Gail Rubin, CT and Susan Fraser. The National Funeral Directors Association estimates 50% of those who die in the U.S. during 2015 will be cremated. Thousands of families don’t know what to do with their loved ones’ cremated remains or how to create a memorial service. The Celebrating...
A Peek at The Doyenne of Death’s Mail
As the Doyenne of Death, I get some interesting pieces of mail. There are magazines like American Funeral Director (check out my quotes in this article), Mortuary Management (I'm a monthly contributing writer), ICCFA Magazine (the publication of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, to which I have contributed articles), and Funeral Business Advisor (I'm a contributing book reviewer). And then there are other marketing...
Qeepr #TalkDeath Roundtable Tackles End-of-Life Issues
Today's #TalkDeath Roundtable discussion provided lots of great insights about funeral planning (or not), new trends in death care and funerals, and the problem of making decisions under duress of grief. The session was facilitated by Mandy Benoulid and Georgia Carter of Qeepr. The featured guest experts are Chris Raymond, editor of About.com’s Dying, Funerals & Grief website, and past editor of The Director funeral trade magazine, and Gail...
News and Notes: Live Qeepr Online Conversation Tomorrow!
If you've got burning questions about end-of-life issues you'd like to discuss, tune in online tomorrow, Wednesday June 17, for Qeepr's second #TalkDeath Roundtable. The event will be carried LIVE on Google+ & YouTube at 3:00 p.m. ET/noon PT. The experts for this online roundtable discussion are myself and Chris Raymond, editor of About.com's Dying, Funerals and Grief website. More information here. The June issue of American Funeral...
How to Fly with Cremated Remains
Today's guest blog post on the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys website: How to Fly with Cremated Remains With the growing trend toward cremation, there’s a growing trend toward traveling with cremated remains, or cremains, on airlines. These are the current Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules about carrying cremated remains through security. Passengers may transport cremains as part of their carry-on luggage or,...
Book Review: On Grief and Grieving
On Grief & Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler is a classic text which stands the test of time. First published in 2005, it has been re-released ten years later with a foreword by Maria Shriver – someone well acquainted with grief and loss. Kübler-Ross’ Five Stages of Grief was initially five stages of attitudes the dying experienced before death. Those now...
Qeepr #Talkdeath Roundtable June 17
Qeepr.com (pronounced "keeper"), an online memorial and tribute platform, started the #Talkdeath Roundtable Web series to foster death positivity and death awareness, and spark end-of-life conversations. The next live online #Talkdeath conversation will take place Wednesday, June 17 at 3:00 p.m. ET/noon PT, with guest experts Chris Raymond, editor of About.com's Dying, Funerals & Grief website, and past editor of The Director funeral trade...
Discussing Death Cafes with Lizzy Miles
Learn all about the Death Cafe movement on the latest podcast of A Good Goodbye Radio. Join U.S. Death Cafe pioneers Lizzy Miles and host Gail Rubin for a 20-minute discussion on FuneralRadio.com. The Death Café movement first came to the United States in 2012. It originated in the United Kingdom, started by Jon Underwood in London. The concept is based on the work of Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz, who held Café Mortel events in France and...
End-of-Life Care in New Mexico Symposium
This Saturday, June 6, doctors and nurses in New Mexico have the opportunity to earn continuing education credits while learning about end-of-life care. The End-of-Life Care in New Mexico one-day symposium will bring together healthcare professionals to expand their knowledge and support them with information around options on end-of-life care and practices, including aid in dying in New Mexico. The event is sponsored by Compassion &...
News and Notes: Communications and Change
The one constant in life is change. How you react to change as a positive or negative makes all the difference. Did you know the Tarot card for Death actually means change, transformation and transition? I'm preparing a new presentation, "Office Morale in the Movies: Communications and Change," with funny film clips to illustrate. Applying concepts from thanatology (the study of death, dying and bereavement), we'll explore ideas to inspire...
Event: Office Morale in the Movies: Communications and Change
The Tarot card for change is the Death card. It represents significant transformation and transitions, including sudden and unexpected change. Change in the workplace may not actually be a life or death situation, but it can feel like the end of the world. Change in the workplace is inevitable - just like death and taxes Change can be seen as positive or negative, growth or decay. The question is, how do you respond to the unknown aspects of...
Funeral Home Gifts Cap Panels and Tribute Blankets
In February, 2006, George Clark’s company Pure Country Weavers was commissioned to create a tapestry blanket in tribute to the late Coretta Scott King. The tribute blanket, featuring an image of Mrs. King, was to be presented at her funeral the next day. They rose to the challenge and delivered the custom-made photo tapestry within 24 hours. After that experience, Clark envisioned a new line of textiles his family business could produce -...
The Living Urn Planting System
There are a number of biodegradable urns for cremated remains out on the market, with some that take a further step of promising a tree will grow from those ashes. However, seed germination can have a high failure rate. It takes more than a seed in cremated remains to successfully grow a tree. At the 2015 ICCFA expo, The Living Urn company introduced a growing system that ensures a healthy tree grows from the cremated remains. The company...
Event: New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association Meeting
Tuesday, June 23 and Wednesday, June 24 Gail Rubin is the keynote speaker at the summer meeting of the New Hampshire Funeral Directors Association. She will lead two sessions, “Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film” and “The Funeral Director on Film.” Jewish Funeral Traditions on Film Jewish traditions regarding death and dying, the funeral, the treatment of the body, burial, mourning, and annual remembrances are very different from Christian...
How to Mail Cremated Remains
Did you know the U.S. Postal Service offers the only legal method of shipping cremated remains domestically or internationally? FedEx won't do it, nor will the United Parcel Service. The USPS Priority Mail Express® Service will send the ashes of a person or a pet where they need to go. A few tips to know before you head to the Post Office: You'll need to pack the remains in two containers - an inner container and an outer container (i.e. a box)...
Religious “Nones” and Celebrant Services
Here's today's guest blog post I wrote for the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys. Funeral Celebrants: What are They and Why Use Them? By Gail Rubin, CT The use of funeral celebrants is growing, and you and your clients need to know about them. Why? According to a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, 56 million Americans have no religious affiliation, making “nones” the second largest religious...
Event: May 22 Civitan Talk
On Friday, May 22 from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., Gail Rubin speaks to the Sandia Civitan club's weekly meeting. The title of her presentation is "Everything I Know About Funeral Planning I Learned From My Wedding." Visitors are welcome to join the fun and buy your own breakfast at Le Peep Restaurant, 2125 Louisiana Blvd. NE. For more information, contact Marc Kwasman at 505-821-4657 or (cell) 505-358-5371.
Distinctive Causes of Death in the U.S.
Distinctive ways to die in the United States take many forms. Distinctive mortality can be caused by accidental discharge of firearms... disorders of the kidneys... syphilis... influenza... unspecified acute lower respiratory infections... inflammatory diseases of female pelvic organs... other and unspecified events of undetermined intent and their sequelae (pathological conditions resulting from disease, injury, therapy, or other trauma). A...
Sanctuary Reserve Stores Cremated Remains
Unclaimed cremated remains can languish in a back room for years. Even families that plan to claim the remains of a loved one don't get around to picking them up any time soon. What's a funeral home to do? And if the thought of keeping a family member's cremated remains around your house gives you the heebie-jeebies, but you plan on doing something with them eventually, where can you keep them safely stored? Sanctuary Reserve provides interim...
Open to Hope Video on Death Cafes
At the annual Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC) conference in April, Drs. Heidi and Gloria Horsley with the Open to Hope Foundation conducted interviews with the death educators in attendance. In this YouTube video, Dr. Heidi Horsley interviews Certified Thanatologist and Death Cafe pioneer Gail Rubin about the Death Cafe movement. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping...
News and Notes: Free eBook on Memorial Services
As a celebrant, over the past few months I've been working with the fine folks at In The Light Urns to write a free eBook on making creative memorial services. Celebrating Life: How to Create Meaningful Memorial Services with Templates and Tips is now available. It's full of good information and you can download the 97-page eBook for free at this webpage. Please download a copy and let me know what you think! I will be doing a print version of...