The Family Plot Blog
DNA Memorial Saves Genetic Information
Funeral directors regularly make a point of telling families that cremation is an irreversible process. It also destroys all genetic history and medical markers contained in the person's DNA. If a loved one is buried, and the family decides they want to get DNA from that body later, disinterment is costly, both financially and emotionally. That's why it's important for those in the funeral business, who are usually the last people to be in...
Anointing Stone Memorials from Israel
The Stone of Anointment is located at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Each year, tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims visit the church and prostrate themselves on this stone. They regard the Stone of Anointment as sacred. Christian tradition holds that after Jesus was crucified, his body was laid out on this slab of marble. Joseph of Arimathea washed Jesus' body,...
Event: Oct. 27 Talk “Doctor How Long Do I Have?”
Having a serious healthcare conversation with your doctor takes effort to ensure clear communications. Learn how to ask questions, be involved in treatment decisions and prepare for end-of-life issues by watching dramatic and comedy films depicting doctor-patient-family conversations. The McLeod Branch YMCA welcomes the public to attend Gail Rubin's free one-hour presentation, "Doctor, How Long Do I Have?" Films include Patch Adams, The End,...
GiveForward.com Offers Families Online Fundraising
There's a rising trend of families who don't have enough cash to pay for a funeral or medical costs, especially in the case of unexpected deaths. I've seen far too many memorial car washes in Albuquerque. It's a sad situation, but with the help of GiveForward.com, friends and family can easily pitch in to help and not have to wash a car. GiveForward.com is an online fundraising website that helps families cover expenses after there’s been an...
All-in-One HONOR Bags Have Multiple Uses
Illinois funeral director Jason Newell and his wife Amy saw a need for something more respectful than a cardboard box for cremations and less scary than a black body bag for removals from homes. They designed and created HONOR bags, a patent pending all-in-one funeral product that can be used as a cot cover, removal bag, cremation container and soft casket/burial unit. In this video, they demonstrate how the HONOR bag can be utilized for home...
Telepresence Robot for Funeral Homes
The Big Bang Theory TV show and the Baldo comic strip both feature video robots that provide eyes, ears, voice, face and movement for someone controlling the unit from a distance. CARL from Orbis Robotics brings this science-fiction concept of a virtual presence to reality at funerals, arrangement conferences and visitations. President Steve Gray named his invention after his father, who didn’t live to see the fruition of his son’s vision for a...
Astral Caskets Living Statue at NFDA
You'll see a lot of caskets at a funeral convention. One of the booths I love to visit at every funeral industry convention expo is Astral Industries. They always have a living statue there in various outfits. Convention attendees get their picture taken with the living statue at the Astral booth, and get a framed keepsake to take home. It's one of the things Astral does that sets them apart from the other casket manufacturers at the expo. And...
3D Printer Produced Urns from Foreverence
Would you want to design an urn for a loved one's cremated remains? The folks at Foreverence think you do. Foreverence uses a 3D printer to produce tribute urns that truly reflect the life of the deceased. In this video recorded at the NFDA convention, Pete Saari shows the one-of-a-kind urns the company produces and talks about the production process. Each ceramic composite piece is designed to reflect the life of the deceased, with input from...
NFDA News: Cremation Rate to Exceed 50% by 2015
At the opening of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention in Nashville earlier this week, association Chief Executive Officer Christine Pepper, CAE, broke the news: cremation is here to stay, and your NFDA is helping funeral directors make changes. Yes, change is inevitable, even in this industry traditionally resistant to changes. Consumer Preference for Cremation Expected to Surpass Burial in 2015 For Immediate Release:...
The Parlor Stool for Visitations
The Parlor Stool is a tall (44.25”) chair with a back and single left arm. It’s designed to help mourners, particularly the elderly, more easily receive the condolences of attendees at visitations. The stool is a new product for funeral directors to consider getting for their funeral homes. Mourners in receiving lines can get tired standing for long periods of time. Rather than sitting on an average-height chair, putting the mourner lower than...
How Rental Caskets Work
Gerald Davis, President of Starmark Funeral Products, shows the features of a rental casket that allows families to hold a funeral with a viewing and cremate the body afterward. These rental caskets save the family money while affording the healing ritual of a funeral. The casket has a door that drops open at the foot of the casket. After the funeral, at the crematorium retort, the combustible tray that holds the body, with connected fabric...
NFDA 2014 Opens in Nashville
The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention kicked off last night with a welcoming party at the Wild Horse Saloon in downtown Nashville. A total of 1,150 funeral directors, exhibitors, and other industry folks crowded the iconic three-story nightclub in an old warehouse building. It was quite the scene! The first continuing education session I sat in on was "Breathing Life Into Funeral Home Marketing with Facebook, TV ... and a...
“The Loved One” – A Dramatic Reading
Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, is an unconventional death educator who’s available for speaking engagements. In this short speech, she reads passages from "The Loved One," Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel about the funeral and cemetery industry. Waugh's full name was Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh. His first wife was also named Evelyn, leading their friends to call the couple "He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn." (The name Aurthur plays a role in...
Event: National Funeral Directors Association Convention
The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention and expo offers the biggest collection of goods and services related to funerals, memorials, cremation and end-of-life you’ll ever see. Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, will be at the convention in Nashville, Tennessee to document interesting new developments on display at the expo. It's the Greatest Funeral Show on Earth. Look for YouTube videos and blog posts in the Tools of the...
Event: Oct. 23 Jewish-Christian Dialogue on Religion & Medicine
Thursday, October 23, 4:30 p.m.: As the president of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue of New Mexico, Gail Rubin facilitates a talk by Dr. Aroop Mangalik on "Discussing Religious Aspects to End-of-Life Decision-Making." Dr. Mangalik is an oncologist who is one of the plaintiffs in the New Mexico physician aid-in-dying lawsuit. The meeting takes place at Congregation Albert, 3800 Louisiana Blvd. NE. Call 505-265-7215 for more information. Aroop...
Event: October 25 Albuquerque Death Cafe
October 30 is Create a Great Funeral Day - why not discuss mortality concerns at the Albuquerque Death Cafe on October 25 as a warm-up? The Death Cafe, a worldwide movement started in the U.K. in 2011, is designed “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” At these free events, people come together in a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea (or your...
News and Notes: NFDA Coverage to Come!
Next week, the Greatest Funeral Show on Earth opens in Nashville, Tennessee. The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) expo offers the biggest collection of goods and services related to funerals, memorials, cremation and end-of-life you'll ever see. I'll be there to document interesting new developments on display. Look for YouTube videos and blog posts in the Tools of the Trade category of The Family Plot Blog (you can also check out...
Video of Jardineros de Placitas Talk – A Good Goodbye
In this talk to the Jardineros de Placitas, a women's club in Placitas, a lovely little village north of Albuquerque, you'll learn: Why people hesitate to consider or discuss end-of-life issues How humor helps break down resistance to anxiety-provoking topics like death and funeral planning What will happen to your stuff if you don't have a will The status of physician aid-in-dying in New Mexico Fun facts about cremation, green burial and body...
Hemlock Society Founder Gerald Larue Obituary
Gerald A. Larue, co-founder and first president of the Hemlock Society, died on September 17 in Newport Beach, California. He was 98. Death certificates do not list old age as a cause of death - he had a stroke. Larue was an ordained minister who eventually became an agnostic, a scholar and an early and leading advocate of giving the terminally ill the option to end their own lives. In a New York Times news obituary, his son David Larue said,...
October 30 is Create A Great Funeral Day
October 30, Create a Great Funeral Day, first appeared on the media’s go-to holiday guide, Chase’s Calendar of Events, in 2000. Over 15 years, Create a Great Funeral Day founder Stephanie West Allen’s approach to funeral planning has evolved. Allen, the author of Creating Your Own Funeral or Memorial Service: A Workbook, originally viewed funeral planning as an autonomous, solo activity. She wrote the book in response to seeing her husband’s...
A Good Goodbye Radio Interview with Gale O’Brien
A Good Goodbye Radio is back online, now featured on FuneralRadio.com. The first program on FuneralRadio.com features an interview with Gale O'Brien, author of Transformation: Creating an Exceptional Life in the Face of Cancer. Gale O'Brien faced both skin cancer and breast cancer over two decades. While undergoing treatment for breast cancer, she took a long hard look at how she was living her life and resolved to make changes for the better....