The Family Plot Blog
Talk on Sunday at First Unitarian Church
This Sunday I'm delivering the sermon at the 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. services at the First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque. They've titled my talk "Bouncing Back From Adversity" but I just call it "Rise Again." The sermon's theme of resiliency is keyed to the refrain of the song "The Mary Ellen Carter," written by Canadian song writer and singer Stan Rogers. I'll be speaking about rising again physically, emotionally and spiritually. Here's...
Do Funerals Matter? Dead Serious Grief Expert Says Yes
A growing number of families in the U.S. increasingly perceive funeral rites as unessential after a death. They are dead wrong. Recent research confirms what clinicians have long observed – funerals fulfill critical psychological and social needs following a death. Families that skip holding a funeral may suffer emotional consequences by not processing acute grief with a death ritual. Grief counselor and death educator William G. Hoy, DMin, FT,...
A Good Goodbye TV Series Begins Airing Again Monday
UPublic.TV on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque is going to start running the entire A Good Goodbye TV show series again, beginning this coming Monday, July 15. They are re-starting the series from the first episode, in new time slots. Each new episode starts on Monday. The new air days and times on each channel are: CH 26: Mondays at 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m. CH 27: Wednesdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5:30 p.m. Monday's episode...
Movie Night at the Funeral Home
Last night, we held the first Movie Night at a funeral home and it was a big success! FRENCH Funerals-Cremations Rio Rancho Event Center hosted a great group of people who came out to see the film Get Low. This "true tall tale" was based on actual events, the funeral party created and attended by Felix "Bush" Breazeale, held on June 26, 1938. Movie night info and the true story behind Get Low here. Yes, it's true. Here's a picture of his...
Morning Brew with Gail Rubin on Movie Night Event
Check out this interview on the UPublic.TV talk show, The Morning Brew co-hosted by Larry Ahrens and Erin Muffoletto, recorded yesterday morning. They interviewed Gail Rubin about this Thursday's Movie Night event with the film Get Low at FRENCH Funerals-Cremations Rio Rancho Event Center at 5:00 p.m. The center is located at 1950 Pine Road NE, Rio Rancho (just off of Unser Blvd. north of Northern Blvd). Larry Ahrens said, "Gail is about the...
2nd Annual Indigent Burial for Bernalillo County
Yesterday's Albuquerque Journal Upfront column by Joline Gutierrez Krueger featured today's indigent burial ceremony to be held by Bernalillo County and Riverside Funeral Home. She profiled Joe Speer, "performance poet, raconteur, world traveler and film producer," who died of pancreatic cancer on January 25, 2011 at the age of 62. His cremated remains will be among the remains of 88 others to be buried at 11:00 a.m. today in the Evangelico...
Baby Boomers Want Personalized “Funeral-Palooza” Parties
Baby Boomers don’t want funerals when they die, they want a party, according to savvy funeral directors. Boomers want a "Funeral-Palooza" where family and friends can support each other at a memorable send-off event for the deceased. From a motorcycle hearse "last ride" to a Rock n'Roll final tribute, personalized memorial themes come alive through many small details. But how can a grieving family put such individualized funerals and memorial...
Catch Gail on New Mexico Style Monday Morning!
Tune in to KASA-TV channel 2 on Monday, July 8 between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Mountain Time to see Gail Rubin on New Mexico Style! The Doyenne of Death® will talk about Thursday's Movie Night event with the film Get Low, taking place at FRENCH Funerals-Cremations Event Center in Rio Rancho. She'll talk about the true story behind the film, the living funeral of Felix Bush in 1938 in rural Tennessee. Click the links for more information about...
Friday Funeral Funny: Four Husbands
So many folks send funeral jokes my way, it's time to start sharing! The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married for the fourth time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation. "He's a funeral director," she answered. "Interesting," the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn't...
Facing Mortality on A Good Goodbye TV
If you were given only a few months to live, what would you do? We wrap up the interviews on A Good Goodbye TV with a special guest who is facing his own mortality. Arturo Francisco Olivas is a santero artist, a Franciscan Brother and a cancer survivor who has outlived the initial prognosis he was given for terminal lung cancer. On September 16, 2011, he was hospitalized after numerous visits to his primary care physician for what seemed to be...
What Funeral Celebrants Do
A growing number of “spiritual but not religious” families are turning to Funeral Celebrants to create meaningful memorial services. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under age 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today. The growing number of Americans choosing “None” as their religious affiliation impacts families when a death occurs and they don’t know what to do for a...
Memorial Fans and Cremation Box Covers
Another interesting product on display at the 2013 ICCFA convention and expo: memorial fans and cremation box covers. Bet you didn't know such things were out there! Jo-Ann Miller with At All Occasions (a.k.a. VisionMedical) was showing expandable tri-fold fans, which can also serve as a memorial item, a program, and simply a fan for services in hot and humid climates. They also make stick fans, a printed square of laminated paper on a wooden...
Pet Transportation Boxes
Furry friends are forever - until they die. Pets may live on forever in your heart, but you still have to deal with their dead carcasses, either by burying them or having them cremated. How are you going to move your deceased pet? Custom Air Trays Pet Products Division to the rescue! In this YouTube video, Jim Hardy talks about the company's corrugated cardboard boxes and wire trays for transporting pet remains for cremation or burial. It's a...
Bare Heart Buddy Bears at ICCFA
Among the interesting products spotted at the International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association's 2013 expo and convention - Bare Heart Buddy Bears. As Molly Eiche explains in this YouTube video, the fuzzy bear dolls provide a cuddly outlet for grieving families. Family members can write notes and messages to put into the doll's pouch, which stays in the casket with the loved one or is cremated with the person. The family also gets other...
Dry Ice Cooling Blanket for Home Funerals
When caring for your own dead at home prior to burial or cremation, unless you live in colder climates such as Ireland (where waking the dead is an honored tradition), refrigeration is a must. When keeping a body for more than 24 hours in warmer climes, without refrigeration or embalming, decomposition quickly sets in. But how do you keep a body cool without a huge refrigerator? Dry ice inside a cooling blanket is the answer! While the term...
Professional Mourners in China
There's a great story on NPR today about professional mourners in China. Titled Belly Dancing for the Dead: A Day with China's Top Mourner, this story illustrates the lengths (and expense) some families will go to honor their dead. China's funeral rituals were banned during the Cultural Revolution, and now they are back as funeral extravaganzas. Ancient traditions incorporated with modern entertainment equals a good goodbye. The story focuses...
Physical Reactions to Grief on A Good Goodbye TV
Grief can affect us physically in many different ways. How this happens and what individuals can do to help the grieving process is featured on this week's episode of A Good Goodbye TV, "Grief Counseling." Dr. Diane Polasky, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and certified death educator, is our expert guest. On this program, she clearly explains: The differences between grief over anticipated death versus traumatic deaths What parts of the body are...
Death Cafe Movement on A Good Goodbye Radio
The mainstream media confirms the Death Cafe movement is exploding around the world. Recent stories in The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, MSN.com, and other news outlets confirm these events are bringing conversations about mortality out of the closet. At Death Cafes, people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea and eat delicious cake. The objective of each Death Cafe is "To increase awareness of death with a...
Artistic Wood Urns at ICCFA
At the 2013 ICCFA convention and expo, there were more urns for cremated remains than you would believe. Wood urns are not as common as urns of metal, ceramic, and other materials. However, they can be quite beautiful and make a highly personal statement. Their relative scarcity only adds to their cachet. They are especially appropriate for mausoleums that have glass-fronted cremation niches, where visitors can appreciate the artistry of the...
DNA Preservation Kits at ICCFA
SecuriGene, a Canadian company, has created a groundbreaking DNA preservation kit that allows you to keep a DNA sample at room temperature indefinitely, without cryogenic storage fees. They displayed their service in a booth at the ICCFA convention and expo. Now, why would such a company attend a convention for funeral directors? Because morticians are often the last people in contact with a body, and they have the last chance to collect and...
Introducing A Good Goodbye at NMACC
The Doyenne of Death® talked about all the ways she helps start funeral planning conversations at yesterday's meeting of NMACC, the New Mexico Association for Continuity of Care. Here's a YouTube video of the talk by Gail Rubin, recorded June 20, 2013: http://youtu.be/ZTOP2PBnoi4 The ways she uses humor to draw people to the funeral planning conversation include: The book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die Talks...