The Family Plot Blog
Register Today for Cemetery Stories Storytelling Event November 2
Cemetery Stories: Life, Death and Beyond, a live storytelling event, will take place November 2, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Historic Fairview Cemetery, located at 700 Yale Blvd. SE. It's being organized by the New Mexico Humanities Council, the Before I Die NM Festival and the cemetery. Cemetery Stories will be the closing event of the Festival. Hot cider and cookies will be served. In addition, there will be an opportunity to write out messages...
Gail Rubin to Speak at HERe Conference: Fear is So Last Year!
Fear is So Last Year! The Arizona Healthcare Financial Management Association is holding their 9th Annual Women Lead HERe Conference on Friday, November 5th, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time as a live, virtual event. The theme of "Fear is So Last Year" will be reflected in Gail Rubin's presentation at 11:00 a.m. in Arizona, noon in New Mexico (where Gail is based). Her presentation is "Laughing in the Face of Death: Funny Films for...
Green Burial Curious? Join the Conversation October 21!
The Green Burial Council’s second virtual conference, Green Life, Death & Future will take place October 21–28, 2021. On Thursday, October 21, at 3:30 pm PT / 4:30 pm MT / 5:30 pm CT / 6:30 pm ET, Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, is hosting a free two-hour virtual conversation about what green burial means. She'll show video clips from the HBO series Six Feet Under and from the Netflix series The Kominsky Method that illustrate green...
Gail Rubin a Featured Speaker at Prime Time 50+ EXPO Wednesday
Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and the Doyenne of Death®, is a pioneering death educator who uses humor, television and film clips, and outside-the-box activities to teach about death and encourage end-of-life planning. A doyenne is a woman considered senior in a group who knows a lot about a particular subject. This Wednesday, October 13, Gail is speaking at the Prime Time 50+ EXPO, taking place at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1000 Woodward...
More Funeral News Stories
Recent Trends in Funeral News Over the past few weeks, these funeral news stories have appeared. They focus on COVID-19 pandemic deaths, unclaimed bodies, hospice care access, bucket lists, and why we treasure certain items. Idaho morgues are running out of space for bodies as covid-19 deaths mount As covid-19 deaths reach record highs in the state of 1.8 million, hard-hit areas are struggling to keep pace with the surge in victims. Some...
Funeral Businesses Can Share Before I Die NM Festival Virtual Events
Before I Die Festival Expands Nationally The Before I Die Festival concept excites and educates adults about end-of-life preparation, funeral planning and facing our mortality. Funeral homes and cemeteries nationwide can now share virtual sessions of the Before I Die NM Festival in their markets. It’s being held for the fifth consecutive year in Albuquerque and online, October 30 to November 2, 2021. “Sharing Before I Die NM Festival events...
Hilarious TV Series The Kominsky Method Helps to Discuss Death and Estate Planning
The Kominsky Method The Kominsky Method shows how to age with humor. The award-winning Netflix TV series stars Michael Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, an aging acting coach, and Alan Arkin as Norman Newlander, his long-time agent and friend. The series pokes fun at a range of aging issues: fear of death, funeral planning, diseases that can kill you, the growing multitude of medications and supplements we take, and yes, even estate planning. The...
News Stories: Open Air Cremation in Maine and More
Funeral News Round Up Here are some news stories about funeral developments, a great new Mitch Albom column about COVID and saying goodbye to loved ones, the Before I Die New Mexico Festival schedule announcement, and green burial news. Maine Considers Open Air Cremation Cremating dead bodies on open-air funeral pyres may soon be legal in Maine. A bill in the state legislature would allow designated sites in the state to conduct open air...
In Person ABQ Death Cafe Moves to Historic Fairview Cemetery
The Next Death Cafe is Moving Outdoors! With the rising numbers of cases of COVID-19 due to the Delta virus variant, in-person Death Cafe events are moving from Manzano Del Sol, a retirement community, outdoors to Historic Fairview Cemetery. How appropriate to discuss death among the tombstones. The ABQ Death Cafe offers a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or...
Video: Psychic Reading at Historic Fairview Cemetery
Psychic Tammy Holmes Visits Historic Fairview Cemetery Tammy Holmes, renowned psychic, visited Historic Fairview Cemetery, established in 1881 in Albuquerque, NM. She was immediately contacted by Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms, who is buried in a family plot with her second husband, Albert G. Simms, and her son, John Medill McCormick, who died in 1938 at the age of 21. Tammy shares information about each, and shares Ruth's uplifting message to us...
How to Operate a Back Hoe in a Cemetery
Operating a Back Hoe - Not as Easy as You'd Think Ever operated a back hoe in a cemetery? I recently attended ICCFA University, the summer continuing education event of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association. Since I'm the president of Historic Fairview Cemetery in Albuquerque, NM, among other roles, I attended the College of Land Management & Grounds Operations on a scholarship. I call it cemetery summer camp. What a...
Videos: Discussing Cremation and COVID-19
Talking Cremation with J.P. DiTroia J.P. Di Troia knows cremation. He is President of U.S. Columbarium and Fresh Pond Crematory in Middle Village, Queens, NY and has worked there since 1967. Fresh Pond Crematory was first built in 1884. It's the oldest continually operating crematory in the United States. He recently spoke with Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, pioneering death educator and the coordinator of the Before I Die NM Festival....
Announcing the 5th Annual Before I Die NM Festival
Festival Features In-Person and Online Events October 30-November 2, 2021 The Before I Die NM Festival, being held for the fifth consecutive year in New Mexico, breaks new ground with a combination of in-person/online series of events Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 2021. The Before I Die Festival concept brings together entertaining and educational elements to start conversations. Events are designed to prompt Baby Boomers and their Millennial children to...
Body Broker Bill to Protect Families Making Body Donations
Body Donations Get You a Free Cremation, But... Do you know what actually happens to the donated body? According to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), "When a family chooses to donate a loved one’s body for education or research, they do so with the hope that they will help others. Regrettably, many are unknowingly contributing to a for-profit industry in which the body of their loved one could be traded as raw material in a...
July Death Cafe Events Now Scheduled Online or In-Person
The Death Cafe in Albuquerque will hold two events in July: one online on July 11 and one in-person on July 18. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s all about an interesting, unstructured conversation – open and free-flowing with no specific agenda. When the pandemic took hold in March, 2020, Albuquerque Death Cafes were held online on...
Why You Need to Revisit Estate Plans
Why You Need to Revisit Estate Plans Planning ahead for end-of-life issues includes doing estate planning with a will and a trust as assets might dictate. It's just as important to keep those plans up-to-date. AAEPA, the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, recommends reviewing plans every three to five years. It’s also a good idea to review the trust around major life events: births, weddings, deaths, and moves. For example, my...
ABQ Death Cafe to Return to In-Person Meetings!
In-Person Death Cafe Meetings Return! It's time to discuss death - in person! After 15 months of pandemic lock down, the Albuquerque Death Cafe is now able to meet again in person at Manzano Del Sol. We will meet in person on Sunday, June 27, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 may attend without masks. Those who are not yet fully vaccinated are required to wear masks while on the...
Retirement After 60 Podcast: Funeral Planning Won’t Kill You
Gail Rubin on Retirement After 60 Podcast The Retirement After 60 podcast, hosted by Artie Bernaducci, recently interviewed Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, about "planning ahead for the longest vacation you'll every go on!" It's a reference to Gail's TEDx talk, "A Good Goodbye." During that eight-minute talk, she posed the question, "Would you let your kids plan your vacation for you? Of course not!" Why then, would you leave your funeral...
Bodies in the Ganges, Ashes to India
Dealing with Bodies In India, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting cremation and Hindu practice of scattering ashes in the Ganges River. The Washington Post recently ran a story, "The mystery of the hundreds of bodies found in India's Ganges River." Hindus revere the Ganges River as a sacred source of purity and protection. Burning bodies on the river bank and scattering cremated remains in this river happens all the time. But bodies floating...
Ten Questions on Whether to Downsize Your Possessions
Downsizing: What to Keep, What to Let Go? In downsizing while preparing for an estate sale at my parents’ Albuquerque home, I came across a printout of an email. It listed 10 questions to evaluate whether to keep something before moving. My Dad had printed this list in 2007. I found it in a file in his office, typically overwhelmed with clutter. My parents bought this house and moved in that same year, 2007. I found this document while...
Model A and Model T Fords at Historic Fairview Cemetery Memorial Day Tours
Historic Fairview Cemetery Memorial Day Tours and Antique Car Exhibit Mark your calendar! Memorial Day, Monday, May 31, 2021, the Board of the nonprofit Historic Fairview Cemetery organization invites visitors to take a tour and learn about some of its famous (and infamous) residents. Four one-hour tours will be conducted at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 and noon. A donation of $20 per person...