Family and Funerals

Choosing a Funeral Home: 7 Essential Questions

The thought of a death in the family strikes fear into the hearts of almost everyone. Choosing a funeral home is not like choosing a car insurance company. Without the knowledge and experience to know what comes next when a family member dies, you need someone to assist with next steps. You and your family need help with the trauma and grief of losing someone you love.

What is a Funeral Trust?

Funeral trusts allow people to pay funeral expenses in advance. With this kind of trust, you set aside a sum for your funeral and burial costs and leave your family with peace of mind about the future.

Estate Planning Basics 2021

Creating an estate plan prepares you and your loved ones for whatever may come, and it is easier than you may think to make yours. Knowing what legal documents you need is half the battle. Learn about estate planning basics in 2021.

Jewish Funeral Customs

According to the History channel, “Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, dating back nearly 4,000 years. Followers of Judaism believe in one God revealing himself through ancient prophets.” Jewish culture includes a mourning period known as shiva and other comforting traditions. Let’s look at Jewish funeral customs within this faith tradition. 

What Is the Cost of Hospice Care?

Hospice care focuses on helping terminally ill patients live comfortably and includes pain relief care and symptom management.  The focus is no longer on getting better or finding a cure, but instead on living well while dying. If you or a loved one are at this point in life, you may wonder about the cost of hospice care. Who will pay for the care you need?

What Does a Funeral Home Do?

If you’ve ever wondered why you need a funeral home to plan and arrange a funeral, it’s a job more significant than you think. There is much planning involved in arranging a funeral. Let’s look at the perspective of a 4th generation funeral director and see, “What does a funeral home do?” on a day-to-day basis.   

Does Life Insurance Pay for Funeral Expenses?

It is crucial to plan for your passing so that your loved ones aren’t left making the difficult decisions. This includes planning your funeral and how to pay for it. One myth is that your insurance policy will cover your funeral expenses. However, this is not always the case. If you’re planning now, learn whether life insurance could pay for your funeral expenses.

Is Palliative Care the Same as Hospice?

Anyone with a severe medical condition may choose palliative care, whether they are getting better or not. In this way, it is not the same as hospice care. Let’s look at the differences and similarities between these caring and helpful types of care.

What To Do When a Parent Dies

When a parent dies, it can feel like a foundational structure in your life has suddenly disappeared. In addition, the overwhelming emotional stress can make it challenging to think about what needs to happen next. However, armed with a checklist, you can gradually and steadily make progress. Learn what to do when a parent dies.

What to Say When Someone Dies

You may wonder what to say when someone dies. Is there a magic combination of words or phrases that will make a difference for them as they struggle through grieving their loss?  Learn about common ways to comfort grieving families and whether your words can lift and encourage their spirits.

What is a Celebration of Life?

A “celebration of life” is a way to remember a life well-lived while celebrating the beautiful qualities and character of the individual. On the other hand, a funeral service is often a sad and somber occasion focusing on the fact that a person is no longer with us. With a Celebration of Life, there may be less formality, more focus on a life well-lived, stories about the deceased, a relaxed dress code, or a theme around something the person loved.

How Do I Plan an Affordable Cremation?

Cremation is growing in popularity as a choice. According to the NFDA Cremation & Burial Report, “the projected burial rate in 2020 is 37.5% (down 7.7% from 2015) and projected cremation rate is 56.0% (up 8.1% from 2015).” Learn about the ways to make cremation affordable.

Online Funeral Planner

Your life is unique, and your end-of-life celebration should reflect who you are. Let’s look at how you can preplan a funeral for yourself or a loved one who would like your help thinking through this emotionally challenging task. If you’re ready to make a plan now, visit our Online Funeral Planner to make these difficult decisions now so that your family won’t have to make them later.

Condolences Meaning Explained

When someone dies, the depth of the loved ones’ sorrow is difficult to fathom. “My condolences” is an expression acknowledging the pain others experience in a loss. The word “condolences” meaning shows understanding and sympathy that someone is suffering in their loss of a loved one. Let’s look at the gestures that express our “condolences,” to those grieving.

Are a Medical Examiner and Coroner the Same?

Medical Examiners and coroners investigate deaths in mysterious circumstances such as suicide, homicide, or dying alone. In the cases they look at, it is undetermined why or how someone died. But are a medical examiner and a coroner the same?

Memorial Service Ideas

Beyond the traditional funeral is the memorial service. Memorial Service ideas come from our heart’s desire to honor and cherish the life of a loved one. We do so by creating meaningful experiences with our families and friends to share our unique memories. This time together helps us see a bigger picture of the life we were blessed to share on this earth.

How Much Does Cremation Cost?

More people are choosing cremation, and that may be related to its pricetag. But how much does cremation cost? Learn what a typical cremation service costs and what it includes. Let’s break down the associated costs, what is necessary, and what is not.

List of Private Autopsy Services in NC

We do NOT offer autopsy services, and there are NO local private autopsy services in Raleigh. However, we are happy to coordinate transportation of the decedent to and from an autopsy facility.  Please do not call us for autopsy services. Please call one of the...

Hindu Funeral Traditions

If you wonder what Hindu funeral traditions are like, they can be different from traditional American funerals, but the core fundamentals remain the same. There is a gathering of family and friends who are grieving. There is a process of letting the deceased go and telling them goodbye with prayers and songs. And there are loved ones who suffer from their loss.

Who Can Be Buried in a National Cemetery?

As a Veteran, you may be concerned about how your family will pay for your funeral someday. Veterans, service members, spouses, and dependents may be eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery. Let’s look at whether you may be eligible for Veteran burial in a National Cemetery and what other benefits may be included. 

Buddhist Death Rituals and Funeral Rites

Death rituals and funeral traditions vary as much as different cultures. Buddhism is no different in that there are established protocols unique to this religious tradition just as there are in every other. Let’s take a look at Buddhist Funeral rites and death rituals.

Have You Planned For Medicaid Benefits?

Medicaid can cover the costs of care that your health insurance will not touch. If you start early enough, you can qualify and still have a separate income stream that does not disqualify you from benefits. If you need to qualify now, plan for long-term care by spending down your assets. A funeral preplan is a good way to work toward qualifying for Medicaid.

How to Plan Your Own Funeral

Losing a loved one is hard enough. If the funeral is not already planned, your loved ones must spend countless hours deliberating and coming to an agreement about every detail of your final event. You can go ahead and plan now. Save your family the time and struggle. Consider these questions to make your own plan.

Why Preplan for a Funeral?

We all plan for the big occasions in our lives, like graduations and weddings. When you think about your own funeral, you probably have ideas about how that will look. But if you don’t plan for this last rite of passage, your family and friends may be left confused about how to handle your arrangements. 

How to Write an Obituary

An obituary is a tribute to a life that has passed on. It includes facts about birth and death and other milestones of most lives. However, to really honor a life that is no longer with us, you need to include some of the unique personal kinds of remembrances that made the deceased so different from the billions of others who have lived and died on this terrestrial ball.

What are the Types Of Organ Donation?

When you choose to become an organ, eye, and tissue donor, you choose to give others life when you have already lost your own. It is a beautiful and life-affirming decision for your family and for the person who receives your gift of life. Let’s look at the different types of organ donation and how you can enhance and even save other’s lives by choosing to be an organ donor.

What is Green Burial?

Green burial is a respectful disposition of the dead without undue burden on the living. It allows nature to take care of us like it has for thousands and thousands of years. Learn more about green burial.

Answers to Organ and Tissue Donation Questions

Maybe you saw an episode of Grey’s Anatomy or another hospital show where someone’s life was saved by an organ donor. Learn more about organ and tissue donation and how it all works.

How to Pay for a Funeral

Most of us acknowledge the importance of preplanning our own funeral, but still leave the planning undone. Let’s look at why it’s important to plan for how to pay for a funeral.  

What Happens in a Crematory?

Dig deeper into the industry of death with answers to the many questions that most of us are afraid to ask but have always been curious about. Find answers to your questions about what life is like at a funeral home, and what exactly happens in a crematory.

Battling Terminal Cancer

People are so much more than a one-page obituary. Find out what it is like for a family to battle a terminal cancer diagnosis for 9+ years. Rob Morrell is a retired physician from Raleigh North Carolina who has been fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis for almost 10 years. He’s not so sure how much longer he has, so he and his family wanted to be able to share his story.

What Does a Hospital Chaplain Do?

Learn what a hospital chaplain does and how to get into the industry, different ways people can grieve, and stories about being a chaplain.

Battling Brain Cancer

Learn what it is like to lose your son to a glioblastoma and about the impact one child can leave, touching so many lives as he was going through his battle with cancer.

Mother Remembers Baby Daughter

Listen as mother, Sharon Delaney McCloud, remembers baby daughter Macie. She was less than a year old at time of death.

History of Historic Oakwood Cemetery

Listen as the executive director of Historic Oakwood Cemetery, Robin Simonton, in downtown Raleigh NC, shares the history of the cemetery and the 25,000+ people who are buried there.

Parents Face Tragedy of Losing Teenage Daughter

Leah Loeffler was just 17 when she passed away from a car accident. To die so young is a tragedy, but Leah’s parents Dan and Nancy Loeffler have transformed their tragedy into helping others with grief. Learn how they made it through.

How to Give a Eulogy

A eulogy usually contains socially appropriate types of stories that will resonate with the majority of people attending a funeral or memorial service. Most of what goes into a eulogy falls into 4 broad categories. Let’s look at what they are and also at what not to say in a eulogy.

Life and Death of a Pilot

Hear the story of Jonathan Hill, 43, who passed away in 2014. Jonathan was a pilot, son, husband, father of three, and friend. Listen to his wife, mother, three children, and a family friend discuss his life and death and their grief journey.

The Truth About Cremation

Because of its growing popularity, many funeral homes now offer cremation onsite and include many ways to memorialize your loved one. Learn more about what cremation is, how it works, the pros and cons, and why the majority of people are choosing cremation for their remains.

How Do I Cope with a Terminal Diagnosis?

If you’ve been given a terminal diagnosis, you may currently be in shock. However, don’t lose hope. You are still alive in this moment right now and you are still able to give meaning to the time you have left here. Let’s look at some of the important ways to cope with your diagnosis and make the rest of your life meaningful.

What is Respite Care?

Respite Care is a temporary, substitute living arrangement for dependent adults which provides a brief period of relief or rest for their regular caregivers. Often, caregivers need a break, but are unaware of their needs because they are too busy caring for their loved one. Read on to find out what symptoms can evolve from burnout and how to find respite care for your loved one so that you can take a much needed break.

How to Share the Loss of Family With Children

No matter how you choose to share a death with your child, the most important thing is to be there for them in their grief and communicate that however they express their grief, you understand and accept them.

In Memoriam 2020

As the year 2020 comes to an end, we wanted to express both our gratitude and our warm wishes to each of the families we have served. We have created a memorial video to honor those we lost in 2020 and to let you know that we remember. Not every family we work with...

Grieving a Loss During the Holiday Season

If you suffered the loss of a loved one recently, you may feel like you are just going through the motions this year. The hope and joy of the holidays may have been replaced by annoyance, tears, and frustration at all the “happy” people. You may be wondering if your celebratory or happy feelings will ever return. Let’s look at ways to deal with loss while getting through the holiday season this year.

Why Be An Organ Donor?

Deciding to become an organ and tissue donor is a personal choice, but the people who have been involved in this life saving network unequivocally agree that when a life is gone, it is such a gift for them to share what they no longer need so that others can have the hope of a happy healthy life also. Learn more about the process of organ donation.

What is a Green Burial?

Green burial is a conscious choice to conserve natural resources as you choose to use non-toxic and biodegradable materials for the burial and natural ways of embalming. Learn more about the process and how you can incorporate green burial into your plans.

How to Prevent Suicide

Suicide prevention is everyone’s business. You can learn the warning signs and how to get help. There are many contributing factors and reasons that cause someone to consider suicide. Learn the warning signs that someone could be contemplating suicide. 

What to Do When a Veteran Dies

One way that you can remember a veteran is by making sure that they receive the honors of the military with a flag-draped casket and a trumpet playing Taps. Your funeral director can help with these types of arrangements. Learn more about what to do when a Veteran dies.

How to Help a Child Grieve Loss

If a child you care for is grieving the loss of someone they cared deeply for, you may be looking for ways to help them grieve. Depending on their developmental age and stage, there are different ways to help. Learn more about grief and find more resources.

How to Help Someone Who Lost a Spouse

When someone you care about is grieving the loss of a spouse, it can seem like there is nothing you can do to help. A time of grieving is normal, but sometimes a person can get stuck in their sadness and have trouble moving forward in life. Learn about how you can help someone move through the stages of grief in a healthy way.