Changing Trends
Dealing with a family members' death is difficult, but funeral homes know how to help, even as funeral trends have changed.
Robin Young Christy, a funeral director at the Young Funeral Home in Butler, said she has seen funeral arrangements become more modern.
“It's going away from the traditional a bit,” she said.
She said there are fewer church hymns being played and more songs that the deceased enjoyed in life.
Additionally, people are having more personal items placed in the casket and more DVDs showing the deceased. Eulogies during services by family members and friends have been increasing as well.
“So, it's more, I guess, personalized,” she said.
Christy said the funeral home has also seen an increase in people interested in cremations.
“We've always done a lot of cremations,” she said.
Young does not do its own cremations, but it sends bodies out to a separate facility. Christy said one reason for an increase in cremations may be because they cost less than traditional burials.
Thompson-Miller Funeral Home in Butler last year added a crematorium.
Glenn Miller, a funeral director at Thompson-Miller, said he, too, has seen an increase in people choosing cremation.
“It certainly feels that way,” Miller said.
One common misconception about cremation, he said, is that getting a cremation means that there will be no visitation or services. This is not true.
Miller said cremation is similar to burial or entombment, and the family can have whatever kind of services it wants to before cremating.
Christy said she has seen an increase in people planning their own funerals in advance, including people in their early 30s.
“Some people want to get it out of the way,” Christy said. “It saves you money in the long run.”
Some aspects of funerals have stayed constant.
Military honors before burial are common for veterans who die.“A lot of them have it,” Christy said.Christy said Young calls the VFW in Lyndora and they send people who perform military honors.When dealing with children who have died, Christy said the process is similar to adult arrangements, but much more difficult.“It's just harder to get through, to get the arrangements prepared. It's devastating,” Christy said.If someone dies out of state, Christy said the funeral home needs to have the proper paperwork to get the body back home. Usually, she will work with a funeral home near where the person died.“There's definitely a process, but it's not that difficult,” Christy said.One important thing, Miller said, is to call only one funeral director if someone dies far away. This will keep costs low and makes the process smoother. For example, if a Butler native dies in Florida, Miller said only call the Butler funeral home.“In a way, that might sound different, but really it works best when you have just one person directing the whole procedure,” Miller said.He said if someone dies out of state, the certificate of death of the deceased must originate from the state in which they died.Despite the increase in personalized funerals, Christy said nothing she has seen really stands out as outlandish.Occasionally, Christy said people request to be buried in their yards. As long as there is no local ordinance preventing it, it can be done.“We've done it,” she said.Additionally, Christy said she has seen people bury golf clubs and decks of cards along with people.
