Funeral Care
Funeral Care
There are many, many practical details to decide upon but more important is the discussion you will have with a Tubman Funeral Director to discuss your emotional needs and those of your family. We’ll guide you and counsel you as to how to best meet your needs. The choices you make at this time will affect your emotional and psychological well-being and Tubman are experts in bereavement counseling and guiding you and your family to help make the best choices.
No two people are alike nor are any two families, so there’s no reason why two funeral services should be exactly alike. Your understanding of your loved one’s interests, passions and hobbies as well as their relationship with you, will help you create a funeral that is a meaningful and memorable tribute.
There are many things that you can do to personalize the service to reflect the life of your loved one. Here are some options to consider when planning a funeral service.
- Create a column in the guest book for people to jot down a memory after they sign their name.
- Display personal items or hobby paraphernalia on a table at the visitation, the ceremony and/or the gathering afterwards.
- Have more than one person deliver the eulogy. Ask several people to share memories and talk about different aspects of the person who died.
- Choose clothing for the person who died that reflects his or her life, interests, passions, etc. The clothing need doesn’t have to be formal or sombre.
- Create a personalized program for the ceremony. You can include photos, poems, anecdotes, or whatever else you’d like. Your Funeral Director can help you with this.
- Show a videotape or slide show of the person’s life during the funeral. Pictures tell a thousand words.
- Ask children if they would like to write a letter or draw a picture for the person who died. Their “goodbyes” can then be placed in the casket alongside the body.
- Select flowers that were meaningful to the person who died. A simple arrangement of freshly-cut lilacs, for example, might be perfect.
- At the funeral, invite people to write down a memory of the person who died.
- Appoint someone to gather and read the memories aloud.
- Create a funeral that captures the personality of the person who died. If he was zany, don’t be afraid to use humour. If she was affectionate, have everyone stand up and hug the person next to them during the ceremony.
- Display photos of the person who died at the visitation, the ceremony and/or the gathering. In fact, putting together a photo collage can be a very healing experience for the family in the days before the funeral.
- Use lots of music, especially if music was meaningful to the person who died or is to your family. Music can be played at the visitation, the committal service and the gathering as well as the funeral service itself.
The practical details that need to be decided include:
- Whether you’d prefer a burial or cremation
- How you choose to receive your friends for the visitation
- The choice of caskets urns, outer receptacles
- Choice of keepsakes and memorial tributes
- The nature of your funeral service
- Interment, inurnment and permanent memorialization
- The reception after the funeral
- How you will inform family and friends
- Please call to arrange an appointment to discuss your funeral service options.
