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Family Guide To Creating Meaningful Funerals

Getting Facts & Feelings Right

Everyone needs to feel included and involved in order for an event to be meaningful. Funerals hold such special meaning for family, friends and all who knew the departed that when it comes to planning a funeral, from writing the obituary to saying the final goodbye, getting both the facts and the feelings right is important. Everyone wants to be acknowledged, and everyone's feelings are important.

Getting the facts right is a well-charted process. There is a form that all obituaries take, beginning with announcing the death.

John Joseph Doe, 96, of Houston, Texas, retired owner of Acme Products and celebrated entrepreneur, died Saturday, January 17, 2013, at Veterans Hospital, of complications following a stroke.

In addition to the announcement, other specific biographical information must be gathered: date of birth, parents, residence, education, service (military and otherwise), achievements, accomplishments and awards, memberships, surviving family, cherished pets, important schedules (funeral, vigils, prayer services, memorial gatherings, place of entombment and visitation), and arrangements for memorials, donations and other special announcements.

Getting the feelings right means gathering memories of all those involved and finding ways to make them part of the experience from the obituary to the funeral service itself. Funeral directors have interviewed thousands of families and they can help you to paint a compassionate picture of the life of the departed. Know that sometimes the simplest questions can trigger valuable memories.

Planning a meaningful funeral is as much a matter of attention to people as attention to detail, and those events that are long-remembered manage to find just the right balance of both, often made easier with the assistance of an experienced, compassionate professional.

A meaningful funeral can be planned months in advance ... you can start planning now.

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