Cartoon on Weddings and My Take on Funerals

Cartoon on Weddings and My Take on Funerals

In today’s Sunday funnies, the Luann comic strip looks at all the details of organizing weddings. What most folks don’t think about is the need to apply the same detailed planning to organizing funerals.

Luann’s brother Brad is going to marry his sweetheart Toni. Toni has been looking at wedding websites and has found a list of things to do before “I Do.” She tells Brad, “Ready for this? To plan our wedding we have 228 decisions to make.” He replies, “Well, I’ve already made one decision. I vow to love you for the rest of my life.”

She replies, ” That’s very sweet, Brad. But you still have to help on the other 227.” He grins, “What if I vow not to interfere with wedding plans? Would that count as helping?”

Now, Brad and Toni are planning their wedding months in advance. Yet most people do not discuss, think about or plan for their own funeral or for anyone else. Would you want to make those 227 decisions in the span of 48 hours?

You might not have as many as 227 decisions to make when a death occurs, but it will feel like it. Being prepared and planning ahead makes it much easier for those you love. If you would like a list of 50 Things That Must Be Done When A Death Occurs, email a note to me care of Gail[at]AGoodGoodbye.com and I’ll send it to you pronto!

Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment

View the original article here

Friday Funeral Funny: Four Husbands

Friday Funeral Funny: Four Husbands Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®

So many folks send funeral jokes my way, it’s time to start sharing!

The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married for the fourth time. The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband’s occupation.

“He’s a funeral director,” she answered. “Interesting,” the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn’t mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living.

She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she had first married a banker when she was in her 20's, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, and a preacher when in her 60's, and now – in her 80's – a funeral director.

The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.

She smiled and explained, “I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.”

Thanks to the folks at the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Vermont for passing this one along!

Got a funeral joke you want to share? Please send it to Gail[at]AGoodGoodbye.com and I’ll give you credit and a link to your site when it’s posted!

Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment

View the original article here

A Good Goodbye TV Series Begins Airing Again Monday

A Good Goodbye TV Series Begins Airing Again Monday Gail Rubin on set of A Good Goodbye

UPublic.TV on Comcast Cable in Albuquerque is going to start running the entire A Good Goodbye TV show series again, beginning this coming Monday, July 15. They are re-starting the series from the first episode, in new time slots.

Each new episode starts on Monday. The new air days and times on each channel are:

CH 26: Mondays at 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:30 p.m.

CH 27: Wednesdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5:30 p.m.

Monday’s episode features Barbara Stewart and Mark Ballard with FRENCH Funerals-Cremations discussing pre-need funeral planning. Barbara is the company’s community liaison and Mark is director of pre-need sales.

Topics covered during the interview include:

good reasons to pre-plan a funeral BEFORE there’s a death;misconceptions and reasons people avoid advance funeral planning;how a Medicaid funeral trust can help people protect assets;examples of personalized funerals that can be planned out ahead of time;how to use an online planner to make the planning process easier.

A Good Goodbye TV is an educational and entertaining 12-episode series of 30-minute programs with expert interviews on “everything you need to know before you go.” The series will become available as online streaming videos and on DVDs (see more about that below).

Host Gail Rubin brings a light touch to a serious subject. Like her award-winning book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, the television program covers information most people don’t know about until faced with a death in the family.

The first 12 programs will become a set of DVDs with three interviews per disc. A Good Goodbye TV interviews will be grouped by content:

DVD 1  Over My Dead Body: Essentials of Funeral Planning – Preneed funeral planning, cremation, cemetery Q&ADVD 2  Trending Topics: Pets, Funeral Parties and Going Green – Pet loss grief and disposition choices, life celebrations and celebrants, green burial and eco-friendly funeralsDVD 3  Death and Taxes: A Primer on Finances and Funerals – estate planning, financial planning, cost managementDVD 4  Good Grief! Save Money, Live and Die Better – Medicaid and more, advance directives, grief counseling

SPECIAL OFFER: Place your advance order for the four-DVD set and get a free copy of the book A Good Goodbye! Episodes are currently being finalized. Place your pre-production order today for only $39.97 plus shipping. A book will be sent right away to those who place advance orders. CLICK HERE to order.

Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment

View the original article here

Montana running amok. . .again

For the backstory on Montana's war on affordable funerals, see:

Montana Funeral Directors Try to Shut Down Competition

Montana: The Divine Right of Undertakers II

The state's funeral industry and its regulatory handmaidens just won't quit. The latest? Proposed revisions to the Board of Funeral Service's regulations that would sneakily put low-cost, direct-to-consumer crematories out of business. How? By making it illegal for a crematory operator to do the most basic, necessary tasks on his own :

Crematory operators would be barred from removing pacemakers (which state law requires, and which could blow up if not removed before cremation) unless they did so in a fully-equipped embalming room in a full-service mortuary. This would be like offering a Jiffy Lube from changing a car's oil unless it did so in a full-service car dealership with diagnostic computers and emissions-control equipment.

Since no full-service mortuary is going to let a crematory competitor use its embalming room, or would charge a fee, or since the embalming room would be physically distant, this effectively prohibits cremation businesses from operating independent of a competitor. Crematory operators could not even wash, dress, or comb the hair of a deceased person outside the walls of a full-embalming suite at a full-service mortuary.  Anyone selling any kind of funeral—full-service, basic, or cremation-only—could only discuss it with the customer within the physical building of a full service funeral home or branch, unless otherwise requested by the customer. No, it doesn't make much sense to us either, but it appears to be another way to make business impossible for honest, reasonably priced businesses like Central Montana Crematorium. 

Here's our letter to the state board, which we've also sent to the Governor's office. 

Last Updated ( Friday, 12 April 2013 12:55 )  

View the original article here

No Grey Suits

NoGreySuits
Vermonter Jack Manning's touching, candid, and funny account of the death of his wife, Ann, and the friends who came together to perform her funeral is a must read. If there's a better illustration of the fact that the value in funerals comes from human contact, community, and love, we haven't seen it.

Last Updated ( Monday, 15 April 2013 13:48 )  

View the original article here

A Different Race to the Finish Line

A Different Race to the Finish Line

What was a NASCAR racing simulator doing at the ICCFA 2013 Expo? It encouraged attendees to race around to visit the various exhibitors at the expo so they could win a pair of tickets to a NASCAR Sprint Cup series race.

The vehicle was an actual NASCAR racer that had been retired and fitted with a simulator system. Participants get in the driver’s seat and see what it looks like to be on the track. A screen on top of the vehicle showed the passing observer what the driver was seeing. He or she who negotiates the fastest lap wins!

The sponsors for the NASCAR Racing Experience were emblazoned on the side of the vehicle. Sponsors included IMSA (the International Memorialization Supply Association), NOMIS publications, American Coach Sales, American Funeral Financial, Forston & Associates, PLPA (Pet Loss Professionals Association), Trigard, Heart to Heart, Ingram, MBS, Matthews International, Clark Grave Vaults, and Mork Mausoleum.

Check out the video of this vehicle!

Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment

View the original article here

Two More Death Cartoons

Two More Death Cartoons

Pickles and Non Sequitur both featured death cartoons yesterday.

It’s another cemetery joke in Non Sequitur. A guy is lounging in a grave, complete with recliner, reading lamp and newspaper in hand. A woman (presumably his wife) is standing nearby saying, “Speaking of hating to spend money on things that aren’t being used, your dinner is getting cold.”

Meanwhile, over in Pickles, Grampa Earl is coughing and sniffling. His grandson says, “You’re not going to die, are you Grampa?” He replies, “Yes, but probably not today.”

The boy replies, “Good. I don’t want to be here when you die.” Grampa says, “Okay. I’ll try to schedule it when you’re out of town.”

Would we be better off knowing our own mortal deadline? It never seems to come at a convenient time.

Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment

View the original article here