When is a Party not a Funeral?
Not long ago a woman walked in wanting information on cremation. I took her into the front office to sit down and talk. I asked her what type of cremation service we could provide her. She answered that she was following her husband’s wishes; he did not want a funeral. All he wanted was to be cremated, have a party, then have his ashes spread in the ocean.
I presented her with some options; I actually started with our direct cremation fee, explaining what was involved. I then presented our memorial service package. She immediately stopped me, because, as she had told me earlier, he did not want a service.
My response was; “No, but he does want a party.” I asked if she had priced out how much it would cost for a party at some of the event places here in Carmel. With little hesitation she asked to see our facilities. We were remodeling our western event space into a multi-use bistro at the time, so I asked to envision what it would be. She walked around, looked over the room and said she needed to think about it.
We went back to the office where she asked several questions. We compared charges for direct cremation and memorial service packages. After a little time, she opted for the memorial service package. She then decided she wanted to look at urns.
Author - Jerry Roberts is a funeral director and the manager of Flanner and Buchanan Funeral Centers - Carmel. He has led many of the company’s cremation service initiatives during his 28-year tenure with Flanner and Buchanan.
