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Monday May 12,2008

Family differences on cremations vs. burials

Continued

The important thing is for families to TALK about their wishes BEFORE the need arrises. To take a huge emotional burden off of your loved ones,after you have discussed your wishes, call your funeral professionals and ask if they have a workbook you may fill out that contains your biographical information along with your wishes for your final disposition and memorialization. Once you have documented your wishes, ask your funeral professionals if they will place a copy of the information in their "Unfunded Funeral Pre-arrangements" files. Then if you want to relieve the financial burden from your loved ones, your funeral professional will explain how you can do that also. This is a wonderful final gift you can give to your loved ones.

Again, the important thing is to discuss your family's wants and needs in an open and non-judgmental way--open the door to understanding why you and your family members want the final disposition and memorialization in a certain way. Whatever decision is made will contribute to the "celebration" of the life of your loved one. This will go a long way in the journey through grief when the loss occurs.

Susan Mitchell Cox has served as the managing funeral director of Alexander Funeral Service in Taylorsville since it's opening in 1996. She was the first woman in a ten-count area of northwestern North Carolina to be a licensed as a funeral director and embalmer. She was recently elected as the District 10 Director for NCFDA.