What to Consider When Planning Your Cemetery Needs │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc
Below is a transcript the the video:
Hello, welcome to Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.
We’re going to continue our conversation about pre-planning and we talked about the fact that there’s several areas to do pre-planning and that there’s a funeral home side of things, the cemetery side of things, and the church side of things.
Today, I want to talk about the cemetery side of things and give you some questions to begin to start to think about but in the end, I’m going to talk to you about the fact that it really helps to have a specialist to work through with you in the cemetery but there’s things that you can start thinking about so that you are prepared when you come to the specialist to help you out. So, when you’re thinking about cemetery.
The first real question, you have to with all of this is, do I want to be cremated or do I want a traditional burial and that is absolutely fundamental to it because that then guides all your other questions.
Once you decide that, then, let’s talk about cemetery and let’s assume that you are looking at a traditional burial and most of this, actually, all this will apply to cremation but just for a conversational talk traditional burial.
The next question that you have to answer is, do I want to be above ground or below ground? For both cremation and traditional burial, you can be below ground or above ground, below ground buried or above ground to hit a mausoleum, a columbarium or some type of structure that houses those that have passed away above ground and so that’s an important decision to make.
Some people feel very, very strongly about this. I was in San Francisco about a year ago and a guy came up to me and he’s like, I don’t want to be anywhere underground. I don’t want to be anywhere where water could touch me. I want to be on the top floor, top floor of the mausoleum and I said, you can talk to one of the people here who can help you out with that and so talking about do you want to look above ground or below ground and some of those have some different implications.
The other question is does location matter to you the cemetery unfortunately or fortunately is just like real estate some places are very expensive in the cemetery some places are less expensive.
A couple years ago I started talking about this to my wife and I came home from work and I said honey I picked out a perfect spot a cemetery spot for us and she instantly interrupted me knowing my personality she said let me guess it’s the most expensive spot in the cemetery and I said yes and so it was on the lake in our stations of the cross overlooking the mountains just absolutely gorgeous and her response was honey your dead it really doesn’t matter and I want the cheapest place possible.
So one of the conversations is do you want the cheapest? or do you want the most expensive? do you want a view? do you not want a view? or doesn’t it matter?
And so what is that location that you want for your family not only geographically do I want to be in North Denver, South Denver, do I want to be in Ohio but within the cemetery does that location matter to you?
And then the third piece with the question I would argue that you want to think about is who’s going to help you out with this?
Earlier this year my daughter bought her first house, very proud of her, and she said you know what dad I’m going to do it without a real estate agent she’s like I can save thousands of dollars you know how much I paid this guy to be a real estate agent? I said yes and you’re thankful and he actually save you money in the end.
And she came to me after she bought the house and said, yes, it was so good to have the real estate agent. He helped me through things and actually got me things that actually saved me money in the end.
I would really recommend working with one of our family service advisers. They could take you around the cemetery, look at all the different options that are out there. Some people have extended family and I’ve had questions like, can my husband and I and a child be all buried in the same plot and Family Service Advisor can work with you to help you answer your questions, look at your needs, and find out what’s going to be most beneficial to you.
And so here are the couple questions for you to think about with regard to cemetery is do you want a traditional burial? Or cremation? Do you want to be above ground? below ground? And does location matter? and then, once you have those things in mind, I would suggest giving us a call, talking to one of our family service advisers and they can help guide you and through the us and help you find that perfect spot for you and or your loved one for all of eternity.
This is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark. Have a blessed day.
For more information about preplanning your funeral and cemetery needs, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/cemetery/