My main goal in serving a family's needs is celebrating a life as uniquely as it was lived. My rules? If it's not illegal, immoral or unethical, I'm on board.
- For a farming family I put the casket on bales of hay from the family farm instead of the church truck that caskets usually rest on and lashed corn stalks to the head and foot of his casket
- For the woman who was known for her rose bushes around her home, I received permission to transplant four of them into large planters and we placed them around her casket
- For someone who was very much into polka music, we not only played it during calling hours but I made the pre-arrangements with that person when they were diagnosed with a terminal illness and he wanted everyone to have "one last polka" before we closed the casket. I made the announcement and we played the song he requested we play and we danced.
- For someone who was known for the afghans they knitted, I put the person's knitting needles in the person's hands in the casket with the last piece she was working on before she died and draped it over the top of the casket.
- For someone who was into fishing....we put crossed fishing poles across the head panel of the casket and brought his 12' boat in and adorned it with his fishing paraphernalia
As you can see, there is a lot of room for customization if your director is willing to work with you, suggest things other than "traditional" and possibly, do a little extra.
The props and area around the calling hours and funeral service I refer to as "customization". "Personalization" on the other hand is a story told unique to that person's life. For more about that, read my segment on Funeral Service Celebrants.
I hope you look into the opportunity to have a funeral service representative of the uniqueness of the life lived.
