Planning Funeral Services

In planning funeral services, there are two common choices for what is known as "final disposition" of the person's body -  burial or  cremation. Placement in a mausoleum is considered burial; it's burial above ground as opposed to burial in-ground. A third less-common choice is known as "anatomical gift" or more commonly as donating your body to science.
 

Burial Choices

For people who choose to be buried or entombed in a mausoleum, there are a couple of choices concerning services. The most common are these:

  • visiting hours at the funeral home either the day/evening before the service or an hour or two before the service followed by a service at the funeral home or church or synagogue. As people leave the service, they may choose to be part of the procession to the cemetery for the burial or entombment.   OR  
  • a service at the funeral home, church, synagogue, or cemetery without any prior public visiting time at the funeral home. (Family members are usually given an opportunity for some private time with the deceased at the funeral home, if desired.)

If what you have in mind is not mentioned above, please know that your funeral director will be flexible and do whatever he/she can to fulfill your wishes. Don’t hesitate to talk about them and ask questions. 
 

Cremation Choices

Cremation allows for a variety of choices concerning services. The most common are these:

  • visiting hours at the funeral home either the day before the service or an hour or two before the service, a service at the funeral home or at the church or synagogue. At this point, people are dismissed since there is no procession to the cemetery for the burial. The body is then taken to the crematory for the cremation process. 
  • the cremation process takes place first without any public visiting time at the funeral home. (Family members may have an opportunity for some private time with the deceased at the funeral home before the cremation, if desired.) A memorial service is then held at a convenient time at the funeral home, church or synagogue, or other location. The ashes may or may not be present in an urn for the service, according to personal preference.
  • the cremation process takes place without any public visiting time or service at the funeral home  As mentioned above, family members may have an opportunity for some private time with the deceased at the funeral home before the cremation takes place, if desired.                                                      

With any of the choices above, the ashes can be buried in a cemetery lot, scattered, or returned to you for personal keeping. 
 
If what you have in mind is not mentioned above, please know that your funeral director will be flexible and do whatever he/she can to fulfill your wishes. Don’t hesitate to talk about them and ask questions.
 

Anatomical Gift

When a person chooses to donate their body for medical research, the local institution that will be used is the University of Rochester Medical Program at Strong Hospital. There are specific guidelines to determine eligibility and also legal documents that require signatures. These can viewed and/or printed from their website, http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/center-experiential-learning/anatomical-gift-program/  There are also phone numbers, one of which is for the Funeral Director/Sexton of the program, who is one of our members, Tiffany Morley, 585-275-2592