How Personalizing Our Father’s Funeral Also Saved on Funeral Costs

article image
PHOTO: FOTOLIA/MARC XAVIER
In keeping with the character of the thrifty man he'd been in life, the family purchased an attractive but unadorned casket for a modest sum, coincidentally saving on funeral costs.

“A good death does honor to a whole life.” (Francesco Petrarca)

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said that nothing in this world is certain but death and taxes. Well, I’d like to add another sure bet to the pair: The cost of both of Ben’s absolutes will continually increase!

Although a great deal has been written on the subject of funerals (and what are often scandalously high funeral costs) in recent times, none of the reports really touched me personally until six years ago  when my father was diagnosed as having terminal cancer.

Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to think clearly while under the emotional stress that would undoubtedly hit us upon his death, my brothers and sisters and I began early to plan our father’s final rites. As a result of our careful forethought, we were able to give him a special, personalized funeral … and one that cut back on unnecessary expense as well.

Since our father chose never to discuss the matter, it was left to us to prepare a ceremony that we believed would approximate what he’d have wanted. So we decided to make his life of farming, and his intense dislike for pomposity, the funeral’s central themes.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1981
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368