Q: What is the purpose of a funeral?

A: Funerals are an important step in the grieving process, as well as an opportunity to honor a life lived.  They offer surviving family members and friends a caring, supportive environment in which to share thoughts and feelings about the death.  Often funerals are the first step in the healing process.

Q: What role does the funeral director fill?

A:  Funeral directors are there to help you through a very difficult time in your life.  They are listeners and counselors, tribute planners and crisis managers.  Through discussions with you, based on information you share about your wishes and details about your loved one, they are able to offer guidance and help you coordinate a very personal tribute that honors the life of your loved one.  Your local funeral director can guide you through planning the service; complete necessary paperwork; and coordinate doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and other vendors to make you funeral experience as seamless as possible.

Q: Is it possible to plan a funeral in advance?

A: Yes.  Doing so can offer emotional and financial security for both you and your family.  By preplanning a funeral you will get the kind of service you want and your family will be unburdened from making decisions at a stressful time.

Q: Can I still have a funeral service if I choose cremation?

A: Yes.  From traditional services to contemporary celebrations, cremation gives you the flexibility to personalize the services for yourself or a loved one.

Q: Must you have a funeral director to bury the dead?

A:  Yes.  In NYS, a licensed funeral director or undertaker must be present and personally supervise the interment or cremation, or the pick-up from, or delivery to, a common-carrier of the a dead human body.  Further, a licensed funeral director must sign and file the certificate of death with the registrar in the district in which the death occurred.

Q: What is the purpose of embalming?

A: Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body, retards the decomposition process and enhances the appearance of a body disfigured by traumatic death or illness.  Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them. A dead body does not have to be embalmed according to law.