Heritage Coach Dealer Blog USA

You would think robbers and the dregs of society would have enough respect to leave funeral cars lined up for a procession alone. However, you’d be wrong.

Police in Fairburn, Georgia reported thieves burglarized several cars parked outside a local funeral on Camp Creek Parkway. According to reports, the thieves got away with hundreds of dollars in cash as well as several cell phones, Social Security cards and iPods. The funeral cars were lined up for the procession which was going to occur after the funeral.

“Why people would do it, I have no idea,” said one brother of the deceased. “And right in the middle of a funeral.” He went on to say, “It was a bad thing. I mean it hurt me for something like that to happen at a funeral. They have no respect for the dead.” He even noticed the car directly behind the hearse was broken into as well.

One person attending the funeral – the deceased’s niece – had more than $700 in cash stolen from her car. She had just received the money to put toward her tuition at Jacksonville State University.

I thought people had more respect than this, especially in the South. Apparently, it’s a sign of the times and people simply have lost respect for everything that is sacred.

At first thought, prepaid funerals may seem like a great idea. However, there is very little information about prepaying for your funeral expenses and there are many things that can go wrong. If you plan on prepaying for your funeral and hearses, here are some questions you should ask your funeral provider before making your final decision.

1. How will the money be invested? Will it go into a state-recognized funeral trust or will you invest it in an insurance company?

2. How much of my money will be invested for my funeral expenses and how much do you keep to pay commissions for the directors and the cemetery? Ideally, you want the funeral director to invest 100 percent of your funeral money.

3. If I transfer my funeral to another facility, will I still receive the full benefit that I’ve paid for? You want to have this option in case you change your mind or in case something happens to the funeral home you’ve already paid.

You can plan every detail of your funeral down to the number of funeral cars you want in the procession, but be sure you read the fine print when prepaying your expenses. If you don’t, you may be signing your money away.

There is nothing wrong with going through with the tradition of having funeral cars follow you to your final resting place. If you and your family enjoy tradition, it’s well and good. However, in a changing world, several funeral homes are trying to keep up with changing needs of mourners and loved ones when it comes to saying goodbye.

The Dumont-Sullivan Funeral Homes in New Hampshire have been making changes to accommodate a changing funeral scene. Five years ago, Leo Dumont III began renovating his two locations to “make people comfortable at an uncomfortable time.”

“There’s not a better feeling in the world,” says Dumont, “thank getting thanked by family members for your assistance in their loved one’s services.” To accomplish this, he has made changes such as making the foyer more open and airy decorated with seasonal décor. The scent of vanilla wafts by as you walk into the foyer for a soothing addition during a bad time. To the left, a spacious room with tables and refreshments let families and friends gather away from the larger crowds. There is also a children’s area in the room so nobody has to hire a babysitter to lend their support to a grieving friend or family member.

These are just a few of the changes going on in funeral homes throughout the nation.

A recent funeral in El Reno, Oklahoma has presented a number of challenges for Wilson Funeral Home. Mainly, Smith Wilson, the funeral director in charge, needs to employ an unprecedented number of hearses and funeral cars for a five-person funeral.

Summer Rust, a resident of the El Reno area, was strangled on January 12 along with her four children. Rust’s boyfriend, Joshua Durcho, has been charged in connection with the deaths.

As a result of the tragic death, Wilson has met with more family members than he has ever met for one funeral. Luckily, he said, the families were in agreement with the arrangements, making the entire process much easier. “Saturday,” he said, “we had everyone come in and sit down, and, so far, everyone is in agreement. We thank God everybody is pulling together and in agreement as far as the services.”

In addition to several hearses needed for the funeral, Wilson also had to arrange for traffic control as more than 1,000 people were expected to attend. The town has pulled together with donations and other forms of aid to help the director and family have the resources they needed to conduct the funeral.

Pet funerals are becoming more and more popular these days. With people treating their pets more like family members, they mourn the death of a pet just as much as the death of a human loved one. One Pennsylvania-based cemetery recognizes that emotional connection and is offering funeral services and burial for pets.

The Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in Pleasant Hills is offering pet burials starting at $575. The burials include a casket, lot, grave opening and graveside service. Larger animals are more expensive and you can get more features and amenities for a higher cost. The cemetery will also arrange for cremation at a different location if those are your wishes for your pet.

“We’re trying to fill a niche out there. There are so many people for whom their pets are their lives,” explained Michael Walker, the cemetery’s sales manager.

The pet burials will be in the “Garden of Faithful Friends,” a separate section of the cemetery. One area of this section will be for pets only while another area will be designated for pet owners who wish to be buried alongside their pet.

If you prefer to have a more elaborate funeral before the burial, you can probably arrange a service for your pet and then have a hearse or funeral cars transport the remains to the cemetery. The preparations are left up to you.

Another car plowed into a procession of funeral cars last week because the driver wasn’t paying attention or they were just in too much of a hurry to care. The incident occurred near Cincinnati, Ohio near the intersection of MKL Boulevard and High Street.

The driver told the officers that he didn’t notice the procession of funeral cars when he drove through the intersection. He plowed into a silver car that had a purple flag prominently displayed on the hood. One person involved in the incident suffered some minor injuries.

Is it really that hard to notice when cars are in the intersection? It shouldn’t be so difficult to see cars coming if you are an observant driver. In an effort to reduce the number of crashes with funeral cars, here are two tips on how to be a more observant driver:

• Always look around. I don’t mean turn your head, but use your mirrors and peripheral vision so you know what’s going on around you and what’s coming up.

• Stay alert. Get off the cell phone and put away any other distraction that takes your attention away from driving.

Now take those tips and use them so we don’t make it any more difficult on mourners trying to say goodbye to their loved ones.

We’ve written about how more and more people are having accidents with funeral cars these days, but it’s nice when a paper like The Chicago Tribune validates those blog posts.

This story comes on the heels of an Elk Grove Village woman who collided with a procession of funeral cars this week. But experts say it isn’t a surprise as these types of accidents are becoming more common as drivers become more distracted.

Nathan Tamayo, the director of Grove Memorial Chapel, said fender benders are common in processions of funeral cars, but “there has never been one that is as bad as this one.” Illinois law requires the lead funeral car in a procession obey stop signs and traffic signals, but the rest of the funeral cars are allowed to go through the stop signs and red lights once the lead car has proceeded.

Although no one tracks the number of accidents involving funeral cars each year, we have noticed several of them in the past year. A look at recent articles also shows that motorcycle police escorts are most frequently injured.

Let’s not make a family mourn more than they already have to mourn after a funeral. Let’s all keep our eyes open and stay alert for funeral processions so they can mourn in peace and safety.

You know there’s a recession afoot when the funeral industry starts to feel the pinch. “I don’t want to say it has not hurt funerals. It has,” said Clifford A. Greene about the recent economic problems. Greene is a licensed funeral director and funeral home owner. “People make choices based on economics today, more than their heartfelt feelings. Today, they have to make some tough decisions.”

This doesn’t mean the funeral industry is suffering from lack of business. People are still dying and they still need the services of a funeral home and director. It’s not going to slow down anytime soon, either, as analysts predict the death rate in the United States will increase from 0.093 percent to 0.109 percent in the next three decades.

However, they are foregoing some of the “extras,” such as funeral cars, Cadillac hearses, flowers and other things that once went hand-in-hand with a traditional funeral. Even Accubuilt, one of the main manufacturers of hearses, reported a 50 percent drop in sales for the fall quarter of 2008. That’s a big difference!

We’ll keep an eye on any developments that may occur in the auto and funeral industry so we can keep you updated.

The Houston Ministers Against Crime, a delegation with more than 300 members, gathered in Sunnyside to discuss ways to urge city officials to “create an expert panel to address escalating violence among black youth.” In particular, they wanted to draw attention to the growing number of incidents that involve black-on-black crime.

“We’re going to scream this from the roof,” exclaimed Reverend Robert Jefferson regarding the creation of a violence commission in the city. “We’re tired of black-on-black violence.” Jefferson has attended the funerals of many young African-Americans senselessly killed when they still had their whole life ahead of them.

In April of last year, the Houston Funeral Director and Morticians Association got together and paraded a line of hearses through some of Houston’s toughest and most violent-ridden neighborhoods. This demonstration was designed to draw attention to youth violence, too.

I don’t know about you, but seeing a line of funeral cars and hearses would certainly wake me up to the problem of youth violence regardless of black-on-black, white-on-black or any other type of violence. It’s a growing problem in Houston and the entire nation. But apparently, this wasn’t enough. We still have a lot to do to reduce the number of young kids taking their final ride in a hearse before they are even old enough to drive. Let’s keep working together and maybe we can accomplish something.

Do hearses make a point when used on a billboard campaign? Officials in South Daytona think they do. Crime prevention officer for the Orange Police Department, David Miller, said his department’s new campaign will use a hearse to get their point across. Dubbed “Choose Your Ride,” the billboard campaign includes a billboard with a picture of a police car, a taxi, an ambulance and a hearse.

“Hopefully people will be sensible and have a designated driver and stay safe,” Miller said about the department’s goals.

In addition to pictures of hearses and emergency vehicles to help people make proper decisions, the Volusia Crime Prevention Association also held an event to teach adults how to keep their children safe in the event of an accident. The event also told people how to notify loved ones if they’ve been involved in an accident. In addition, Sgt. Kim Miller from the Florida Highway Patrol Troop D was the featured speaker. She described several other programs that the department is working on.

Pictures of hearses and funeral cars tend to have a sobering effect on people. Hopefully, this message will get out and other counties and states will promote similar messages. And if pictures of hearses will help people realize the seriousness of bad driving habits, so be it.