What a Way to Go

What a Way to Go
Author: Adele Brown
Publisher:
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2002-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

A&E Biography meets Tales from the Crypt in this fun but respectful survey of the amazing lives and astonishing funerals of two dozen twentieth-century icons from politics, art, and pop culture. In more than 50 rare photographs and thoroughly researched profiles, What a Way to Go showcases all the colorful details of each subject's death, funeral service, and burial. From Muppet creator Jim Henson's upbeat service, attended by Big Bird, to Babe Ruth lying in state at Yankee Stadium as vendors sold hot dogs to waiting mourners--it's all here, the moving and the macabre. JFK, Notorious B.I.G., Elvis Presley, Chairman Mao, Eva Peron, the Ayatollah Khomeini, and many more find fitting tribute in this compulsively readable, visually lavish, richly entertaining celebration of our enduring fascination with the famous and the strange pageantry of their demise.

FUNERALS YOUR WAY

FUNERALS YOUR WAY
Author: Sarah Jones
Publisher:
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2021-09-27
Genre:
ISBN: 9781914560187

Sarah Jones started her career as a surgeon in the NHS and then worked with adults with learning difficulties and challenging behaviour. Fulfilling a life-long ambition she opened Full Circle Funerals, an award-winning independent funeral director, in 2016. Sarah wrote this book because she sees the benefits of people being able to create funerals that are right for them. After reading this short book, you will be able to articulate your own wishes, have a meaningful conversation with others, and will feel more confident when arranging a funeral for someone who has died.

To Serve the Living

To Serve the Living
Author: Suzanne E. Smith
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2010-02-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780674036215

In the “hush harbors” of the slave quarters, African Americans first used funerals to bury their dead and to plan a path to freedom. Similarly, throughout the long struggle for racial equality in the 20th century, funeral directors aided the cause by honoring the dead while supporting the living. Here is their story.

Reimagining Death

Reimagining Death
Author: Lucinda Herring
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-01-08
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1623172934

Honor your loved ones and the earth by choosing practical, spiritual, and eco-friendly after-death care Natural, legal, and innovative after-death care options are transforming the paradigm of the existing funeral industry, helping families and communities recover their instinctive capacity to care for a loved one after death and do so in creative and healing ways. Reimagining Death offers stories and guidance for home funeral vigils, advance after-death care directives, green burials, and conscious dying. When we bring art and beauty, meaningful ritual, and joy to ease our loss and sorrow, we are greening the gateway of death and returning home to ourselves, to the wisdom of our bodies, and to the earth.

The Right Way of Death: Restoring the American Funeral Business to Its True Calling

The Right Way of Death: Restoring the American Funeral Business to Its True Calling
Author: Eric Layer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2020-09-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781735610924

Funeral service is dying. Cremation rates are sky-high, new competitors pop up every day, and an entire generation of funeral home owners are considering closing shop. But a thriving future is still possible. Eric Layer paints a vivid picture of what's threatening death care and everything mortuary owners need to know about how to save it.

It's Your Funeral!

It's Your Funeral!
Author: Kathy Benjamin
Publisher: Quirk Books
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2021-08-17
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1683692950

You can’t attend your own funeral. But you can have a blast planning it! Death is scary—but planning your funeral doesn't have to be! It's Your Funeral! will help demystify death, decrease your anxiety, and put the fun back in funeral, whether that means a drunken bacchanal or a somber reflection on just how great you were. Every stage of the legacy planning process is considered, from a burial outfit to a funeral theme. Practical and cheeky questions alike are answered, including: • What is the most eco-friendly burial method? • Can I write my own obituary? • Can my body be shot into space after I die? • How can I manage my digital legacy? Offering a plethora of curious facts, strange stories, and inspiration to help you think outside the coffin, It’s Your Funeral! includes worksheets that will ensure your wishes are recorded for posterity. Planning for death should be the time of your life, so let’s get started!

Confessions of a Funeral Director

Confessions of a Funeral Director
Author: Caleb Wilde
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2017-09-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062465260

The blogger behind Confessions of a Funeral Director—what Time magazine called a "must read"—reflects on mortality and the powerful lessons death holds for every one of us in this compassionate and thoughtful spiritual memoir that combines the humor and insight of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes with the poignancy and brevity of When Breath Becomes Air. We are a people who deeply fear death. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and—when it can be avoided no longer—letting the professionals take over. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were . . . dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference—in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed: The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial The act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family The nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away The funeral that united a conflicted community Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying

The American Way of Death Revisited

The American Way of Death Revisited
Author: Jessica Mitford
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2011-11-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0307809390

Only the scathing wit and searching intelligence of Jessica Mitford could turn an exposé of the American funeral industry into a book that is at once deadly serious and side-splittingly funny. When first published in 1963, this landmark of investigative journalism became a runaway bestseller and resulted in legislation to protect grieving families from the unscrupulous sales practices of those in "the dismal trade." Just before her death in 1996, Mitford thoroughly revised and updated her classic study. The American Way of Death Revisited confronts new trends, including the success of the profession's lobbyists in Washington, inflated cremation costs, the telemarketing of pay-in-advance graves, and the effects of monopolies in a death-care industry now dominated by multinational corporations. With its hard-nosed consumer activism and a satiric vision out of Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One, The American Way of Death Revisited will not fail to inform, delight, and disturb. "Brilliant--hilarious. . . . A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime."--New York Post "Witty and penetrating--it speaks the truth."--The Washington Post

My Funeral, My Way

My Funeral, My Way
Author: Angela Hope De Simone
Publisher: Story Merchant
Total Pages: 100
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre:
ISBN: 9780990421603

Whose funeral is it, anyway? Why, it's yours, of course! Death is one topic that many people feel dreadfully uncomfortable discussing. Planning a funeral, burial, or service for a loved one can be devastating. I believe that the attendees at a funeral, burial, or service deserve to learn about the life and character of the deceased. Wouldn't you want everyone who attended your funeral, burial, or services to know what an amazing person you were? Wouldn't you like them to walk away with more than just tears and sadness? How about if they learned more about your hobbies and interests? What if they discovered that you rescued animals, loved children, loved a particular sport, or enjoyed books, traveling, and classical music? What about the awards you received, the offices you held, the organizations in which you were affiliated. I believe that if your service was personalized, family and guests who attended might have a more intimate experience and leave with an everlasting impression of you and your life. That's why I've created My Funeral, My Way: A Journal for Those Who Would Like to Assist in Planning Their Own Funeral. REVIEWS "I found My Funeral, My Way to be a wonderful resource for families dealing with loss. How many times have I heard, "What would Mom have wanted?" or "What would Dad have wanted?" By keeping this journal, family members won't have to answer those questions, the questions are answered for them." -Carl Goldstein Goldsteins' Rosenberg Raphael-Sacks Inc. Funeral Home Southampton, PA "This book is a useful tool for aging individuals as well as en- tire families. As a nurse, I am often witness to uncertain med- ical outcomes among my patients. This book allows some sense of control at a time when many feel helpless. It is an ex- cellent resource for patients and a concept long overdue. I would recommend this book without hesitation." -Kathleen Bickings, RN "My Funeral, My Way is an amazing, easy-to-follow guide for people approaching later life or end of life, to record their gen- eral wishes succeeding death. It is extremely user friendly, and is written with a warm, welcoming tone which creates comfort. This could serve as a great initial conversation piece among mourning family members." -Amy Keiper-Shaw LCSW, QCSW, GC-C Manager of Family Services Chandler Hall Health Services 99 Barclay St. Newtown, PA About the Author Angela "Angel" Hope De Simone was born and raised in the far Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of fifteen. She's the youngest child in a baker's dozen-which includes five brothers and seven sisters, all of whom assisted in her upbringing. Ms. De Simone attended Pierce Junior College, located in Philadelphia, where she received her associ- ate's degree in business, and met her husband. After working in the business industry for over eight years, she decided to pursue her dream of helping others by becom- ing a licensed massage therapist. She has been practicing massage therapy for eighteen years. She currently resides in Newtown, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Chicky, and two children, Alyssa and Domenic. Angel is a journal junkie-been keeping one since she was seven. In her free time she loves antiquing, and arts & crafts. Her specialty is carving inspirational words Angela Hope De Simone and sayings into chairs, mirrors, etc. She has an ETSY page where you can see and purchase her original art- work! Her favorite beach destination is "Cape May." And she is known in her circle of friends for her punctuality. Angel is a very spiritual person. She owns a sixteen-year- old cat, Belle, and Denise-a retired race dog, a grey- hound, that she personally rescued. Angel is also a big fan of 80's tunes. And, yes, you will find most of this trivia, that is unique to Angel, decorating the pages of her very own Funeral Journal. This is Angel De Simone's first book.

We all know how this ends

We all know how this ends
Author: Anna Lyons
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2021-03-18
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1472966783

'Wonderful, thoughtful, practical' - Cariad Lloyd, Griefcast 'Encouraging and inspiring' - Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of Amazon bestseller With the End in Mind End-of-life doula Anna Lyons and funeral director Louise Winter have joined forces to share a collection of the heartbreaking, surprising and uplifting stories of the ordinary and extraordinary lives they encounter every single day. From working with the living, the dying, the dead and the grieving, Anna and Louise reveal the lessons they've learned about life, death, love and loss. Together they've created a profound but practical guide to rethinking the one thing that's guaranteed to happen to us all. We are all going to die, and that's ok. Let's talk about it. This is a book about life and living, as much as it's a book about death and dying. It's a reflection on the beauties, blessings and tragedies of life, the exquisite agony and ecstasy of being alive, and the fragility of everything we hold dear. It's as simple and as complicated as that.