Frequent Questions

Funerals fill an important role for those mourning the loss of a loved one. By providing surviving family and friends with an atmosphere of care and support in which to share thoughts and feelings about death, funerals are the first step in the healing process. It is the traditional way to recognize the finality of death. Funerals are recognized rituals for the living to show their respect for the dead and to help survivors begin the grieving process.

You can have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. Planning a personalized ceremony or service will help begin the healing process. Overcoming the pain is never easy, but a meaningful funeral or tribute will help.

• Transport your loved one from the place of death to the funeral home(anytime day or night)
• Arrange and prepare death certificates and obtain certified copies of the death certificate for the family.
• Work with the insurance companies,Social Security or Veterans Administration to ensure that necessary paperwork is filed for receipt of benefits.
• Prepare and submit death notices to the newspapers of your choice
• Bathe and embalm the deceased body, if necessary
• Prepare the body for viewing including dressing and cosmetizing
• Assist the family with funeral arrangements and ordering of the casket,urn and/or burial vault.
• Schedule the opening/closing and/or set and seal with cemetery/vault personnel, if a burial or inurnment is to be performed
• Coordinate with clergy if a funeral or memorial service is to be held
• Arrange a police escort and/or family transportation for the funeral procession when requested or necessary
  
• Order funeral sprays and other flower arrangements as the family wishes
• Provide aftercare, or grief assistance, to the bereaved
• Our staff at Fred Wood Funeral Home ~ Rice Chapel is honored to assist you in any way possible. Please never hesitate to ask, if we can help we will. If we cannot help we will get you to someone who can.

If your loved one is under hospice, please make hospiceyour first call. They will contact the proper authorities and call the funeralhome.

If your loved one passes away at a hospital, please call the funeral home. Thehospital staff if very sincere about wanting to assist you in calling us;however if they get distracted and need to assist other patience they may nothave the ability to call us.

If the death is sudden at home, please call 911. They will assist you in makingcalls to the proper authorities and in some cases the funeral home.

The funeral home will helpcoordinate arrangements with the clergy/church and cemetery.

• Bring the following information to complete the State vital statistic requirements:
• Birth Date
• Birth Place
• Father's Name
• Mother's Name with maiden name
• Social Security Number
• Veteran's Discharge (DD-214 or equivalent)
• Education
• Marital Status
• You are welcome to contact your clergy;  however it is best to meet with the funeral home to determine time and day of visitation and funeral. The funeral director can coordinate between clergy/church and/or cemetery to ensure that the services will be composed.

• The funeral home will assist you in determining the number of certified copies of the death certificates you will be needing to conduct your legal business.
• Make a list of immediate family, close friends and employer or business colleagues to notify.
• Decide on appropriate memorial donation to which gifts may be made(church, hospice, library, charity or school). Flowers are beautiful, but some may wish to send a monetary contribution in memory of your loved one.
• Gather information you may want to include in the death notice such as age, place of birth, cause of death, occupation, college degrees, memberships held, military service , outstanding work, list of survivors in immediate family. Include time and place of services. Our funeral home will assist in writing the article and submitting it to the newspapers or your choosing.(newspaper will accept picture and they will be returned intact).
• You may wish to arrange for members of your family or close friends to take turns answering your door or phone, keeping careful record of calls and visitors.
• If Social Security checks are automatic deposit, notify the bank of the death.

The funeral director will send staff as quickly as possible if you request. The funeral director will be better equipt to determine time of arrival at the time you speak. Inclement weather and time of the day may play a factor. If the family wishes to spend a more extended time with the deceased to say good-bye or are waiting for additional family to arrive, that is perfectly acceptable. Our funeral home staff will come when your time is right.

Burial in a casket is the most common method of caring for remains in the United States, although entombment also occurs. Cremation is increasingly selected because it can be more cost effective and allows for a memorial service to be held at a more later date in the future when relatives and friend scan come together.

A funeral service followed by cremation need not be any different from a funeral service followed by a burial. A traditional one to two day visitation with next day funeral can occur with the final disposition being cremation or burial. If you conclude the funeral in a burial, we would make our way to the cemetery and place your loved one to rest. If we conclude a funeral with cremation, we could have the funeral and then take your loved one to the crematory for cremation. Once we have cremated remains a cemetery can be contacted for inurnment if that is the wish of the family. Usually, cremated remains are placed in urn and/or urn vault before being committed to a final resting place. With cremation the decision of what to do with the cremated remains of your loved one can be made at a later date.

You may choose to have a direct cremation with a memorial service later.  The urn may be buried, placed in an indoor or outdoor mausoleum or columbarium, or inurned in a special urn garden that many cemeteries provide for cremated remains. The remains may also be scattered, according to state law.

You have many more options available to your family. Please feel free to contact us so we may further assist you.

Viewing is a part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of the death. This is especially important when there has been a long drawn out illness that leaves the loved one not looking like themselves. It is also important when it is a sudden death and we have not had the opportunity to prepare for the loss.  Viewing is highly encouraged for children, as long as the process is explained and the activity is voluntary.

Embalming sanitizes and preserves the body. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.

The Federal Trade Commission says, "Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law. Embalming may be necessary, however, if you select certain funeral arrangements, such as a funeral with viewing. If you do not want embalming, you usually have the right to choose an arrangement that does not require you to pay for it, such as direct cremation or immediate burial."

When compared to other major life events like births and weddings, funerals are not expensive. A wedding costs at least three times as much; but because it is a happy event, wedding costs are rarely criticized. A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), these expenses must be factored into the cost of a funeral.

Additionally, the cost of a funeral includes not only merchandise, like caskets, but the services of a funeral director in making arrangements; filing appropriate forms; dealing with doctors, ministers, florists, newspapers and others; and seeing to all the necessary details. Funeral directors look upon their profession as a service, but it is also a business. Like any business, funeral homes must make a profit to exist.

It really depends entirely on how you wish to commemorate a life. One of the advantages of cremation is that it provides you with increased flexibility when you make your funeral and cemetery arrangements. You might, for example, choose to have a funeral service before the cremation; a memorial service at the time of cremation or after the cremation with the urn present; or a committal service at the final disposition of cremated remains. Funeral or memorial services can be held in a place of worship, a funeral home or crematory chapel. If you choose to have a memorial service after cremation you can preform it in a place that was special to your loved one, such as favorite restaurant or park.

With cremation, your options are numerous. The cremated remains can be inurned in a cemetery plot, i.e., earth burial, retained by a family member, usually in an urn, scattered on private property, or at a place that was significant to the deceased. (It would always be advisable to check for local regulations regarding scattering in a public place-your funeral director can help you with this.)

Today, there are many different types of memorial options from which to choose. Memorialization is a time-honored tradition that has been practiced for centuries. A memorial serves as a tribute to a life lived and provides a focal point for remembrance, as well as a record for future generations. The type of memorial you choose is a personal decision.

When it comes to physical memorial monuments at a cemetery, you may usually choose either a bronze or granite memorial or granite monument. This is dependent upon the regulations at the cemetery. Cremation niches in columbariums are also available at many cemeteries. They offer the beauty of a mausoleum setting with the benefits of above ground placement of remains.

If you wish to have your cremated remains scattered somewhere, it is important to discuss your wishes to be scattered ahead of time with the person or persons who will actually have to do the scattering ceremony, as they might want to let your funeral professional assist in the scattering ceremony. Funeral directors can also be very helpful in creating a meaningful and personal scattering ceremony that they will customize to fit your families specific desires. The services can be as formal or informal as you like. Scattering services can also be public or private. Again, it is advisable to check for local regulations regarding scattering in a public place-your funeral director can help you with this.

Yes — Depending upon the cemetery's policy, you may be able to save a grave space by having the cremated remains buried on top of casketed remains of your spouse, or utilize the space provided next to him/her. Many cemeteries allow for multiple cremated remains to be interred in a single grave space. You may also place cremated remains in a casket of an individual who is to be buried. What ever your choice, the funeral director and cemetery will direct you on protocol and cost.

Uncertainty about income tax issues can add to the stress experienced from the death of a loved. You should meet with your family attorney and/or tax advisor as soon as possible to review your particular tax and estate circumstances. Bring a detailed list of your questions to the meeting. If you do not have an attorney or tax advisor, call the IRS toll-free at 800-829-1040 for answers to specific tax questions. Here at Fred Wood Funeral Home we also have a list of resource numbers and professionals to assist you in legal and financial needs.