Category: BLOG-The Daily Dirge

What I’ve Learned as a National FCA Board Member

By Alison Rector In May 2017,  I traveled to Seattle for my third meeting as an FCA board member.  I thought you’d like to read about the work I’m doing on the national board.  I like the work. The FCA board meetings are fun, fast paced, and productive.  Read more

Cemetery Owners Face Multiple Felony Charges

By Nastassia Strackbein Husband and wife cemetery owners, Ted and Arminda Martin, owners of Grandview Memorial Park in Ravenna, OH and Fairview Memorial Park in Delaware, OH, face a grand jury on August 8, 2017. The Record-Courier newspaper in Ohio reported that the Martin’s are charged with, “Crimes related to the operation of the cemetery, including multiple counts of tampering with records, failure to establish a cemetery trust fund, failure to deposit sales proceeds into a cemetery trust, failure to appoint cemetery trustees, failure to file annual reports and affidavits and misdemeanor charges of failure to register a cemetery”. Read more

Heritage Cremation Provider has been ordered to “Cease and Desist” in the State of Colorado

By Nastassia Strackbein The state of Colorado has shut down Heritage Cremation Provider for misleading consumers and acting as a middle-man to generate business for funeral homes. But Heritage Cremation’s website implied to consumers that the business is locally owned and services were provided by the consumer’s “friends and neighbors. Read more

Uniquely Vulnerable

By John Lantz At the time of “at need” funeral planning, we often refer to the funeral consumers as “uniquely vulnerable.” There are several reasons why those shopping for a funeral are vulnerable in a way they are not in any other retail transaction. Read more

What’s your metaphor for death?

By Karen Smith, Ph.D. “What we do to the earth we do to ourselves” is an adage many people have come to believe. How we connect to nature matters and can have benefits for our health, according to New York Times journalist David Suziki.
Do you believe your living and dying are part of a larger natural procss in which we all play a role? Read more

He championed racial parity in the Detroit funeral industry

We thought you might “Digg” this historical excursion, courtesy writer and historian, Amy Elliott Bragg. While this true story is set in Detroit, racially discriminatory practices in the funeral industry that continued well into the 1960s, were widespread. Read more

Funeral Consumers Alliance And Consumer Federation of America’s Joint Press Release

Death With Dignity?
Nation’s Largest Funeral Home Company Charges High Prices and Refuses to Disclose These Prices On Their Websites Read FCA’s full report on how SCI-owned corporate funeral homes charge up to 72 percent higher prices than independently owned funeral homes. Read more