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,… Read More >
By Laurel Droz These days I notice dragonflies. They flit softly, urgently through blue sumer skies, arriving unexpectedly and alighting someplace warm. Wings stretch toward the June sun and refract light like stained glass on God’s smallest church window. And I think of Gabriel. Mighty Gabriel. Gabriel was born June 24 of 2015. He lived… Read More >
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. Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and… Read More >
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. 1. THE NEED TO MAKE DECISIONS – The person responsible for making… Read More >
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… Read More >
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. Charles Diggs Sr. was fed up with cemeteries. It was 1925, and if you were black, cemeteries could… Read More >
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 a summary of this joint project with our partner Consumer Federation of America… Read More >