Resources
A goodbye as Unique as You Are
An older friend recently bemoaned the new automatic toilets installed at the airport. “I’m beginning to think that there is no part of my destiny I can control!” She muttered. And while that is true for much of our experience on this earth, and even our exit from it, there are some places where our pro active influence can make a difference. Planning end of life arrangements is a certain way to make your final statement. Sadly, most of time this position is abdicated by...
$$$$, Marryin' and Buryin'
A wedding is a financial event of a lifetime. Ask our daughters. Years were spent pouring over Brides magazines, Bride reality tv and scanning the internet—to discover in 2011, the average wedding budget (not including honeymoon) was $27,021. When a friend recently informed us of his daughter’s engagement, my husband gingerly whispered “Let the money hemorrhage begin.” To which our friend replied, “I’ve already been advised by my wife, we call those...
Muster Roll Call: A Texas A&M Tradition
Every year on April 21, the student body, former students and the families of fallen Aggies gather in solemn assembly to call the names of former and current students who have passed away. This enduring tradition strengthens the community and certainly is a bedrock of the famous “Aggie Spirit.” In their own words:Muster is a time to look to the past, present, and future…not only to grieve but to reflect and to celebrate the lives that connect us to one another. A gesture so...
Fiscal Vs. Physical Responsibility
Fiscal verses Physical Responsibility A 29 year old internet executive recently commented he had bought his first serious life insurance. “Why” I asked, “Are you planning on kicking the bucket soon?” Surprised, he quickly retorted “Of course not, but if something should happen, I want to make sure my wife and daughter are taken care of.” Our society puts a high premium on financial planning in the event that the unexpected happens. In fact, individuals...
Where to Bury Mary
One hundred years ago the answer was very simple. You placed her next to Winthrop, her husband of 49 years in the family plot of the congregational cemetery, facing east. And with one shift of the eye, you could trace her family line: grandparents, aunts, uncles, and untimely nephews all neatly lined awaiting Gabriel’s trumpet blast to call their resting remains upward.Unfortunately, today’s Mary has been married twice, lived on both coasts and has two sets of parents and children...
Funerals
We’ve all been there. In our too tight pumps and black suit, which smells a bit like the closet cleaner bag it has rested peacefully in since we last called it into action for Great Aunt Sally’s funeral, sitting stiffly in a funeral home “chapel” the scent of slightly decaying lilies heavy in the air, listening to a complete stranger whose somber countenance and grave demeanor always, and as a Pastor’s wife I have been to my share of funerals, God forgive me but it’s true, always...
How to Write an Obituary
An obituary serves as an official summary of one’s life and report of death and service arrangements, therefore accuracy is extremely important. Unfortunately, this information is often being gathered under the duress of grief and time constraints. Interestingly enough, many news organizations have prewritten or pre-edited video of celebrities to allow for expedient reporting at their time of death. The Los Angeles Times' obituary of Elizabeth Taylor, for example, was written in 1999...
How to Protect From Identitiy Theft
Sadly, individuals are not immune from having their credit destroyed after their death. Vital information is released in obituaries and service announcements which criminals can quickly access and misuse right under the families grieving noses. To prevent this from happening, it is highly recommended that you contact the three credit reporting agencies and send them a copy of the death certificate as soon as possible. www.experian.com 1 888 397 3742, Equifax: 1 800 525 6285, www.equifax.com ...
How to Choose Pallbearers
A pallbearer is one of 6 individuals chosen to help carry the coffin of the deceased during part of the funeral ceremony. In Western culture, theses individuals are close friends or family. In some Asian cultures, they are outsiders, who are given a tip to perform the service. Pallbearers may be male or female, and their service is both tangible (helping to carry the casket) and intangible –living witnesses to the life being honored and remembered. Therefore, someone should not be...