Leak & Sons Funeral Homes

What to Consider When Choosing an Urn for Your Lost Loved One

The process of planning a funeral requires family members to make several important decisions pertaining to a loved one’s final rest. The knowledge that many of these decisions are permanent, combined with a desire to lay a loved one to rest in the most honorable manner, can place a great deal of pressure on those who are doing the decision-making.

One major decision facing individuals whose loved one will be cremated is the selection of a proper burial urn. This is a decision that does not have to be permanent, but should be treated as if it were. To ensure that you select an appropriate urn for your loved one’s cremated remains, consider the following:

Material

Common urn materials include stone, metal, glass, and wood. When choosing a material, the most important factors to consider are the place in which your loved one’s urn will be displayed and the appearance of the urn. Choose an urn that your loved one would have approved of, and make sure that the material it is made of will endure in the setting in which it is displayed. If the urn will be stored inside, your options are extensive. If you plan to display the urn in an outdoor garden, you should choose a durable stone material.

Size

The urn you select for the storage of your loved one’s ashes should be large enough to store all of your loved one’s cremated remains, but it should also fit comfortably in the display case or other location in which it will be stored.

Shape

Urns come in a variety of shapes, ranging from traditional concave urns to ultra-personalized cowboy boots, stuffed animals, dolphins, or sports insignias. When deciding on the shape of the urn in which you will store your loved one’s ashes, consider his or her personality and the location of your home or garden where you plan on displaying the urn.

Portability

If you intend to transport your loved one’s ashes frequently, you should choose a box urn or other urn that will not shatter if it is dropped.

At Leak & Sons Funeral Homes in Chicago, we offer our clients with a variety of urn options to choose from. For assistance on choosing an urn that is not only appropriate but also ideal for the storage of your loved one’s ashes, call us at (877) 265-0352.

Use this App for Help with Funeral Planning

Planning a funeral and memorial service is a highly involved process, one which many individuals are not equipped to take on in the midst of mourning a loved one’s loss. To help individuals get through the planning process with confidence in the important decisions they make concerning the handling of their loved ones’ bodies, Thrive ID, LLC created this organizational funeral app.

If you have no idea what your first steps should be following a loved one’s death, this app can help you get started. With a suggested to-do list containing more than 90 items, Funeral Notebook can continue to serve as a useful tool throughout the funeral planning process.

At Leak & Sons Funeral Homes in Chicago, we understand that funeral planning is tough work. To speak with a caring and dedicated funeral director about the full range of services we offer, call (877) 265-0352!

Planning a Funeral: Funeral Directors Responsibilities & Family Responsibilities

Planning the funeral of a loved one can be a difficult undertaking. To help make the funeral planning process easier on a grieving family, responsibilities are spread between funeral directors and family members of the deceased.

What are a Funeral Director’s Funeral Planning Responsibilities?

In order to minimize the stress a family is under throughout the process, a dedicated funeral director seeks to help out with the funeral planning process in any way that he or she can. These tasks include:

• Arranging transport of the deceased’s body from place of death to funeral home.
• Procuring the signature of a coroner, medical examiner, or physician who is authorized to sign a death certificate.
• Filing and garnering certified copies of the death certificate.
• Completing accounting and other financial paperwork.
• Ensuring that all local, state, and federal regulations are adhered to throughout the funeral planning process.

What are a Family’s Funeral Planning Responsibilities?

Diffusion of responsibility makes the funeral planning process easier on a grieving family. However, there are a number of tasks that family members are legally required to perform. There are also a handful of responsibilities that it makes more sense to leave up to a family’s discretion. These include:

• Notifying other family members, friends, and colleagues of a loved one’s passing.
• Assessing a loved one’s finances and reviewing his or her will, trusts, etc.
• Filling out social security paperwork.
• Securing government-guaranteed or private insurance benefits.

Are you looking for a Chicago-area funeral director who can remove as much stress and difficulty from the funeral planning process as possible? At Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, you can find a knowledgeable and experienced funeral director who will keep your responsibilities while planning a loved one’s funeral to a minimum. To find out more about the full range of services we provide and the ways in which our funeral directors can help you, call (877) 265-0352!

Learn More About Funeral and Memorial Services

Planning a funeral or memorial service can be a bit overwhelming, especially after the loss of a loved one. Use these links to learn important information about end-of-life services and planning memorials.Contact Leak & Sons Funeral Homes to plan a funeral or memorial service to honor the memory of your loved one. You can reach us at (877) 265-0352.

• A funeral director is instrumental in organizing end-of-life services and taking some of the logistical burden off of the family. Find out more about a funeral director’s responsibilities by following this link.
• Many families choose to create a memorial service focused on celebrating the life the loved one they lost. If you’re looking for some memorial service planning tips and ideas, check out the information linked here.
• There are special ways to remember loved ones during and after a memorial service. Consider some of the suggestions listed in this link for remembering your loved one.
• Grieving is a complicated and personal process. Funerals and memorials are often one of the first steps in this process. WebMD has this article on the major stages of grieving.
• Funeral services and death in general can be hard to explain to a child. Learn how to explain death to a child by reading this article from KidsHealth.org.

The Role of a Memorial Service in the Grieving Process

Your grieving process will be unique to you, as no two people cope with grief in exactly the same way. However, there are some stages that many bereaved individuals share. These common grief experiences include full realization of the loss, the need to express grief to others, and the adjustment to a life without the departed person. Here’s how a memorial service fits into these grieving processes.

Accepting Feelings of Loss

A funeral or memorial service may help you accept the reality of your loss, especially if the death was sudden or unexpected. For some, it takes a short time to absorb the fact that the person is now gone. For others, a state of shock or numbness may be preventing total realization of the loss. Seeing those touched by the departed’s life come together and discuss the loss can assure you that you are not experiencing the complicated grieving process alone.

Sharing and Expressing Grief

You may feel like isolating yourself physically and emotionally from others while grieving. While it’s perfectly fine to want to be alone, many bereaved benefit from an opportunity to express grief openly. At a memorial service, mourners might express emotions through speeches, written message in a memorial book, songs, works of art, or whatever else the planner of the service thinks appropriate to pay homage to the deceased person.

Honoring the Life of a Loved One

A memorial service allows you and others coping with a loss to celebrate that person’s life as a group. In doing so, you strengthen bonds and connect to others experiencing grief. These intimate interactions can expand the available support network for mourners in the months and years following the loss.

Leak & Sons Funeral Homes is committed to providing dignified and memorable services for your departed loved one. With compassion and professionalism, we assist families in designing customized memorial services. If you have any questions about our end-of-life services, please give us a call at (877) 265-0352.