When planning a service, you have many options available to you and we will do all that we can to provide a beautiful and respectful ceremony. Stitzel Funeral Homes and Crematory, Inc. offers quality memorial services in Reading and Oley and all of Berks County, PA. No matter your choice, we can offer you a space to join with family and friends in grief, comfort and love. And above all, we will do our utmost to honor your loved one. We will be happy to go over all your options and answer any questions that you may have.
Just like a funeral service, a memorial service is a time to remember your loved one. This can be held shortly after death or weeks later, with or without your loved one physically present. What’s important is that it creates a time and a place for family and friends to gather together and support one another, share memories and pay their respects. We can hold a memorial service at our funeral home, the final resting place, your home or other venue.
Unlike a traditional funeral , a memorial service is a gathering where a casket is not present (although the urn with the cremated remains may be on display). A memorial service can be held weeks or even months after the death.
A memorial service can be held in a church, the funeral home or a community hall, or somewhere of importance to the deceased and family. There is usually music, selected readings, and a eulogy. Memorial services can be further personalized as a celebration-of-life
Our experience has shown us that many of today's families want more than a traditional funeral. This can be done by bringing more of the personality and lifestyle of the deceased into the arrangements. By displaying photographs or staging the event around a favorite pastime, a memorial service can become more personal and meaningful.
If a personalized memorial service suits the needs of your family, we suggest you consider the following questions:
Rather than opting to do things "the same old way", many families today want to celebrate the life of a loved one. Many funeral service professionals see this change as one of the many contributions to social change made by " Baby Boomers ". The National Funeral Directors Association notes, "As baby boomers age and find themselves having to plan funerals for loved ones and themselves, they are making funeral choices based on values that are different than previous generations. Baby boomers see funerals as a valuable part of the grieving process and are seeking ways to make them meaningful." If you too desire to make the funeral for a loved one more engaging and personally meaningful, a celebration-of-life may be the perfect concept to build on.
How are celebrations of life and funerals different? As mentioned in the page Traditional Funeral Services, there are four basic components which make up the conventional approach to funerals:
A traditional funeral then is a series of events; it's a ritualized process where the deceased, and the attendees, pass from one social status to another; a process where the torn fabric of a family and community is repaired. According to the online article "Six Characteristics of Helpful Ceremonies", by William Hoy, Director of Grief Connect, this is done by including:
In knowing these characteristics, you can design a Celebration of Life as unique as the life of your loved.