Blog Posts

When it comes to making your end of life arrangements there is one important and over riding principle to remember… “Do Your Research!” There is nothing more challenging than setting out to make funeral arrangements for a loved one when your emotions are running wild and you have no plan and no idea what to…

Our North American view of death – The Grim Reaper – has many of us pushing death away to long-term care homes, hospitals, and hospices. We also outsource after death care to funeral homes almost exclusively. This is not to say that these services are not required by some of us some of the time…

Here is a link to a CBC article about how the funeral industry is recycling as well as cremating. Having been a cremationist myself I do know first hand that metal recycling was and is an important part of the cremation process. Have a read through the article if you are curious.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/how-crematoriums-are-recovering-precious-metals-from-inside-the-dead-1.4623039 The Staff…

Many of us Canadians want to die in the comfort of our own home, over 90% in fact.  Yet roughly 70% of us die in care homes or hospitals. Amongst the many reasons for the gap in the wish versus the actual reality is the fact we just don’t know how to handle a home…

We were up in Kelowna, BC last month at a wellness trade show; the Memorial Society was present as an exhibitor and a speaker. We of course focused on end of life preparations and planning, funeral arrangements specifically. In the context of planning funeral arrangements we also spoke about the importance of being All Ready…

It is most important that each of us prepare well for the end of our lives whenever that may come. We here at the Memorial Society of BC are creating an All Ready to Go Binder that will be available early in the New Year 2019 that will give our existing and new members a…

That’s a darn good question! I was working away at the midtown offices of the Memorial Society of BC when this lovely elderly woman arrived for a chat about her end of life preparations. She lives all alone, quite happily she said, and has been since her husband passed away many years ago. She has…

I remember when I was young living and playing with ‘reckless abandon’ whether it be on the ice hockey rink, in the back yard, or the family playroom. It was this full on life energy in action. It, well actual I, didn’t fit well in a box, I was a handful to try and contain,…

  There was a family upset I witnessed several years ago that could have easily been avoided by timely planning – it was a nasty public upset indeed. Two family members were fighting in the chapel over whom would get their parent’s cremated remains. Yep a public, hurtful, and unnecessary upset. It affected everyone who…