you had never really considered the value of cremation urns before, but in the last two weeks you have realized the value a beautifully designed simple urn can have to a family that is devastated by an untimely loss. And while the two infant funerals that you have attended in the last two weeks have been very emotional, you cannot imagine the comfort the two sets of parents had in knowing that they could save on funeral services and burial costs by using a small urn to remember and honor their lost infants. In fact, the thought of funeral caskets that would have been small enough to hold these lost children would have been made for impossible images to ever forget.
The coworker who suddenly and unexpectedly lost her young daughter in delivery and the church member and his wife who lost their unborn son to extreme physical and chromosomal disorder will both have cremation urns to help them remember the too short lives of their children. The cremation services for both babies were beautifully arranged and thought out, and while there was not a dry eye at either service, you still smile at the wonderful compassion that the pastors of both services demonstrated. There simply will never be any comparison between the long lived and well earned achievements that are honored at veterans funeral and the services for newborn children who barely lived beyond the womb, but it is a comfort to know that these two struggling sets of parents were able to make funeral arrangements that provided closure and transition from the most difficult of life’s situations.
Consider some of the these ways that today’s funeral homes help their clients:

• 2 million people die in the U.S. every year.
• 86% of funeral homes in the U.S. are privately owned by families or individuals.
• 48.5% of the deceased were cremated in 2015, according to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Cremation and Burial Report.
• 45.4% of the deceased were buried in 2015, according to the NFDA Cremation and Burial Report.
• 65% of people over the age of 40 indicate that funeral homes and funeral directors are the best source of information for making funeral arrangements.
• 69% of Harris Poll survey respondents indicate that they would prefer to prearrange their own funeral service.