The death of a loved one can be very stressful and emotional for family members. Sometimes, there is little time to sit down and process your loss, much less think about what needs to get done. Most likely their first action will be to make funeral arrangements, if that has not already been preplanned. At Roper & Sons Funeral Home in Lincoln, Nebraska, our experienced and compassionate funeral directors understand how devastated families can feel at a time like this and that is why they are prepared to guide families every step of the way.
Still, the process may feel overwhelming to many, so we’ve provided the following list to help families through the necessary details.
- Type of Service You Want
The type of funeral service you will want is one of the first questions you will be asked when our funeral director calls. A funeral or memorial service is an opportunity for families to honor the memory and celebrate their loved one’s life. There are several types of services including:
Knowing what type of funeral service your loved one would have wanted and taking into consideration costs can best help you determine which type of service to have.
- Personal Information
Details about your loved one can be a lengthy list. You will be asked to provide personal information about your loved one including:
- Full legal name
- Date and place of birth
- Marital status
- Name of spouse
- Spouse’s maiden name
- Full address and phone number
- Social Security number
- Military considerations/Veteran status
- Date / place of military service and service number
- Date of discharge
- Name of father and birthplace
- Name of mother and birthplace
- Mother’s maiden name
- Names of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
If your loved one qualifies for funeral military honors, we will help take care of those details.
- Items to Bring to the Funeral Home
There are a number of personal items that you may be asked to bring to the funeral home. Items such as the outer clothing, their undergarments, shoes, glasses, and jewelry that you would like your loved one to be wearing during the funeral service or cremation. You will also want to bring a photograph of your loved one that shows current hairstyle, makeup, etc. that will assist our team. We will also use the photograph of your loved one for the obituary on Roper & Sons’ website and in the newspaper.
Other items to bring with you could be memorabilia such as photographs, hobbies, and other things that can be on display during the services.
- Service Requests
Every funeral is unique based on what a family wants included in their loved one’s service. You may choose to have a religious service held at your church, synagogue, mosque, or other off-site location and not at one of Roper & Sons funeral homes. Will clergy or other leaders officiate the funeral? We can help you finalize those decisions early on to ensure the funeral service arrangements are seamless from start to finish.
Other considerations you will need to think about include:
- Will it be a private family viewing or a public visitation or wake?
- If Catholic, will you want a Rosary during visitation or the funeral?
- Will your loved one be buried in a cemetery or mausoleum, and which one?
- Do you want to host a reception after the funeral service, and if so, where?
- What songs would you like, and will they be performed or recorded?
- Which readings would you like included and who will read them?
- Who will be the pallbearers at the funeral?
- The Obituary
For many families, knowing what to say about your loved one and where it should be sent to are big decisions that have to be made early. When it comes to writing an obituary, we thought it would be helpful to families to know what to include in it. You can read our blog Writing a Meaningful Obituary.
The decision on which newspapers to place your loved one’s obituary in can be easy if they’ve only lived in one community their entire life. But if your loved one has moved away from family and friends, it may be necessary to identify some newspapers in other cities. You may also consider allowing people to share the obituary on social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram
- Memorial Fund
You may know in advance if your loved one wanted to have a memorial fund set up where donations could go toward supporting organizations and causes they were involved in. Please let us know if that is something you will want to arrange.
We know that there may be other questions you will be asked about during your funeral arrangements meeting, but our hope is that you will feel a bit more prepared and a little less worried about having to think of everything on your own. Remember, Roper & Sons’ funeral directors will be by your side through all of these decisions. You will never feel alone.
If you would like to learn more about preplanning your funeral to save your family from having to make these difficult decisions, call Roper & Sons Funeral Home in Lincoln, Nebraska, at 402-476-1225.