Why You Should Preplan Your Funeral Service

You should preplan your Roanoke, VA funeral service now, while you’re still healthy and you can make sure your wishes are honored. You may not want to contemplate the time when you will no longer be alive, but the time is coming regardless, so planning for every aspect of your funeral in advance is a prudent decision. 

It is also a last gift you can leave with your family after you die, because it frees them from the burden of having to try to guess what kind of funeral you would have wanted. With more than 400 individual decisions that need to be made within a very short period of time for funerals, preplanning your funeral is an act of love that allows your family to focus on grieving your loss. 

So, how do you start preplanning your funeral? First, create a folder for all your funeral preplanning arrangements. In it, you should keep all the paperwork that will be needed for your funeral service. 

Well, you should first decide where you want to be buried. If you are an active military member or you are a retired military veteran, you are eligible for free burial in a national cemetery. The burial includes a free grave marker and military honors (your spouse and dependents are also eligible for free burial with a grave marker as well). 

If you decide on burial in a military cemetery, then you’ll need to make sure you have your military ID if you’re still on active duty or your military discharge papers (Form DD-214) if you’re a retired military veteran in your funeral planning folder. 

If you want to be buried in a private cemetery, then you should go ahead and make arrangements to secure a plot there. Be sure to keep the paperwork from your cemetery plot purchase in your funeral planning folder. 

Next, you need to decide what kind of funeral service you want to have. 

You may decide to have a public viewing, a public funeral service, and a public graveside service. You may decide just to have public funeral service and a private graveside service. Or you may simply opt for a public or private graveside service. 

If you want a viewing, which is usually a two-hour period before the funeral service, where your casket is open and family and friends can pay their respects to you and offer their sympathy and condolences to your family, then document that choice as part of your funeral service. 

Your funeral service is yours to plan. You can decide who you want to officiate it, who you’d like to speak, and what music you want played. Simply document the details of your preferences. 

Your graveside service is also yours to plan. Graveside services are traditionally much shorter than funeral services, with a few words of comfort for those mourning your death and prayer of committal back to the earth. You are free to designate whomever you wish to speak at your graveside service. 

Once you’ve made these decisions, you should meet with your funeral home director to get your wishes on file with them. Be sure to bring your birth certificate, your social security card, your marriage certificate (or divorce decree), your military ID or DD-214 (if you want a military burial or military honors), and your documented wishes. 

Your funeral director will take care of making sure your funeral service happens exactly the way you’ve planned it and your family will have one less thing to worry about when you’re gone. 

For more information on preplanning a Roanoke, VA funeral service, our compassionate and experienced staff at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home & Crematory is here to help.