For thousands of years, funerals have been a means of expressing our beliefs, thoughts and feelings about the death of someone we love.

A meaningful funeral ceremony provides a safe place to affirm the worth of our relationship with the person who died and express our feelings of loss. Another way to think of the funeral is as a final tribute to the person who died.

In the United States today, about 2.3 million people die each year. Most are honored with some sort of ceremony that is arranged with the help of a professional funeral director.