Educating families on scattering alternatives

Blake Swinford,
Project Manager

For a lot of us in the funeral profession, scattering can be a taboo subject. When we hear of families scattering their loved ones' cremated remains without creating a permanent place of memorialization, it breaks our hearts. It breaks my heart in particular because I know, first hand, the consequences of scattering.

When my mom passed away, we scattered her cremated remains. Years down the road, I came to the realization that I needed a place to bring my family to honor the life of my mother. It was too late to include her cremated remains with her memorial, but I could still create a place to visit and share memories. I placed a memorial bench at Sunset Memorial Park, and now my children have a place to go to talk about grandma.

As supporters of permanent memorialization, we need to educate the families we serve about scattering alternatives. We never know what will happen to the beautiful field their loved one is scattered in. It could be a shopping center a few years from now.

If you're struggling with cremation memorialization options, check out the products that we offer. You can also call our Customer Service team at 800.798.4900 for more ideas.

This article originally appeared in Modern Memorialization, Trigard Memorials' weekly electronic newsletter featuring information for the funeral industry. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.trigard.com/thursdays.