News & Announcements

here is a glossary of commonly used, and often misused, words and terms surrounding funeral service. Some you may never use, and some we never actually use, but to take some of the misunderstanding and mystery out of making funeral arrangements, here is some help. Thanks to Jeff Smith for helping to compile this list.

Burial and Cemetery Terms-

Crypt: An above ground space capable of holding a casket.

Lawn Crypt: The pre-constructed, pre-buried vault in the ground capable of holding a casket.

Mausoleum Crypt: An above ground space in a mausoleum (building) capable of holding a casket. A space in a mausoleum capable of holding two caskets.

Endowment Care or Perpetual Care: A trust fund established to provide for the permanent upkeep and care of cemetery buildings and grounds.

Entombment: The placement of human remains in a crypt.

Funeral Service: A type of service where often the body is present in a casket.

Interment: the burial of a deceased body.

Liner: also called a Grave Box, it is an un-sealed, non-protective outer container used to encase a casket for ground burial. It is usually not required by law, however, most cemeteries require this minimum outer container to support the earth above the casket.

Lot

A group of graves in the same space of land designated for the burial of human remains.

Mausoleum: A permanent building above or partially above ground for the entombment of human remains.

Memorial on Monument: A headstone, monument, marker, name-plate or inscription identifying human remains or cremated remains (also called memorialization).

Memorial Service: A type service that may be with or without a casket, body or urn present. Can be held in a church, funeral home, or nearly any location.

Opening and Closing: The preparation of a grave, space, crypt or niche to receive the human remains or cremated remains and the sealing of the grave, space, crypt, or niche after interment.  Often the digging of an earth grave.

Plot: Two or more adjoining graves, crypts, or niches in a cemetery or mausoleum.

Vase: A receptacle for the placement of flowers on a grave, crypt, or niche.

Vault: A sealed, protective outer container used for the burial of a casket. An upgrade from a non-sealing grave liner. Often made of concrete with a fiberglass, plastic, or metal lining.

Viewing: Usually a private, set time where family members can view the decedent and make formal identification prior to cremation or burial.

Wake, visiting hours, visitation, or calling hours: A set time period where family and friends can visit a bereaved family to offer condolences, and often to view the deceased to say good bye.

Cremation Terms-

Columbarium: The arrangement of niches in a building, or a room, for the display of urns containing cremated remains.

Cremated Remains, Cremains: Often called ashes, it is the human remains after the cremation process is complete

Interment: The disposition of remains by burial, either a casket or an urn.

Inurnment: The placing of cremated remains in a grave or niche.

Memorial Service: A type of funeral service where the body is not present.

Niche: A space capable of holding cremated remains.

Opening and Closing: The preparation of a grave, space, crypt or niche to receive the human remains or cremated remains and the sealing of the grave, space, crypt, or niche after interment.  Often the digging of an earth grave.

Plot: Two or more adjoining graves, crypts, or niches.

Scattering: The spreading of cremated remains in a designated area, on land or at sea.

Urn: A receptacle into which cremated remains are placed.

Urn Vault: A sealed, protective outer container for an urn that is to be buried in the ground.

Viewing: A scheduled time where family members can view the deceased. It can be a public wake, a private gathering, or a formal identification prior to cremation or burial.

Wake, visiting hours, visitation or calling hours: A set time period where family and friends can visit a bereaved family to offer condolences and often view the deceased to say good bye.

Thanks to Marion A. for passing this along, the short list to avoiding or at least being prepared for identity theft:

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts,DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won’t have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.
I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We’ve all heard horror stories about fraud that’s committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.
But here’s some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here’s what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)
7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves’ purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union : 1-800-680 7289

4.) Social Security Administration (fraud line):
1-800-269-0271

Common Sense Disclaimer: this is friendly advice, and is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney or other professional to assist in remediating an identity theft