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Fake Funeral News
Read more: Fake Funeral News“The funeral as we know it is becoming a relic –just in time for a death boom,” blared the Washington Post headline. Whoever wrote this garbage must have scoured the depths of kook-dom. This article bears no resemblance to what funeral directors do on a daily basis. Perhaps if newspapers interviewed actual, experienced funeral directors…
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6 Important Facts We Can Learn From the Funeral of President George H.W. Bush
Read more: 6 Important Facts We Can Learn From the Funeral of President George H.W. BushSome insist that traditional funerals are a thing of the past. But the funeral of President George H. W. Bush showed the world otherwise. As soon as the death of the 41st U.S. president was announced, the nation clamored for the impending funeral details. Many wanted to make plans to travel to Washington to pay…
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Definition of Funeral Service
Read more: Definition of Funeral ServiceSouthern Calls is a prestigious funeral service journal. The SouthernCalls.com website has interesting articles and images on their pages that are a mix of old and new. The Funeral Profession page has two separate pages, The Present and The Past. The Present page has this as its headline: THE PRESENT Steeped in history, defined by…
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Death At Christmas by Melissa Johnson Williams
Read more: Death At Christmas by Melissa Johnson WilliamsDeath never takes a holiday. At whatever time of year a death takes place, it will leave a permanent reminder in those left behind. Around any of the holidays it’s also a painful reminder of the “empty seat”. My own father’s death took place on Christmas Day. He had been sick for several days but…
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Green Burials and Responsible Reporting
Read more: Green Burials and Responsible ReportingRecently, The New York Times published an article: Green Burials: At the End of Life, Thinking Outside the Coffin, (NYT, November 15, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/15/business/green-burials-wendy-macnaughton.html It was clever, and complete with eye-catching graphics and unusual fonts to draw the reader in. However, it lacked basic research to make it useful for those who are interested in…
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3 Myths About Green Burials: A Funeral Director’s Perspective
Read more: 3 Myths About Green Burials: A Funeral Director’s PerspectiveIn funeral parlance, ‘green burial’ may be the most hyped phrase around. References to this ‘new’ and seemingly popular type of disposition seem to be everywhere these days, particularly in the press. And since we, or a loved one, may be headed in that direction, we might have looked up the subject. Reading those stories…
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Read more: John Fitzgerald KennedyBy Melissa Johnson Williams Those of us who witnessed the events 56 years ago of President Kennedy’s assassination, remember it vividly. He was so much more than just our President. He was of course a husband, father, son, brother, and friend to many. He was a decorated war hero and an inspiration to generations of…
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Rosalia Lombardo
Read more: Rosalia LombardoBy Melissa Johnson Williams It was my great pleasure to work on the National Geographic program Italy’s Mystery Mummies. I had the opportunity to work two distinguished anthropologist, one of whom was a living legend at the time. Dario Piombino-Mascali known for his work with the Sicilian mummies made it possible for me to complete…
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Remembrance Day 100th Anniversary of Armistice Day
Read more: Remembrance Day 100th Anniversary of Armistice DayIN FLANDERS FIELDS In Flanders’ fields the poppies blow between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place: and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now…
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Formaldehyde
Read more: FormaldehydeBy Melissa Johnson Williams From a new study that looks at 30 years of formaldehyde studies. “We now have much greater knowledge of the distribution of endogenous and inhaled formaldehyde at the molecular level. Two such findings are of great importance: (1) every living cell contains formaldehyde and measurable formaldehyde N2-hydroxy-methyl-dG adducts; and (2) there is…