Service Area
I help facilitate funerals and memorial services in the southern and central Vermont counties of Bennington, Windham, Rutland, Windsor, Addison and Orange.
General Information
Funerals and memorials are almost always coordinated by a Funeral Director. If you need help finding a funeral home, access the “Links and Resources” page for an online list of funeral homes and directors.
The service part of the funeral or memorial is usually handled by a member of the ordained or licensed clergy of the church or synagogue where the deceased had membership, or where one or more survivors have membership. In the event that clergy person is not available, or if the family has no ties to a church or synagogue, or if you do not wish to use that resource, you have several options.
You can ask the funeral director to engage one of their on-call clergy to officiate; or, you can contract a person of your choosing to conduct the service. The service leader does not have to be ordained or licensed by either a faith community or the state. However, training, experience, and aplomb are all valuable attributes to assure that the service is conducted with appropriate decorum.
When clergy are contracted through the funeral director, clergy fees are included in the final bill submitted to you by the funeral home. If you go directly to your church or synagogue clergy person, you may or may not have a separate fee or honorarium for clergy services. And if you contract with a service leader of your own choosing, you will almost certainly have a separate bill for services.
Funeral Services
Funeral services include the remains enclosed in a casket or urn, and may be conducted at the funeral home, at a place of worship, or at the cemetary chapel (if there is one). Funeral services may also be held graveside in warmer weather, though this is less common these days.
Funeral service and burial arrangements will usually be made by the funeral director.
Memorial Services
Memorial services are funeral services conducted absent the remains. They may be conducted at a distance from the burial site – for example, in another part of the state, or even another country. They may also be conducted some weeks or months after the death occurred (which is sometimes necessary; for example when key family cannot be present for the internment of the remains).
Memorial services may also be conducted on anniversaries of a death or at other symbolic or meaningful times.
Memorial Service arrangements are often made through a funeral director. However, the family may speak directly with clergy or cemetary personnel if they need to make arrangements for a belated memorial service. Generally, a graveside memorial service will not involve any additional space-usage expense.
My Services
As an ordained and experienced clergy person in the Christian tradition, I have extensive experience leading both funeral and memorial services in churches, at funeral homes, and at cemetaries. I welcome every opportunity to work with loving families to craft a meaningful service of farewell and transition for your departed loved one that reflects and honors your faith commitments, beliefs, and spiritual practices.
I approach these services from the faith conviction that we are each a gift from God – given by God to our family and friends. My intention in guiding a funeral or memorial service is to find ways to lift up the deceased as a sign of God’s love for creation and good intentions toward human beings – and to do so in symbols and language that honors your spiritual values.
That’s why I appreciate an opportunity to sit with available family and close friends to hear about the deceased. I want to listen through your words and remembrances to catch a glimpse of the underlying soul whom you knew. Then, I will work with you to craft a service that celebrates and honors the life God entrusted into your care. I want to help you capture the spiritual essence of your departed loved one in a meaningful experience that helps bring closure to their earthly life and your family’s mourning.
Fees
My fee is $225, payable $150 at the time of our contract with one another, and the balance not later than the beginning of the service. The first payment allows me to secure the day of the funeral just for you. Since I do not book other events on the same day, your advance payment closes off that day for anyone else, and therefore is non-refundable.
My fee includes the following services:
- up to 4 hours of in-person, telephone, and email consultation to help you design a funeral service that honors your loved one in spiritual terms that express your or your loved one’s faith commitments;
- coordinating as needed with the funeral director or cemetary official (included in the 4 hours);
- visiting and counseling with the bereaved, as needed;
- conducting the service
You will need a state-licensed funeral director to facilitate the preparation and disposition of the body. Therefore, funeral directors are necessary to the conducting of a funeral. However, you can determine whether the service is conducted at the funeral home, at a church or synagogue, in the cemetary chapel, or graveside. You may also be able to make arrangements to hold the service at home, or at a favorite place, such as a favorite outdoor setting (subject to regulations).
You will not need a funeral director to conduct a memorial service. If you need assistance to coordinate a memorial service, I am available to help make those arrangements.
My real goal is to help you create a memorable service that meets your needs and desires. Normally 4 hours is enough time to make and carry through on all necessary arrangements. And I am not a “clock watcher.” However, at a certain point we have to either complete our preparations or I need to charge for additional time since it takes away from my other commitments. In event making arrangements gets complicated or requires substantially more than the 4 hours we initially contract, I will alert you when we are approaching the point I need to charge. My fee for additional time is $50/hour, prorated (forward or backward) to the nearest half hour.
Normally I do not charge for travel related to conducting a funeral. However, in instances where I am called upon to do more than 120 miles of travel, all-inclusive, I will need to charge 50 cents/mile for miles in excess of 120. If we approach that boundary, I will let you know.
When I know where the service will be conducted, I will provide a final bill prior to the service. You may pay the final reckoning before the day of the service, or at the beginning of the service.
If you have any questions or uncertainties in the days following the funeral or memorial service, I will do what I can to assist, at no cost. I want you and your loved ones to feel a sense of completeness in the aftermath of the service -and whatever I can do to assure that outcome, it will be my pleasure to do.
