Making Decisions About Memorial and Funeral Services

If you are thinking about memorial planning, the following questions may help you decide what is important to you and share that information with friends or family members who will be involved in making decisions. Use the questions to start a conversation or as a worksheet to guide you in writing down your ideas.

1. Would you like an obituary in the newspaper, church bulletin, etc.? What would you like it to say or include such as place of residence, occupation, school attended, and memberships in associations or clubs, religion, interests, survivors, contributions, place of burial?
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2. After your death, how would you like to be memorialized (funeral, memorial service, celebration of life, etc.)? Do you have specific wishes about how you would like it to be carried out?
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3. What are some of the things you would like your friends and family to remember about you?
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4. Have you made final (funeral, memorial service) arrangements? Have you made arrangements for your final resting place?
   If yes, with which mortuary/funeral home did you make these arrangements? Where is the paperwork?
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5. If not, where would you like your final resting place to be (cemetery, scatter ashes, urn and kept with family, memorial garden)?
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6. Do you prefer cremation or burial? Do you have a burial plot?
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7. Are there any special clothes you would like to wear for burial/cremation?
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8. If burial, is there anything you would like with you?
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9. Do you want a headstone, and if so, what would you like it to say?
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10. Do you have a place of worship where you would like the funeral/memorial service to occur?
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11. Do you have a preference for clergy?
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12. Would you like a eulogy to be said? Who would you want to deliver your eulogy? What would you want to be said in your eulogy?
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13. Do you have favorite songs, prayers, readings, rituals, or sacraments that would honor your life and help us remember you?
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14. Do you want flowers or would you like donations to be given to a charity in your honor?
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15. If you would like flowers, what are your choices?
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16. If you prefer donations, to which charity should the donations to be made?
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17. Do you have any other special wishes?
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Your hospice team is available to support you in considering all of your options for treatments and advance planning. We can provide information, counseling, and encouragement and will respect your values and priorities. If there are things you prefer not to discuss, we honor that choice and will follow your lead. We are here to help you live your life your way. Call anytime.

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