ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO REMEMBER YOUR LOVED ONE

Immediately following the death of a loved one, it’s difficult to organize your own thoughts enough to grieve properly and adequately honor the life and death of the deceased. Saying goodbye takes time. For some, this process lasts weeks, months, even years to feel significant closure around such devastation.

One thing we all share is the desire to remember special moments, memories, and nuances so our loved one’s memory feels kept alive. This desire to honor and remember is evident in every culture from every point in history.

Here at Davis-Struempf Funeral Home & Crematory, we want to support you in your efforts to remember your loved one. While our direct services apply more to planning and coordinating, supporting and guiding—we also would love to offer to you this list full of Remembrance Options:

1. Memorial Urns

If your loved one selected cremation as part of their pre-plan—or if you have opted for this in the event no pre-plan was organized—memorial urns are a lovely option. These can be buried, entombed, or placed within the home. In the past, families tended to choose urns with luxurious and traditional designs. But, these days, there are more options beyond the solemn and noble—there are contemporary options available to you, now:

• Contemporary ceramic
• Marble
• Wood
• Bronze
• Environmentally-friendly biodegradable (for water disbursement and ash scattering)
• Artistic urns
• Sport and hobby urns

2. Memorial Gardens
   Keep your family traditions and your family member’s impact alive through the beauty of a memorial garden. Many families have opted for at-home burials or cremation burials within their own personal property, where they can grow a lovely garden of flowers or vegetables in their loved one’s honor. This also gives the family and friends a common meeting grounds to privately spend time with their memories and one another.
3. Continuing ministry
   Did your loved one have a special hobby or special interest in the community? Examples:

• Serving at a local soup kitchen
• Spending time with premature babies at the hospital
• Serving the local pet rescue
• Fostering animals
• Volunteering at a nursing home

Consider picking up where they left off. In this way, their commitment to serving lives on in you.

4. Jewelry
   Cremation services  in Dallas, GA offer you all sorts of freedoms to create memorabilia from the cremains (ashes). These days, there are pendant options out there which allow you to include the ashes of your loved one in the making of a fashion stone. Essentially, this allows you always to have your loved one with you as life moves
5. Modern rituals
   Something as simple (and historic) as lighting a candle in your loved one’s honor can be quite cathartic. Wearing certain clothing—perhaps, their favorite color or shoe brand—can help you to feel connected to your loved one.

What ideas do you have that you don’t see listed here? We’d love to hear them. And, when you have questions for our caring staff, please feel free to call us. Here at Davis-Struempf Funeral Home & Crematory, we want to support you in any way we can.

Davis-Struempf Funeral Home & Crematory | 1975 East-West Connector | Austell, GA 30106 | 770.944.2900