Creating a Meaningful Memorial
How often have we heard the sage advice that first impressions are lasting? Certainly when we are preparing for an important interview or that first date, we do everything we can to put our best foot forward. For important family events like weddings, we may spend upwards of a year in preparation to make the day most memorable.
Funerals too, though they are not joyous events, need careful planning to commemorate the individual whose life here has ended. Those last impressions are important to family, friends, and the community. Relationships, accomplishments, successes and failures – the good times and hard times – all need to be brought into focus. A funeral or memorial service is the opportunity for all to come together with their own view of the person and share it with others. Children may not have any notion of the people their father affected in his work. Co-workers might be unaware of the many who were helped by their colleague in her charity works.
Today, more and more is being written about personalization in funeral services. The Daily Herald, USA Today, even The Wall Street Journal have published articles on novel ways that people can make funerals more personal. Internet memorials, homemade caskets, butterfly releases, wakes in mansions or even home wakes may not be for everyone, but they are an indication that funerals today should be as individual as the person.
One of the reasons we started Richard Lamb New Traditions was to help families create profound last impressions. We take this obligation and privilege very seriously. Regardless of how little or how much a family may spend with us, our mission is to make that service as meaningful and personal as possible.
About Richard Lamb
Founder Richard Lamb has earned a national reputation for providing quality care to grieving families, winning several "Pursuit of Excellence" awards from the National Funeral Directors Association. He spent 35 years as funeral director, corporate secretary, executive vice president, president and regional director and consultant for Blake-Lamb, the largest organization of its kind in the Midwest. With his wife Susan, he founded Richard Lamb New Traditions Funerals in 1999.