Terrie Lockwood Becomes Certified Funeral Celebrant

Terrie Lockwood, Funeral Director for the Sorenson-Lockwood Funeral Home, recently attended a three day workshop to become a Certified Funeral Celebrant. The training was held at Worsham Mortuary College in Chicago, Illinois.

The Funeral Celebrants raining is a new approach to personalized funerals presented by Doug Manning and Glenda Stansbury of the In-Sight Institute. At the end of 2005 they had trained 750 Funeral Celebrants in 32 locations in the United States and Canada.

A Funeral Celebrant is a lay-person, clergy person, or funeral director who has been trained in the specific area of conducting funerals for families who do not wish to have a clergy person or religious based funeral experience.

Our society has become much more mobile and much less tied to the church. Many people are not affiliated with a religion or theology and do not have a clergy person on whom to call in times of death. Also many people are not comfortable with a traditional religious funeral ceremony.

The practice is widely used in New Zealand and Australia. In some cases, Civil Celebrants, who are licensed by the government in those countries, perform over 50% of the funerals and weddings. Doug Manning, one of the leading speakers and authors in the area of bereavement, toured these countries several years ago and brought back the idea that people in the United States and Canada needed to have this option available to them.

The 3-day training included people from all over the country who will either offer these services to families that come to their funeral homes or individuals who will contract with firms to offer these services to the community. Funeral Celebrants offer personalized funeral services, tributes, memorial services, and graveside memorials.

They meet with the family to help them design a service that reflects the life and attributes of their loved one.

The Funeral Service Celebrant is an option that is available for families using Sorenson-Lockwood Funeral Home. For more information you may contact the funeral home or www.insightbooks.com.

Reception/Gathering Area

The former casket display room is being remodeled to provide an area that families can utilize for gathering after a funeral or memorial service. We have consulted with some caterers in the community that could provide a variety of meal offerings after a service. This area is set up similar to a banquet area. Due to public health issues, the food must be brought in catered and all disposable dishes/eating utensils must be used. The use of this reception area cannot be that of a potluck type of meal.

New Casket/Product Display

We have opted to utilize an updated version of casket display. Our casket display area features York casket products. Bear in mind that the display is only a representation of what can be offered and there are many resources available if one desired a specially designed casket.

Cremation as the final disposition of the deceased is becoming more popular and is predicted to continue in popularity in the future. Our goal is to offer a variety of cremation related products. We can assist with everything that would be needed to conduct a memorial service.

Commitment to Veterans That Have Served our Country

We are proud of those who have served our country. We can assist the family of veterans in making arrangements for a military honors service or provide assistance in obtaining benefits that a veteran may be entitled to. The most important piece of information we need to accomplish this is the DD-214 or service discharge papers. If you cannot locate these documents, we can assist you.

Resource Library/Lounge

This area is created for family/friends that may be looking for a special poem, reading, song or music to be used in the service of a family member or friend that has passed away. The content of a funeral/memorial service/celebration of life needs to be tailored to the individuality of the person that has died.

When a friend or family member dies, those that survive find that they have a variety of needs or concerns as they travel through the grieving process. We offer a library of references for some of the common situations encountered in grief and bereavement.

We can also assist people in obtaining information and resources for uncommon situations that may be encountered after the loss of a loved one. There are age appropriate resources for helping children deal with death.

We also have available for the community, information about Gift of Life Donation, Planning Tools such as Advance Directives, Five Wishes, or a booklet designed for writing down your preferences for your funeral or memorial service. The main goal is that you would make your wishes known (preferably in written form) when you are readily able, rather than to have someone have to guess at a time of stress.

Children's Play Area

There is a play area for children in the lower level of the funeral home that was designed with the goal of providing a place for children to play when a break is needed from the visitation or funeral service. We request that children are supervised by an adult when this area is utilized. The entire service can be heard while parents are in this area during a funeral or memorial service.

Tribute Video/DVD

A few families have appreciated the availability of a DVD that can be made to incorporate several parts of a person's life to have available at the visitation/service of the deceased person for visitors to view. These contribute to stirring memories for the family to share and reflect on as they travel through their journey through grief.