Tag Archives: funerals

The Washington Post reports: In 2020, 56 percent of Americans who died were cremated, more than double the figure of 27 percent two decades earlier, according to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA). By 2040, 4 out of 5 Americans are projected to choose cremation over casket burial, according to both CANA and the National Funeral Directors Association. Other …

Al Jazeera reports: At least 32 people have been killed in a stampede that erupted in the Iranian city of Kerman at the funeral procession for a top commander killed in an air attack by the United States, Iran’s state television said. “Unfortunately because of overcrowding 32 of our citizens lost their lives in the procession … and 190 were …

CBS News reports: Some 1,500 guests are expected Saturday at a private funeral for Barbara Bush at the nation’s largest Episcopal church. First lady Melania Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Cliuton, and former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are among those expected to attend the by-invitation-only service at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Burial will follow …

Hundreds of mourners lined the steps of the Supreme Court building in the last hour as the casket of late Justice Antonin Scalia was laid in state upon the pedestal that once held the body of Abraham Lincoln. Watch below. The remaining eight Justices lined up alongside the casket in the order of their seniority as a prayer was read …

Antonin Scalia’s body will lie in state at the Supreme Court building on Friday. The Hill has details: Scalia’s body will be available for public viewing in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday. A private ceremony at the Supreme Court will start at 9:30 a.m. Services for Scalia will be held …

Via Mashable: It is the deepest show of respect. A large group of school children in New Zealand have honoured their beloved teacher by performing the traditional dance, the haka, as his hearse rolled into the school for the funeral. At least 1,700 boys at Palmerston North Boys’ High School on New Zealand’s North Island participated in the epic performance …

Broadway stars Hugh Jackman and Audra McDonald performed as did the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. The eulogy was delivered by Howard Stern.

“When I die (and yes, Melissa, that day will come; and yes, Melissa, everything’s in your name), I want my funeral to be a huge showbiz affair with lights, cameras, action. I want Craft services, I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene! I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don’t want some rabbi rambling …

New Orleans funerals have always been known for being celebrations of a life fully lived rather than somber reflections on loss, but this may be pushing it a bit too far. Via WGNO-ABC: In life Miriam Burbank loved a cold beer, and an occasional scotch. So it’s only fitting, that it all be captured as part of her home-going. “I …

At today’s funeral for Nelson Mandela, President Obama posed for a selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. This landed the president on the mocking Tumblr, Selfies At Funerals, and has spawned the usual ridicule across Teabagistan.

The funeral for Jose Julio Sarria, also known as the Widow Norton, was held yesterday at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.  Sarria, who was the first openly gay person to ever run for public office in the United States, left instructions for his service: Female titleholders from his Imperial Court — the gay organization and charity he started in 1965 — …

A crowd of protesters booed the funeral procession of Margaret Thatcher today. Chants included “Tory scum” and “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Dead, dead, dead!”

The funeral for Margaret Thatcher will cost an estimated £10M, a figure which will surely provide fodder for the critics of the Iron Lady’s famed austerity principles.  More on the planning: The ceremony will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London next Wednesday. The Queen and Prince Philip have already confirmed they will go. The guest list for the …

According to NBC News, cremation is the “hottest trend” in the funeral industry. Every year in America, 2.5 million people die. In 2011, the last year for which numbers are available, 42 percent were cremated, according to the funeral directors association. That’s double the rate of just 15 years ago. In some states, largely in the West, the cremation rate …

From the blog Guardian of Valor: So at the funeral today for Fallen Soldier Sgt. [Donna] Johnson a Westboro member decided it would be smart to stomp on the American flag. A Soldier did not take kindly to that and broke through the line, hitting one of the protesters that was disgracing Old Glory. As he was being arrested, two …

Sgt. Donna Johnson, who was married to a woman, was killed along with two other Americans during a suicide bombing in Afghanistan on Monday.  Today Westboro Baptist Church claims that they will be there on Saturday to protest her funeral in North Carolina.  (Tipped by JMG reader Jennifer.)

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“If a Quaker, a Lutheran or a Buddhist, desiring communion had introduced himself as such, before Mass, a priest would be obligated to withhold communion. If someone had shown up in my sacristy drunk, or high on drugs, no communion would have been possible either. If a Catholic, divorced and remarried (without an annulment) would make that known in my …