Home Funerals

Recent programs on PBS and National Public Radio have discussed the emerging interest in returning to home funerals. As portrayed in the programs, home funerals are a thoughtful approach to the intensely personal experience of a death in the family. Since we all belong to a family of one sort or another, the family funeral is an alternative that everyone should consider.

Under the right circumstances, a home funeral offers mental health advantages that are hard to duplicate with some of the alternative methods our commercialized society has adopted to deal with the inconvenience on a death in the family. Under the wrong circumstances, a home funeral can add significantly to the trauma. The difference between a good experience and a nightmare lies entirely with the family’s collective abilities to take care of the details and offer emotional support. There must be a strong enough family structure in place so that the shared burden results in a smaller individual burden. For families with a church affiliation, the church acts as an extension to the family. Even when there is no church affiliation, most churches stand ready to help.

Cost should not be the reason to have a home funeral, although it is often cited as a motivation. Home funerals can end up being quite expensive because of the intense involvement of so many people whose efforts are often inefficient from an economic perspective. Barton Family Funeral Service can eliminate the inefficiencies and free individual family members to deal with their own emotions and give effective support to others.

If you have an impending death in the family and want to explore the possibility of a home funeral, we invite you to contact us for a visit in your home or at our offices in Renton and Kirkland. There is no obligation. We consider it a privilege to meet you and share the information we have from over 17 years of working with families.