Anderson Funeral Home
Homeserving families for over 70 years
312 South Stone St.
Augusta, WI 54722
715-286-2222
Frequently Asked Questions
Funeral and Burial Questions
What is the purpose of a funeral?
Funerals provide surviving family members and friends a caring, supportive environment in which to recognize the death of a loved one and to share thoughts and feelings about that person. Funerals are the first step in the healing process. The ritual of attending a funeral service provides many benefits including:
+ Providing a social support system for the bereaved
+ Helping the bereaved understand death is final and is a part of life
+ Integrating the bereaved back into the community
+ Easing the transition to a new life after the death of a loved one
+ Providing a safe haven for embracing and expressing pain
+ Reaffirming one’s relationship with the person who died
+ Providing a time to say good-bye and to remember the life, not just your loved ones
final days or hours.
It is possible to have a full funeral service even for those choosing cremation. The importance of the ritual is in providing a social gathering to help the bereaved begin the healing process and to know that they are not alone but have the support of family and friends.
What types of funeral services exist?
Every family is different, and not everyone wants the same type of funeral. Funeral practices are influenced by religious and cultural traditions, costs, and personal preferences. These factors help determine whether the funeral will be elaborate or simple, public or private, religious or secular, and where it will be held. They also influence whether the body will be present at the funeral, if there will be a viewing or visitation, and, if so, whether the casket will be open or closed and whether the remains will be buried or cremated.
Why have a public viewing?
Viewing is part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing aids the grief process by helping the bereaved recognize the reality of death. Viewing facilitates remembering the deceased’s life not just the final days or hours before the death. Viewing is encouraged for children as long as the process is explained and the activity voluntary.
Embalming Questions
What is the purpose of embalming?
Embalming sanitizes and preserves the deceased, retards the decomposition process and enhances the appearance of someone disfigured by traumatic death or illness. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange, arrive and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.
Cremation Questions
Is cremation a substitute for a funeral?
Funeral service professionals are striving to give consumers a true sense of what their many options are for a funeral service. Often funeral directors find that people have a preconception that they have fewer choices for a ceremony when selecting cremation for themselves or a loved one. Therefore, they request direct cremation and deny the surviving friends and family the opportunity to honor them with a memorial service. In actuality, cremation is only part of the commemorative experience. With cremation people have the flexibility to search for types of tributes that reflect the life being honored. But, this doesn’t mean that aspects of traditional funeral services have to be discarded. Even with cremation, a meaningful memorial that is personalized to reflect the life of the deceased could include:
+ A visitation prior to the service
+ An open or closed casket, a casket purchased or rented
+ Special music
+ A ceremony at the funeral chapel, your place of worship, or other special location
+ Participation by friends and family.
Commonly, cremated remains are placed in an urn and committed to an indoor or outdoor mausoleum or columbarium, interred in a family burial plot or kept by the family.
Funeral Cost Questions
What will the funeral cost at Anderson Funeral Home?
Our funeral charges vary with the type of service you select. Please feel free to call or fill out the request form above and we can inform you on the cost of a variety of services and merchandise.
At Need Contact
When the death occurs, what do I do?
When death occurs, Anderson Funeral Home personnel are available to assist you at any hour, seven days a week. Please call 715-286-2222 , or toll free 1-866-715-2250.
If the death occurs in a hospital or other facility the funeral home is usually contacted by someone affiliated with the facility, but the family can also make that initial contact. If the death occurs in a private home with hospice, the family or hospice worker will notify the funeral home. Any sudden death at a home will require the notification of a coroner or medical examiner. Usually the emergency personal will help take care of this notification, we would certainly help with this if needed.
Will someone come right away?
If you request immediate assistance, yes. If your family wishes to spend a short time with the deceased to say goodbye, this is acceptable. Our staff will come when the time is right for you.
If a loved one dies out of state, can Anderson Funeral Home still help?
When death occurs away from home, Anderson Funeral Home can assist you with out-of-state arrangements and transfer the deceased to a preferred location.
Please call 715-286-2222, or toll free 1-866-715-2250.
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