I had the privilege of meeting with Richard Barnwell and his two sons, Rick and Mike Barnwell, to plan a memorial for their family. Mrs. Barnwell passed away on July 7, 2005, and Mr. Barnwell desired to build an "unusual" memorial for him and his wife.
"How much?" is the question that everyone asks, so I am including our price guide for coping and corner posts to assist our many wonderful clients who contact us daily. Please note that I have provided resource information at the bottom of this article.
We were contacted by a labor union in California expressing a desire to honor one of their own, Lorinza Laster, who has dedicated his life to serving union members.
The final phase of the construction of the Fletcher Memorial involved installation. Due to the size and weight of the monuments, this project was challenging. We retained the services of an expert installer to handle the installation.
We realize that our clients on limited budgets still desire to express their originality, using small bevel and flat markers, as they memorialize their loved ones. Small porcelain photographs and Life History Plaques SM are two options.
The loss of a child or infant must be one of the worst tragedies for a family. In my own family, my grandmother, Ethel Mobley Fletcher lost her son, Franklin. I was informed that she blamed my father for his younger brother's death, and he was doubly traumatized by the loss of his baby brother.
My brother-in-law, Larry, is a big man and great in every way. He is a wonderful father, husband, and community citizen. I like him a lot.
Larry is a Mason, and an active member of the Masonic Lodge's burial team. He takes his duties as a master memorialist seriously, often practicing the ritual that he is frequently called upon to provide.
Daily, we are creating memories that will serve to either unite or divide our family that will be stored and invested, to be recalled later with either sadness or happiness.
The words of St. Francis of Assisi (1811 or 1812, d. Oct. 3, 1226) the founder of the Franciscan Order, perhaps the most beloved Catholic saint of all, are often quoted. The following wisdom of St. Francis may bring comfort to my readers.
There are many famous poems about death, a few of my favorites I share below. "I Did Not Die" is a poem that I have often read in cemeteries on grave ledgers. I hope these poems may comfort your family.
There are times within the best of families where family conflict is likely to occur. The memorialization process, heavily affected by the multiple stages of grief, is one of those occasions. I hope the reminders of the following prayers may serve as guidance toward peace, during times of grief and intense emotion:
We received a call from a woman in another state who indicated that she had buried her husband in haste, and in the process, she had great dissatisfaction with the funeral home.
In 1992, I was part of a Sister City delegation to Kashiwa, Japan. Our Japanese hosts were typically wonderful in every respect. If you have not toured Japan, I recommend the experience.
Feng Shui is "the Chinese system that studies people's relationship to the environment in which they live, especially their dwelling or workspace, in order to achieve maximum harmony with the spiritual forces believed to influence all places." Source: Encarta Dictionary: English (North America).
Question: I see that one of your competitors claims to have the "LARGEST DISPLAY." Is that important?
Answer: Dear Reader, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We make it a practice to not disparage our competitors as our company feels that this is not the best approach to business relationships.
Question: I enjoy walking through cemeteries. In old cemeteries, I see the most unusual benches that appear to be memorials. Can you tell me more about these memorials?
Answer: Thanks for writing. You are referring to the exedrae. McNeel displayed this beautiful memorial on page 204 of its classic treatise, "The Greatest Name in Stonecraft."
The Memorial Doctor is at it again, to show you another sarcophagus. To refresh your recollection, a sarcophagus is a large focal point sized monument that would work well in a large grouping of plots for a family. It may also be used to serve as the main monument with small tablet markers used to mark the graves of particular family members.
I would like to introduce my great-nephew, Larry Drake Kinter, born September 2, 2005, the first son of my niece, Lillian Jordan Kinter, and her husband, David Kinter; grandson of James "Larry" and Emma Jean Fletcher Jordan, great-grandson of maternal great-grand parents Callie Hunter Fletcher Dowdy and James "Ray" Dowdy.
The attached photo shows a beautiful memorial carved from marble in the shape of an angel.
We have many angel designs in a wide variety of shapes, colors, sizes and-prices! If an angel design can comfort your family during a time of mourning, then we are ready to come to your aid.
There are a wide variety of crosses, the scope of which I hope to address in a future article. Celtic crosses are designs that I like very much. We have a growing list of Celtic crosses on our website, with many more available through referral to other sites, through our designers, or our own personal files.
There is a secret within the monument industry that needs to be dealt with head on! Some of my competitors are so focused on being the low-cost leaders that they are forgetting about the quality of foundations they construct within the cemetery. In the computer world, we say, "garbage in, garbage out." In architecture and construction, we might say, "a house is only as strong as its foundation."
One option that we offer our clients is the alternative to tint the concrete foundation to more closely complement, dare I say "harmonize," the foundation color with that of the granite we use to build the memorial. The attached photo shows a freshly poured concrete foundation that we tinted black. After a proper time for curing, we will install a beautiful black granite memorial to memorialize our client's son.
If you have visited an old cemetery, you have probably observed one or more monuments designed as a tree trunk. The designs of the Woodmen of the World fraternal organization and insurance company, founded in 1890, are common. See http://www.woodmen.com for the history of Woodmen of the World.
"Can you do.?" is the type of question we are frequently asked by our patrons. I tell our clients that if they can imagine a design, we can probably build it.
Thoughts of dreams, visions, and mind's eye come to the forefront of my mind. If you have a vision for a particular memorial design, our creativity can assist you to refine and develop your dream into reality.
We offer numerous pet memorial options from small- to full-scale memorials. Most folks will desire a small pet memorial, so that is the focus of this article.
We offer two primary choices: engraved rock and lawn markers.
Purchasing the single crypt mausoleum can be daunting for most folks.
This simplest and least expensive mausoleum is shaped like a box with either a flat roof or a slanted roof. Versions of the single crypt can drive the price upward sharply; however, I am addressing the least expensive monuments here. By the way, least expensive does not mean poor quality, as we stand behind all of our products, and these are well-built products.
Purchasing the basic double or triple crypt mausoleum can be uncomfortable for most folks. Versions of the double crypt can drive the price upward sharply; however, I am addressing the least expensive designs here. By the way, least expensive does not mean poor quality, as we stand behind all of our products and these are well-built products.
I received a USMC Birthday Salute celebrating the 230th Marine Corps birthday through the email last year, on November 10th, and my thoughts flashed back to those days, decades ago, when I proudly and honorably served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, July 20, 1970 - April 27, 1973.
I had the pleasure early this year to contact brothers from the Florida Sigma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity. I was initiated into Florida Sigma back in April of 1974, more than 3 decades ago!
We are often asked about the amount of cemetery space required for a small mausoleum. The sizes of cemetery plots vary widely, and the expertise of professional memorialists is essential to proper purchasing and memorialization.
Let's imagine the traditional scenario where you have champagne tastes, but only a beer budget. That is often what I think about my own lifestyle. We can help!
Granite inserts can upgrade less expensive granite colors to give terrific finishing touches. I include 3 sample inserts supplied by one of our manufacturers.
'What is it going to cost for the Dehornele Mausoleum' (or any other mausoleum or large memorial project)? This is a common question we hear from clients. What do you think is a fair price, considering the beauty of this memorial and the high quality product we are building for your family?
As a monument builder and memorialist, I often reflect on how we are communicating to our clients, with the goal that we communicate both efficiently and effectively. As they say, "Time is money," and client satisfaction is everything!
Last fall, I received an email from someone that spoke of the "Lessons on Life." Though the original author is unknown, the lessons are instructive and worth passing along.
The following pictures are of the same place but taken under different seasons.
In my life, I will admit that I strive for perfection; though I try to avoid perfectionism, and our company sometimes makes mistakes just like everyone else. However, good communication is the responsibility of both the client and the monument builder or memorialist, though, ultimately, the monument builder has the professional obligation to strive for attention to details. I suppose the devil is in the details, as the little things can add up to be big things.
