KDKA 1020 AM (Pittsburgh, PA) Radio Interview

"Dying With Dignity-How To Keep Economic Downturns From Compromising Life's Last Celebration"

Shelley Duffy Lifestyle ReporterThe nation’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression has changed how many Americans live...and now the economy has begun to change how some Americans are choosing to die.

As families take a closer look at cutting expenses, many are reluctantly considering compromising their own burials. Some have given loved ones their “blessing” to cremate their remains, though this would not have been a consideration just a few years back.

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Download"Most families want to look into the casket and kiss mom or dad one last time before saying goodbye—it’s simply the heart of human nature,” said Danielle Matascik, Area Manager for a number of Pittsburgh Region cemeteries to include Mount Royal Memorial Park, Allegheny Memorial Park, and Mount Lebanon Memorial Park, all Convenient Pre-Purchase participating cemeteries. “But because of the economy, some families have lost the option of memorializing their loved one’s last life celebration through a traditional ceremony.”

Matascik says the decision to cremate impacts more than life’s last ceremony—it has “eternal” consequences.

“Husbands and wives typically want to be buried together—it’s really life’s final tribute to a lasting, loving marriage, said Matascik. “There is just something about family ties that even death cannot break, which is why couples wish to be buried next to each other, as well as the children wanting to know their parents are buried together.”

So how can families prevent bad economies from separating loved ones in death? Matascik suggests careful preplanning makes the most sense and offers the following tips:

• Burial Preplanning is a serious family activity as is marriage and birth. Couples should set aside dedicated time to discuss the matter. Some couples might wish to involve their adult children in the preplanning process, but the conversation should first begin with the couple.
• Couples should visit a cemetery of interest to become familiar and comfortable with its environment and surroundings.
• When engaging in the preplanning process, couples should work with cemetery property managers who allow the couple to move at their own pace without any sales pressure. A good indicator of such property managers would include those who give the option of purchasing privately through the mail or the phone without requiring a salesperson’s visit.
• The core of beating bad economies through preplanning is affordable financing. A cemetery property should offer reasonable financing terms to include no interest or low interest rates (no interest if paid within a certain time frame, low interest if paid beyond the promotional period). Reasonable financing will let families purchase their burial spaces at today’s costs—rather than at the higher property values many years from now when the economy could perhaps be worse than it is today.

“There are enough options available to families who do not want to compromise their loved one’s last celebration,” reiterated Matascik. “The key is to plan smart, and plan on your terms.”