Types of Funeral Services | Funeral FAQ'S | Social Security Benefits

Death can be an overwhelming experience.  Our dedicated staff will assist you with the necessary arrangements involved in planning a funeral service.  Our experience and attention to detail will help you through this difficult time.

As we begin, it may be helpful to remember why funerals are important.  From the earliest times, funerals have been a means of expressing our beliefs, thoughts, and feelings about the death of someone we love.

  Funerals:

• Help us acknowledge that someone we love has died
• Allow us to say goodbye
• Provide a social support system for family members
• Offer us the opportunity to commemorate our loved one in a meaningful way

Over the years, many of the families we have served have told us they would like help personalizing their funeral services.  We can offer you several ways to create a meaningful service - from ideas on personalizing the ceremony with personalized register books and folders to enhancing the casket you select with features that can reflect the unique qualities of you or your loved one.

We can help you plan a funeral with meaning and purpose, whether at the time or in advance.  We are here to answer questions, make suggestions and carry out your wishes.  Please remember, all decisions rest with you and your family.

The Traditional Funeral Service is when your loved one is present. The night before the funeral there would be visitation generally in the afternoon and evening with the casket open. The service itself is normally the following day either in the chapel of the funeral home or in a church, chosen by the family. A funeral often consists of scripture reading, prayers, a eulogy, sometimes a sermon, and music. After the funeral there is a procession to the cemetery,  for a committal service.  There is a reception to follow at the church or the families home which concludes the services.

A Memorial Service is when the deceased is not present. It may take place at the funeral home, a church, or even outdoors. This is a time to remember your loved one through fellowship with friends and family. The memorial service can also be an addition to a traditional funeral service. For example having a traditional funeral service here and then a memorial service back in the deceased’s home town. Or, a memorial service can be done after a burial or cremation if this meets the need, of the family.

The Committal Service is a brief service at the gravesite after a tradition funeral service but prior to the burial. This is where family and friends say their final good byes at the final resting place by placing flowers or sometimes sand on the casket. If the committal service is the only service then it becomes what we call a grave side service and is accompanied by a visitation the night before. The grave side service is a more lengthy service consisting  of scripture reading, eulogy, poetry, and music.

We offer a traditional funeral service followed by a cremation. Cremation is a form of disposition. It does not restrict you from having an  visitation, open casket and a funeral service the following day. It is even possible to have a procession to the cemetery for a committal service.

Direct Cremation is when there is no funeral ceremony. The deceased is placed  in a refrigeration unit until the proper paperwork has been completed, and the necessary permits are obtained. Then the body is placed  in an cremation receptacle (container) and transported to a crematory. The cremation chamber is heated by gas jets.  Then the cremated remains are placed in a urn and ready to be buried, placed in a niche, or be taken home.

In times of grief, all your questions and concerns are important to us. In fact, complete information and referral counseling is one of the many services we offer to the community. We welcome your questions, either by phone or in person.  

After Care  For years our staff at Moss Funeral Home has been dedicated to provide for each family that we serve the finest funeral service care. We have extended that same service, care and concern to the loved ones and families after the funeral and beyond.

An Aftercare Program was incorporated into our service in 1997 and is a routine service to the families we serve. Our aftercare providers are Mrs. Ruth Lager and Mrs. Sylvia Henken.

Our program includes follow-up care, telephone and home visits, information on grief management and coping skills, a referral grief group for peer support and program of community network resources.

Ruth or Sylvia call on our families to explain the program and services available through the funeral home. If you would like to speak with them before that time, please call the funeral home at 618/526-7144. It is our goal to provide superior service during the loss experience and to extend that same service to the bereaved after death.

Our primary concern is that you need not feel alone.

Please do not hesitate to ask us questions, at no obligation. We are only a phone call away. 618/526-7144

Funeral FAQ'S

It is important to recognize that funerals and memorial ceremonies are for the living ... for those who are affected by the loss of a loved one. It is through the funeral process that a number of emotional needs are met for those who grieve.

A funeral is similar to other ceremonies in our lives. Like a graduation ceremony, a wedding, a baptism, and a bar mitzvah, a funeral is a rite of passage by which we recognize an important event that distinguishes our lives.

The funeral declares that a death has occurred. It celebrates the life that has been lived, and offers family and friends the opportunity to pay tribute to their loved one.

The gathering of family and friends for a time of sharing and funeral service helps to provide emotional support so needed at this time. This will help those who grieve to face the reality of death and consequently, to take the first step toward a healthy emotional adjustment.

The funeral can and does take on many varied forms. Funerals can last from minutes to months and are usually influenced by the lifestyle and values of the bereaved family and friends.

"What Options Are Available in Services and Disposition?"

A valuable aspect of contemporary funerals is their individuality. Whether a ceremony is elaborate or simple, funerals are often individualized to reflect the life of the deceased and to hold special meaning for family and other survivors. It may reflect one's religious beliefs as a reaffirmation of faith in a greater life beyond this world.

It may reflect the occupation or hobbies of the deceased. It may center around an ethnic background or social affiliation.

In our society, three basic forms of final disposition are practiced. The first is earth burial which continues to be the form of disposition chosen most often.

Cremation is also a choice. This is a process of preparing the body for final disposition whereby the body is reduced by intense heat over several hours to a few pounds of small fragments. These cremated remains are usually placed in an urn which may be buried, placed in a memorial niche, or kept in some other location. Cremated remains may also be scattered where permitted by law.

Finally, entombment in a crypt is also a choice and is one of the oldest forms of disposition. Today many cemeteries maintain crypts for entombment which may be in a mausoleum or in an outdoor garden.

"What Does a Funeral Director Do?"

It has been estimated that over 136 individual activities must take place in order for one funeral to be conducted. The funeral director is actually an organizational specialist.

Here is a condensed list of some of the more visible activities of a typical funeral director.

• Removal and transferring the deceased from place of death to Funeral Home
• Professional care of the deceased, which may include sanitary washing, embalming preparation, restorative art, dressing, hairdressing, casketing and cosmetology.
• Conduct a complete consultation with family members to gather necessary information and discuss specific arrangements for a funeral.
• File all certificates, permits, affidavits, and authorizations, as may be required.
• Acquire a requested amount of certified copies of the death certificate needed to settle the estate of the deceased.
• Compile an obituary and place in newspapers of a family's choice.
• Make arrangements with a family's choice of clergy person, church, music, etc.
• Make arrangements with cemetery, crematory, or other place of disposition.
• The providing of a register book, prayer cards, funeral folders, and acknowledgments, as requested by a family.
• Offer the assistance of notifying relatives and friends.·
  Arrange for clergy honorariums, music, flowers, death certificates, obituaries, additional transportation, etc.
• Care and arrangement of floral pieces and the post funeral distribution as directed by a family.
• Arrange for pallbearers, automobiles, and special services (fraternal or military) as requested by a family
• Care and preservation of all floral cards, mass cards, or other memorial contributions presented to the funeral home.
• Your funeral director, with his/her staff personnel, will direct the funeral in a most professional manner, and be in complete charge of the funeral procession to the cemetery or other place of disposition.
• Assist a family with social security, veterans insurance, and other death-related claims.
• A post funeral meeting, by the funeral director, with a family, to deliver such things as the register book, floral and mass cards, and to ascertain whether or not he/she can be of further assistance.

Social Security Benefits

The following checklist is designed to help you file for your Social Security benefits correctly so that prompt payments may be made.

ELIGIBILITY

The deceased worker must have credit for work covered by Social Security, ranging from 1 1/2 to 10 years depending on his or her age at death.

WHO MAY RECEIVE MONTHLY BENEFITS

• A widow or widower age 60 or older (50 if disabled), or at any age if caring for an entitled child who is under 16 or disabled.
• A divorced widow or widower age 60 or older (50 if disabled) if the marriage lasted 10 years, or if caring for an entitled child who is under 16 or disabled.
• Unmarried children up to 18 (19 if they are attending a primary or secondary school full lime).
• Children who were disabled before reaching 22, as long as they remained disabled.
• Dependent parent or parents 62 or older.

LUMP-SUM DEATH PAYMENT

A one-time payment of $255 is paid in addition to the monthly cash benefits described above. The lump-sum death payment (LSDP) is paid in the following priority order:

• A surviving spouse who lived in the same household as the deceased person at the time of death.
• A surviving spouse eligible for or entitled to benefits for the month of death.
• A child or children eligible for or entitled to benefits for the month of death