{"id":27810,"date":"2025-05-15T04:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T04:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27810"},"modified":"2025-05-15T04:23:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T04:23:37","slug":"funeral-homes-are-forced-to-innovate-as-consumer-preferences-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27810","title":{"rendered":"Funeral Homes Are Forced to Innovate as Consumer Preferences Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cMaking It Work\u201d is a series about small-business owners striving to endure hard times.<\/em><\/p>\n

When a young hunter died, Lanae Strovers didn\u2019t plan a funeral service with organ music and the Lord\u2019s Prayer. After Ms. Strovers, a director at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home<\/a> in Des Moines, Iowa, heard the man\u2019s family wish for one last hunt with him, she asked a gunsmith to put his cremated remains into some shotgun shells. Then she helped the family plan a hunt in his honor.<\/p>\n

For a beloved Little League coach, Ms. Strovers turned her funeral home into a mock baseball field, with bases, a popcorn machine and hot dogs. She created a circus \u2014 bouncy house, snow cones and all \u2014 to commemorate a child taken too soon. She hosted a cocktail hour for a woman who had been a model and fashion designer, building a runway and dressing mannequins in her clothing.<\/p>\n

In recent decades, the national cremation rate has skyrocketed<\/a>. That\u2019s led profits from funeral services to drop. At the same time, the costs of gasoline, embalming chemicals and staffing have risen. With the steadfast industry on uncertain footing, funeral directors have been forced to innovate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lanae Strovers at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home in Des Moines, Iowa, next to a coffin-like container used to transport cremation ashes.<\/span>Eric Ruby for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In preparation for a memorial service, photos of the deceased would be placed on this table at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home. <\/span>Eric Ruby for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201c\u200aI don\u2019t want to say that we\u2019re going to become party planners,\u201d said Ms. Strovers, who is a spokeswoman and trainer for the National Funeral Directors Association. \u201cBut I think that those two lines are crossing over and we just need to open up our thought process and be there to help the families.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cMaking It Work\u201d is a series about small-business owners striving to endure hard times.When a young hunter died, Lanae Strovers didn\u2019t plan a funeral service with organ music and the Lord\u2019s Prayer. After Ms. Strovers, a director at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home in Des Moines, Iowa, heard the man\u2019s family wish for one last hunt with him, she asked a gunsmith to put his cremated remains into some shotgun shells. Then she helped the family plan a hunt in his honor.For a beloved Little League coach, Ms. Strovers turned her funeral home into a mock baseball field, with bases, a popcorn machine and hot dogs. She created a circus \u2014 bouncy house, snow cones and all \u2014 to commemorate a child taken too soon. She hosted a cocktail hour for a woman who had been a model and fashion designer, building a runway and dressing mannequins in her clothing. In recent decades, the national cremation rate has skyrocketed. That\u2019s led profits from funeral services to drop. At the same time, the costs of gasoline, embalming chemicals and staffing have risen. With the steadfast industry on uncertain footing, funeral directors have been forced to innovate.Lanae Strovers at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home in Des Moines, Iowa, next to a coffin-like container used to transport cremation ashes.Eric Ruby for The New York TimesIn preparation for a memorial service, photos of the deceased would be placed on this table at Hamilton\u2019s Funeral Home. Eric Ruby for The New York Times\u201c\u200aI don\u2019t want to say that we\u2019re going to become party planners,\u201d said Ms. Strovers, who is a spokeswoman and trainer for the National Funeral Directors Association. \u201cBut I think that those two lines are crossing over and we just need to open up our thought process and be there to help the families.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27812,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27810"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27813,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27810\/revisions\/27813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}