Planning a Service

The experienced funeral directors at Cozine Memorial Group are committed to helping guide you through the process of creating an appropriate and meaningful service that reflects and celebrates the individual life that has been lived.

The foundation for a meaningful and memorable final tribute is to begin the planning process by reflecting on the interests, hobbies and unique personality of your loved one.

The next step is to consider how to best remember and celebrate this special life. You will want to contemplate having a time for viewing or visitation

Viewing is part of many cultural and ethnic traditions. Many grief specialists believe that viewing is beneficial to the grief process by helping family and

friends accept the reality of death and affording them the opportunity to say goodbye. You will also want to consider the opportunity to share memories

and provide comfort to one another in the form of a remembrance service. This may be accomplished by a small, private gathering of family and close

friends or it may involve a more public gathering with time for remembering, special music, video tributes or other meaningful elements.

Finally, you will want to consider creating a memory or lasting tribute which honors your loved one. A permanent and meaningful memory can provide

peace, comfort and a lasting memary, not only today, but for generations to come, Evidence suggests that visiting a permanent location, such as a

cemetery, often aids in the healing process.

Why Should Cozine Memorial Group Direct the Service?

We aspire to conduct a memorial service that reflects dignity and beauty. The family usually has so many emotions and details to cope with that our presence removes what could otherwise be a large burden to organize and oversee something so important.

Our professional staff will receive flowers that are sent to the mortuary, church or other facility. We take photos of each floral arrangement and the

floral card to assist you later with recalling the flowers present at the service and in writing acknowledgments. We will attractively display the flowers in

accordance with religious customs and clergy preferences that may apply.

We display the urn or otherwise care for the cremated remains as you so desire. We reserve seating for the family and assist with seating guests. We

set up register books for signatures, greet people as they arrive and offer printed materials such as service folders. We provide envelopes for memorial

contributions and make sure they are sent to the appropriate organization(s).

We coordinate with musicians you may desire by arranging for their presence and then reviewing the order of their performance within the

service. At your request, we prepare the honorarium checks to clergy, musicians and other participants.

We encourage you to provide photos and other items which we will appropriately display. We will also produce and play a tribute video at the service, as requested. During the service we are able to assist with the playing of pre-recorded music, and when the service takes place at our facility, we audio record the service.

At the close, we usher the family and others. We prepare for you a package consisting of the register book, service folders, sympathy cards, floral photos

and acknowledgment cards. We will be there to serve you and meet your needs.

About Cremation

Cremation is one form of preparing the body for final disposition. It is the process of reducing the body to bone fragments through the application of intense heat.

Our concern about proper cremation procedures led to our decision to establish our own state-of-the-art crematory facility at Kensington Gardens, thereby ensuring the highest legal and ethical standards. We will be pleased to discuss and/or accommodate any arrangements you might have regarding specific religious or cultural customs, including witnessing the start of the cremation process.

We believe that those who compare our cremation procedures, facilities, professional staff, prices and our reputation for excellence will conclude that

we offer exceptional quality, value and peace of mind.

What is Cremation?

In order for cremation to take place, the body must be placed in a combustible cremation container or a hardwood casket. Different styles are available in carious price ranges and are appropriate for viewing or visitation. An alternative cremation container constructed of heavy cardboard is also available. The container or casket is then placed into a cremation chamber where it generally takes two to three hours for the body to be transformed by intense heat and flame into small bone fragments or "cremated remains". Our Cremation Authorization form further explains the cremation process, as well as other related policies and procedures. We will be pleased to answer any questions you might have regarding cremation.