Belleville, IL Death Cafe
A write up of Belleville, IL Death Cafe
By maggieboone
Belleville Death Café Write-up 8/19/2017
Our session started out with the discussion about Rock Steady. Rock Steady is a boxing program for those who have Parkinson’s disease. Since one of our group has Parkinson’s, it was important information to us.
We then discussed the responsibilities of a funeral home when someone is planning a funeral. This also included the rights of an individual in said planning. This information was state specific so it only entailed those of us in Illinois. Another conversation included the fact that one can have a funeral in their own home. Funerals can be expensive and sometimes, without preplanning and payment, loved ones make emotional decisions and end up with expenses that are not necessary and probably was not something the deceased loved one wanted. This is again, a reason to be prepared and make sure your wishes are known (preferably written down) and/or preplan and prepay your own funeral whether it involves direct cremation with no services, cremation with memorial services, cremation following a funeral, or the traditional funeral and burial. It is also important to note that in Illinois, embalming is not mandated by law except if there will be a public viewing of the body. I believe that is a health code issue but I will need to check up on that for sure. It was suggested, that perhaps it was a good idea to write one’s own obituary/Eulogy. Who better to write it, right? This will ensure that information is correct and the information we want to be remembered by is included. Often those trying to write an obituary for another person make mistakes in spelling, leave out a family member, or do not include proper names since many of us are known by shortened versions of our names and not known what the original birth name is.
Our next Death Café will be on Saturday, September 23rd from 6pm – 8pm.