When you attend a funeral at funeral homes in Clinton Township, MI, you are there to show support for a family who has lost a loved one and to show respect for the person who has died. There are things that are appropriate to do at a funeral and things that are not appropriate to do.
Attending a funeral is never easy, even if you didn’t know the deceased well or you didn’t know them at all, but know or are friends with a member of their immediate family. You may find that you are unexpectedly feeling emotionally vulnerable when you’re attending a funeral, so one of the things that you need to do is to make sure to keep your own emotions in check while you’re attending the funeral.
Your presence at the funeral should be respectful, caring, and empathetic toward the family who has lost their loved one, so one of the things that is appropriate is to express your condolences to the family. If they choose not to have a viewing or visitation, then one way to show your condolences is to send a plant or floral arrangement to the funeral home for the funeral, or to make a donation to a charity that the family requests that contributions be given to.
When you offer condolences, make sure to let the family know how you are connected to their loved one, whether you’re a friend of one of the immediate family members, were a coworker of their loved one, or you knew them from a church or fraternal organization.
If you send a floral arrangement or plant or make a charitable contribution in the deceased’s name, be sure to include your full name so that the family doesn’t confuse you with someone else who may share the same first name as yours.
Be sure to sign the guest register at the funeral. Include your full name and your address so that the family has this information when they are sending thank-you notes after the funeral for gifts, flowers, and charitable donations.
During the funeral service, be sure to mute your cellphone or turn it off altogether. There is nothing more jarring – or disrespectful – than to hear a ringtone (and with the plethora of ringtones available, some of these may be very inappropriate) during a solemn service like a funeral.
Do not be late to the funeral. Be sure to leave enough time to allow for heavy traffic or a traffic accident so that you are not arriving at the funeral service after the it has begun. The disruption caused by a latecomer trying to find a seat is very disrespectful to the deceased and to the grieving family.
Be thoughtful about seating at the funeral. The first three rows are usually reserved for the immediate family, extended family, and close friends of the deceased. The appropriate way to find a seat at a funeral is to find the next available seat at the back (mourners typically fill in the seating from back to front).
Do not sit in an aisle seat if there are other seats available further inside the row. People who arrive after you should not have to crawl over you to get a place to sit.
Do not show up at a funeral uninvited. Public funerals are considered to be open to anyone who would like to attend. Private funerals, on the other hand, are invitation-only, where the family specifically invites the people that they want to attend the funeral. If the obituary says that the funeral is private and you don’t receive an invitation, then you should not attend.
For more information about attending funerals at funeral homes in Clinton Township, MI, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral Home can help. You can come by our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI, 48044 or you can contact us today at (586) 412-8999.