Funerals for Health

Funerals are getting weepier, and a good thing, too, according to the executive secretary of the National Funeral Directors Association. Speaking in Milwaukee to the 75th annual convention of the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association, Howard C. Raether said that the trend is now away from the cut-and-dried "memorial service" and back toward more ceremonial funerals. "Sociologists, clergymen and psychologists point out the therapy a funeral service provides for the survivors," said Raether.

The therapy: realization that the deceased is really dead and gone, outlet for a grief that otherwise will be unhealthy bottled up, a chance to talk out one's feelings. "You, as funeral directors," said Secretary Raether proudly, "have been providing this valuable help with the clergymen with whom you serve ... a service which has taken on the new significance of contributing to the mental health of our country."

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