Historic Cemeteries, Modern Opportunities

CANA Convention Highlights Cremation Memorialization with Mount Auburn’s Regina Harrison

As it has steadily become the most popular form of disposition in the US and Canada, cremation has an unearned reputation as a no-frills alternative to burial. Members of the Cremation Association of North America(CANA)believe this could not be further from the truth. They know cremation offers opportunity for creativity and personalization, even in the most historic spaces. At CANA’s 107th Annual Cremation Innovation Convention in Phoenix this August 6-8, 2025,you can see how Mount Auburn Cemetery is seizing this cultural moment to think creatively and sustainably about cremation as permanent memorialization—and communicate this to the families it serves.

Founded in 1831,Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, pre-dates the use of modern cremation–but that doesn’t mean the organization has been restrained by past tradition. In her session, Historic Cemeteries Facing the Future(sponsored by Passages International), Mount Auburn’s Director of Sales, Regina Harrison, shares how the cemetery offers a wide selection of cremation burial options. These range from simple, unmarked direct-earth interment to centrally located premium graves, meeting a variety of customer needs and budgets. She’ll show you how these solutions can work for you and your families, too.

“Memorialization is a deeply personal choice, and there are many reasons why a family might have chosen to set a monument, to share a monument with others, or to forego a monument altogether,” Regina notes. “People are often surprised that historic cemeteries still have space available, but the growing popularity of cremation provides the perfect opening to introduce unique burial and memorialization opportunities.”

With over 15 years at Mount Auburn Cemetery. Regina’s background in anthropology and natural preservation informs her service to families and engagement with the community. She leads cultural change by bringing her experience on meeting customer needs and enhancing cemetery landscape, balancing ideas about sustainability and grave maintenance with the concept of perpetuity. She will share preliminary results of Mount Auburn’s research into the impact of various forms of disposition, burial, and memorialization as they look to the future.

Finding creative solutions for your organization’s continued growth takes center stage in every session:

• In the keynote, Joan Fox, President of Inspired Solutions, asks Are You Creating or Killing Customer Loyalty?, and shares why customer satisfaction is an inadequate goal, how company culture and customer loyalty are connected, and what strategies measure customer loyalty to grow your business.
• Take a close look at Ethics in Cremation: A Colorado Case Study with Faith Haug, Program Director of Arapahoe Community College Mortuary Science Program, and explore three pivotal cremation cases and how they directly influenced Colorado’s funeral service laws and public trust.
• Two experts take the stage to share Data-Driven Digital Marketing Fundamentals with advice to build your business. Scott Jensen, Co-owner of FirstCall Marketing, offers Steps to Take to Know If Your Marketing is Working or Not. Then, Zack Moy, Co-founder/CTO of Afterword, guides you through The Efficient Funeral Home: A Data-Driven Look at Technology Implementation.
• Succession planning and driving enterprise value should always be top of mind, so Jake Johnson, President & CEO of Johnson Consulting, will show how to Exit with Success: Succession Planning and Your Business.
• Barbara Kemmis, Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America and Chance Parker, Chief Research Officer of Fortitude Research + Marketing, present the Cremation Practitioner Benchmarking Study of insights into current practice and provides strategies to address future challenges.

Harsh Headlines & Historic Horses | 4M #192

Welcome to the hundred-and-ninety-second edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #192, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!

Stepping in and stepping up

No deathcare professional wants to hear that another funeral home — even a competitor — has dishonored the industry. But some, like Staten Island’s Rocco Paccione of Martin Hughes Funeral Home, go further than others to make things right for another’s victims.  When Paccione heard that a nearby funeral director had died while awaiting trial for allegedly bilking several families out of their preneed funds, he immediately stepped in to help. Paccione has pledged to honor the services and products for which those families had paid the now-shuttered competitor — at no charge. The only fees the families will pay Paccione are those over which he has no control, like church charges and permits. Kudos to you, Mr. Paccione!

Cease fire

Fort Cavazos is an active military base covering more than 340 square miles in central Texas. Within that vast space are more than a dozen cemeteries — but they don’t get many visitors. That’s because the cemeteries are only open one day a year for tourists and descendants. For the last three decades, the base has ceased all live-fire training on the Sunday before Memorial Day just so folks can pay their respects. 

The reality of deathcare

Real Housewives of Atlanta is in its 16th season, and the cast still includes Phaedra Parks, who in addition to being a reality TV personality is also an attorney, business owner, and a mortician. In a recent episode, she shared with a few of the other RHOAs that she was messaging “the guy that taught me how to embalm.” When another housewife asked if she could come to the funeral home to witness an embalming, Phaedra warned, “It’s a lot of blood and brains.” She added that “The funeral business is going excellent.”

Terrible terms

Just when the general public is starting to learn about new, eco-friendlier alternatives to traditional burial and flame cremation, the press has stepped in to muddy the waters. Rather than describing the positive potential for alkaline hydrolysis to be approved in the UK, the Telegraph newspaper chose this headline instead: “Boil in the bag funerals could be given go-ahead: Flush and bone rituals proposed as a new, ‘gentler’ funerary method.” Then, the article begins with “People could soon be able to choose to be boiled and flushed down the drain instead of cremated or buried…”  Now, the rest of the story may show AH in a better light, but alas, the article is paywalled, and that’s all non-subscribers will see. Ugh.

The caissons are back!

The beautiful and historic horse-drawn processions returned to Arlington National Cemetery last week after a two-year hiatus — during which $28 million (!!) was spent to overhaul the entire program. Fittingly, the first assignment for the revived U.S. Army Caisson Detachment was to escort the remains of Private Bernard Curran, who was killed in 1942 after being captured by the Japanese during World War II. He was laid to rest in a common grave in the Philippines, but was returned to the U.S. after the military identified him last year. Rest in peace, Private Curran. 

Across Borders, Across Traditions: NFDA Unveils Historic Global Study

Report underscores NFDA’s global leadership in funeral service research. 

Brookfield, Wis. – Reinforcing its position as the world’s leading funeral service association, the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) has released the first-ever global study of consumer attitudes toward funerals and funeral professionals. Across Borders, Across Traditions: A Global Study of Funeral Preferences is a landmark research report that offers an unprecedented look at how consumers in 20 countries across six continents view funerals, grief rituals, burial, cremation and the role of the funeral director. The full report is available at no cost to anyone in the funeral service profession at NFDA.org/Research. 

“This is a game-changing moment for funeral service,” said NFDA Chief Marketing officer Stephanie Wagner. “No other organization has undertaken a study of this scale, depth and cultural diversity. As the global conversation about death, grief and remembrance continues to evolve, NFDA is leading the way with innovative research that empowers funeral professionals to adapt, innovate and serve families more meaningfully than ever before.” 

NFDA designed and funded the study with guidance from its Global Advisory Group and support from funeral service leaders worldwide. The findings are based on more than 4,000 consumer surveys conducted across Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe and North America. Key insights from the report include:

• The power of funerals is universal – Nearly 96% of respondents found funerals to be healing experiences, regardless of culture or disposition method.
• Burial and cremation both have emotional impact – While cremation rates are rising, more respondents found funerals with burial “very helpful” for healing than those with cremation.
• Consumers need guidance – Nearly half of respondents have never planned a funeral, highlighting the importance of education and support from funeral directors.
• Cultural traditions influence service elements – Flowers, personalized music, photo tributes and personalized eulogies emerged as the most important features of funerals worldwide.
• Sustainability is on the rise – Nearly 70% of consumers are interested in green or eco-friendly funerals, reflecting growing environmental consciousness. 

In addition to the report, NFDA created a complimentary action plan to help funeral professionals apply the survey’s findings in their day-to-day work and better serve today’s diverse and discerning families. 

“This study cements NFDA’s role as the global thought leader in funeral service,” said Wagner. “We’re proud to offer funeral professionals the insights they need to meet this moment with confidence, compassion and cultural awareness.” 

Download Across Borders, Across Traditions: A Global Study of Funeral Preferences, along with other pivotal NFDA research, such as a first-of-its-kind look at funeral preferences in the United States by generation, at NFDA.org/Research. 

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and more than 40 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit NFDA.org.