I operated a crematory at our funeral home and one of the tasks I very much disliked was transfering cremation remains into the very popular “vase-shaped” urns.  You see, while the vase-shaped urn has a curvature to it that widens out, it also has a very small opening at the top of the urn where one fills the urn from.

However, thanks to the patented “Easy Turn Urn” from Titan, which was just introduced last week, filling those vase-shaped urns will be much easier in the future.  This new patented product has a “Dual Opening” design that makes transfering the cremated remains into the urn very simple.

Here’s a short 45-second video on the product introduced by Titan Casket brand ambassador actor David Dastmalchian:

Funeral Director Daily take:  I wish I would have had this “Dual opening” urn available to me on the hundreds of vase-like urns I prepared filled with cremated remains.

Titan Casket is proving to be much more than just a casket supplier to consumers and funeral homes.  The three founders have the ideal combined backgrounds to build a company that takes advantage of technology and customer service innovation and that is exactly what they are doing with Titan Casket.

Their combined expertise and experience from the casket business, the web-based sales business, and the Direct-to-Consumer start-up business form a nexus that, in my opinion, will not only build a successful casket sales business both for consumers and as partners for funeral homes but will become a major e-commerce force for Death Care in general.

And, it looks like the “Easy Turn Urn” will be their next successful product.

Here’s a little info on the three founders of Titan Casket:

To learn how to partner with Titan Casket at your funeral home click here.

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Batesville Expands Innovation in Burial, Cremation, Digital Solutions and Personalization with New Product Launches at NFDA 2025 

Batesville, Ind – October 16, 2025 – Batesville, a leading provider of high-quality burial products,  cremation products, and technology solutions will debut its newest offerings at the 2025 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) International Convention & Expo from October 27-29 in Chicago, Illinois. 

Building on the momentum from last year’s NFDA, Batesville continues to invest in the future of funeral service with back-to-back years of product launches and technology advancements. No other company in the industry is investing more to bring meaningful, affordable innovations that support funeral professionals and the families they serve. 

“Families today want more choices, personalization options, and tools that make the planning process easier,’ said Jenn Parvin, Chief Marketing Officer. “Our newest offerings reflect those needs, combining tradition and care with forward-thinking design and innovation.” 

New Product Highlights Include: 

Burial  

Batesville is proud to introduce three new caskets, thoughtfully designed to provide families with high-quality options as they honor and celebrate the lives of their loved ones. The collection includes the: 

• Two 18-gauge steel selections — the NV1 Tuscany Silver and the NV1 Burnished Silver — engineered with both personalization and quality in mind. 

• Crimson Montgomery, a timeless cherry-stained wood casket that reflects warmth and tradition and serves as a dual-disposition casket for both cremation and burial.

• Batesville continues its long-standing commitment to innovation and personalization with its Family Choices® line, available across all three new caskets. The company is also introducing the LifeStories Memory Frame™, a customizable frame for displaying  cherished photos and mementos, and LifeStories Life Touch™ Interiors, beautifully crafted casket interiors that reflect the life and personality of a loved one. Together, these new offerings further Batesville’s legacy of helping families create meaningful and  individualized tributes.

Technology Solutions to Optimize & Grow Your Business

Batesville remains  committed to delivering technology solutions that help funeral professionals optimize their  operations and grow their businesses. From innovative digital tools to integrated platforms,  Batesville provides resources that make it easier to serve families and strengthen success. 

• Family Choices® Digital Showroom: An intuitive online tool that guides families through a personalized journey through casket, cremation, and customization options. Funeral directors can narrow choices based on families’ specific needs, show 3D renderings in real time, and integrate selections into Batesville Connect® for easy and fast ordering. 

• Batesville Connect®: A centralized hub for funeral professionals that streamlines their Batesville experience. Users get ordering, tracking, and business management tasks, making day-to-day operations more efficient.  

• Halcyon by Batesville: The advanced cloud-based management system suite now includes chain-of-custody body-tracking with QR codes, seamless integration with Express Funeral Funding for faster claims procession, and expanded API connectivity. 

Cremation – Urns and Memorialization 

• The new Gallery Series, a carefully curated selection of on-trend, décor-inspired cremation urns from Batesville, are perfect for your home or permanently displayed in a cremation niche.  

• Family Choices® Urn expansion offers families new opportunities for personalization. These urns can be customized with LifeStories® Medallions and LifeSymbols® 

• The expanded NewPointe® line introduces striking new colors and designs with the Nebula, Atlas, and Starlight collections, offering modern style at a great value. 

These new offerings reflect Batesville’s long-standing commitment to delivering products that combine craftsmanship, innovation, and personal meaning for families and loved ones.  

Visit Batesville at NFDA 

Visit Batesville at booth 815 at NFDA 2025 to experience the new products and technologies firsthand and learn how they can help drive higher satisfaction and profitability.  

The Batesville NFDA booth doubles as a fully functioning Physical and Digital Showroom that allows visitors to experience Batesville’s products firsthand. It will serve as a full immersive experience just as families would experience in your actual funeral home. The booth will feature the latest caskets and urns as well as a Family Choices® Digital Showroom where visitors can explore new tools, technologies, and personalization options. 

Batesville will also feature its Family Choices® Physical Showroom, which builds on the success of last year’s ‘Selection Room of the Future.’ Designed to be light, modern, and highly flexible, this updated showroom concept creates a welcoming environment where families can explore products and personalization options with ease. The innovative layout allows funeral professionals to adapt the showroom to the specific needs of the community. Batesville’s selection room offers a contemporary, thoughtful experience that blends tradition with modern design. 

Join us at the NFDA Welcome Party, Sponsored by Batesville 

Batesville is thrilled to co-sponsor the NFDA Welcome Party on Sunday from 6:00-8:00 PM at the House of Blues, 329 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60654 

You can reconnect with friends, make some new ones, and get geared up for an amazing conference. Enjoy food, music, and engaging conversation as we kick off the 2025 NFDA Conference. 

Educational Session: Reimagining the Physical Showroom

In addition to showcasing its newest products and services, Batesville will present an educational section focused on how funeral homes can better meet the needs of today’s families. The session will be presented by  Jenn Parvin, Chief Marketing Officer of Batesville and by Devin Dardanes, Executive Vice  President of Business Development at B+N Industries. “Meeting Modern Expectations:  Redefining the Consumer Experience” will highlight strategies for blending innovation, inspiration, and affordability within the showroom setting, giving funeral professionals tools to create a more engaging, customer-focused environment. Attendees will learn how thoughtful design, modern merchandising, and flexible presentation options can not only enhance the family experience but also drive greater satisfaction and profitability for funeral homes.  

Join us on Wednesday, October 29, 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM for an informative and innovative session.

ABOUT BATESVILLE SERVICES, LLC  

Batesville (www.Batesville.com) is a recognized leader in the deathcare industry in North  America, offering a comprehensive portfolio of burial and cremation products, innovative technology solutions and an unparalleled array of personalization and memorialization offerings. For more than a century, Batesville has supported deathcare professionals in helping families honor the lives of those they love. ® A history of manufacturing excellence, product innovation, superior customer service, and reliable delivery helped Batesville become – and  remain – a market leader. 

CRON Specialties Launches Revolutionary Funeral Product Inspired by Social Media Frustration

Moorhead, MN:  A casual social media post in 2018 sparked a breakthrough in funeral service innovation. When a funeral director voiced her dissatisfaction with traditional plastic garments—citing leaks, bulkiness, and the disruptive crinkling sound they made when touched, seasoned embalmer Ron Gresham took notice. That moment of online frustration led to the creation of BodyGuard, a heat-shrinkable protective garment now transforming embalming practices worldwide.

Developed and perfected over seven years, the BodyGuard by CRON Specialties is crafted from durable 6 mil polyethylene plastic. Unlike conventional unionalls, the BodyGuard can be heat-shrunk to conform tightly to the body using a standard heat gun, eliminating excess bulk and minimizing noise. It’s cremation-safe and produces fewer chemical emissions than traditional alternatives.

Gresham, who has handled thousands of challenging cases—from trauma victims to advanced decomposition—recognized the need for a more adaptable solution. After extensive field testing through his trade embalming service, he launched CRON Specialties in May 2025. The response has been overwhelming, with orders pouring in from across the globe.

In response to requests from fellow funeral directors, Gresham has expanded the BodyGuard line to include heat-shrinkable pants, sleeves, and stockings, allowing targeted coverage for specific areas such as limbs. These additions further enhance the product’s versatility and ease of use.

“I’m not done yet,” Gresham shared. “There are more ideas in the pipeline to support embalmers and funeral professionals. This is just the beginning.”

About CRON Specialties:  CRON Specialties, based in Moorhead, MN, was founded to solve a long-standing issue in funeral care: the lack of a durable, leak-resistant, and low-profile garment for decedents. After years of development, the company introduced the BodyGuard—a heat-shrinkable unionall designed to meet the practical needs of embalmers and funeral directors worldwide.  To explore the BodyGuard and other innovative products from CRON Specialties, visit CRONspec.com.

Starmark Adds Three Caskets to Nature’s Way® Product Line

All-Wood Construction Products Receive Environmental and Kosher Recognition

RICHMOND, INDIANA – Starmark, a part of Vandor Group, Inc., proudly announces the introduction of three new products: the Ethos, Pathos, and Logos caskets.   These new Nature’s Way products feature All-Wood Construction and have received prestigious certifications from both the Green Burial Council and the Indianapolis Beth Din – Kosher Supervision Authority. These achievements underscore Starmark’s commitment to providing Sensible Solutions® for an ever-growing community of funeral and cemetery professionals seeking greener alternatives and Kosher products. Starmark shares the visions of these organizations in offering more sustainable, eco-friendly after-death options that honor families, enrich communities, and nurture our planet for future generations.

“We are excited to announce that the Nature’s Way Ethos, Pathos, and Logos caskets have received Green Burial Council and Kosher certification,” said Justin Davis, President of Starmark. “As consumer demand for eco-friendly and kosher funeral options grows, Starmark remains committed to providing innovative solutions and enhancing services with a reduced environmental impact.”

The Green Burial Council (www.greenburialcouncil.org) is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that encourages sustainability in the funeral profession.   The council offers certification programs for burial grounds, funeral homes, and funeral products.  Certification is awarded to funeral providers that demonstrate compliance with the established Green Burial Council standards designed to create sustainable practices in funeral service as well as to preserve and steward land through burial.

Kosher certification was granted by Indianapolis Beth Din – Kosher Supervision (www.chabadindiana.org).  Founded in 1981, the Indianapolis Beth Din is the oldest Kosher supervising organization in the state of Indiana, providing certification for industrial and commercial establishments throughout the state. The Kosher industry has recently been enjoying rapid international growth, with many consumers associating a Kosher symbol with a product that is associated with cleanliness and hygiene. 

The Starmark Nature’s Way series, initially introduced in 2009, provides funeral homes and their families with environmentally friendly burial and cremation container choices that are very affordable and generate an increase in body present events.  These containers offer high eye appeal, are environmentally responsible, and are strong, yet lightweight.  For funeral professionals, these products bring about new opportunities for green burial and cremation services, simple and private family farewells as well as identification viewings which research proves are preferred by informed consumers instead of “no view” final dispositions.

The Nature’s Way Ethos, Pathos, and Logos offer:

• All Wood Construction – built using no metal with only wood fasteners and organic glues
• Optional organic unbleached cotton interiors 
• Inside dimensions of 22.5” wide by 77” long
• Biodegradable materials – low carbon footprint – decompose and cremate efficiently
• Ships pre-assembled with minimal packaging – no assembly required
• Available with stationary wood and cotton strap handles
• Made in the USA

Starmark’s Nature’s Way Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are currently available directly from Starmark or nationwide through Starmark distributors.  To learn more about Starmark and the Nature’s Way products, please visit or contact Starmark at 888-366-7335. 

About Starmark Cremation Products:  Since 2004, the Starmark brand has designed, marketed, and manufactured Sensible Solutions® for its customers.  Starmark prides itself on providing innovative, affordable, and high-quality products so that its customers can focus on the things that matter most: allowing families the opportunity to lay their loved ones to rest in an affordable yet dignified and respectful manner. The company’s ability to craft and deliver meaningful products is part of the formula that helps it serve customers.

Iris Infant Casket/Vault Joins Doric Product Line

MARSHALL, IL – Doric Products, Inc. is proud to now offer the Iris™ – the latest addition to their quality line of burial products.   The Iris is constructed of durable polystyrene and joins the Daisy Chrisom™ in Doric’s line of infant combination casket/vault models.

“The Iris is an attractive lightweight product designed to be handled easily by a single person,” commented Jim Wiens, president of Doric Products, Inc.  “Its price point is about half of our Daisy Chrisom infant model, offering families an economical yet dignified solution.”

The exterior is available in standard white, pink marble, and blue marble designs and features a matching interior that coordinates beautifully with the exterior. The cover features a butyl seal around the perimeter that provides resistance to gravesite elements with a flat top for optional customization or graphics.  All colors of the Iris are available in both 18” and 24” interior dimensions.  

“As we strive to deliver on our mission of offering final resting places of exceptional quality, value, and strength, the launch of the Iris is exactly the type of product that supports this goal,” added Wiens.  “We are honored to help funeral professionals support all families in their time of need.”

About Doric:  Doric Products, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of burial vaults, cremation vaults, and memorialization products.  Distributed by highly trained professionals throughout the United States and Canada, Doric offers burial vaults of exceptional quality, value, and strength.  Although Doric is best known as a leader in traditional concrete burial vaults, the Classic Metal Vaults division features one of the largest selections of air-seal metal vaults available anywhere.  

In the cover photo: A new addition to the Doric product line, the Iris offers families an economical yet dignified option in their time of need in three different exterior designs (white, pink marble and blue marble) and two interior dimensions (18” and 24”).

If you have read Funeral Director Daily for any length of time you would know that I believe that there is an opportunity for increased revenues at funeral homes and cemeteries from what I term as the “Cremation Aftermarket”.  My point is that there is a large percentage of American consumers who believe in cremation as a means of disposition of the human body, but then don’t know what to do in the next step of memorialization.

Many of these consumers take the cremated remains home where they sit in a closet or some other place because, at least in my opinion, the thought process of memorializing their loved one ended with “cremation”, not “memorialization”.  And, I’m of the opinion, that the more consumers know about the “memorialization” options, the more they will select one of them.

Moving further on that thought process, I believe it is the funeral director’s duty to inform them of options and, quite frankly, it is probably a smart business decision to do that also as it may lead to increased revenue on the cremation case.  In many post-cremation memorialization sales a commission can be paid to the funeral home or the funeral home may be able to offer the service with some value added charges involved.

There are all kinds of options for cremated remains memorialization including the well known ones such as columbarium niche placement, cemetery burial, and newer options such as placement in Better Place Forests, or Parting Stone, or Eterneva and other cremation jewelry and more.

One that I’ve know about for some time but was not well versed in was that of the Neptune Memorial Reef™ placement.  I recently saw this article titled, “Explore the World’s First Underwater Cemetery” about the process that included a video description from the British Broadcast Corporation.  If you are not aware of the Neptune Memorial Reef™, I suggest you take a look at the article and video.

In essence, about 3 1/2 miles off the coast of Miami in the Atlantic Ocean a 16 acre reef is being established in the ocean.  Cremated remains are prepared to be placed in this area to restore reef so that the ocean is once again a habitat for marine biology.  As of today, there are about 1,000 cremated remains memorials placed in position and the entire 16 acres will have room for a total of about 250,000 memorials when completed.

The article makes this comment about the underwater cemetery,  “In addition to being a gorgeous cemetery, the Neptune Memorial Reef™ is also a green burial location, meaning it’s a resting site that benefits the environment. The human-made structure allows fish to hide from predators in nooks and provides a hard surface for coral growth. Once complete, it’s set to be the world’s largest artificial reef.”

• Click here for the Neptune Memorial Reef™ website which includes pricing packages.

• Click here for information from Dignity Memorial about the reef.

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Doric Products, Inc. Adds Columbaria to Product Line

MARSHALL, IL – Doric Products, Inc., an industry leader in providing dignified funeral and cemetery solutions, is proud to introduce the Doric Columbaria product line.  With both standard and custom models, Doric remains committed to creating beautiful final resting places for families and their loved ones.

“Our columbarium product line is our testament to the needs of today’s funeral consumers,” commented Jim Wiens, President of Doric Products, Inc.  “Our use of superior materials along with proven craftsmanship, ensures that a Doric columbarium will remain a cherished part of any memorial area for generations to come.”

Derek Maher, Business Development Manager of Doric Products Inc., is leading the columbaria project. Maher has more than twenty years of experience with columbarium development and cemetery management and is well-versed in the columbarium purchase and installation process, including design, construction, marketing, and maintenance.

“Every columbarium is constructed in Doric’s Corbin, KY facility under the supervision of Doric artisans to ensure the highest quality in every columbarium manufactured,” stated Maher.  “We use only a marine grade aluminum alloy for the superstructure which is engineered to hold well over 1650 lbs. per square foot. 

For more information, contact Doric at (888) 553-6742 and ask for Derek Maher.

About Doric:  Doric Products, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of burial vaults, cremation vaults, and memorialization products.  Distributed by highly trained professionals throughout the United States and Canada, Doric offers final resting places of exceptional quality, value, and strength. 

I’m always searching the web for things that might be tied in to the funeral/cremation or greater Death Care business world.  Just the other day I came across a website for a company in the preneed arena which has a home page that states, “The Promise of Preneed“.

The company is Prelude and here is the website.  I’m not exactly sure of how the company operates but it appears to me that they partner with funeral homes or other disposition providers to offer almost instant preneed funeral policies to consumers.  Diving into the website and LinkedIn a little deeper here’s three things that they claim:

1. Prelude leads you and your customers through intuitive prompts and questions that helps them thoughtfully preplan their funeral.
2. Customers design their preneed plans, Prelude creates the ideal policy recommendations.
3. Pricing is generated instantly and customers can fully bind a policy in under ten minutes.

The LinkedIn site also states, “With Prelude, any employee in your office can walk a customer through our intuitive iPad-based experience and make a preneed sale, without needing to be a licensed agent.”

Here is the website for Prelude.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I operated a funeral home for over 30 years.  In that time period I did all kinds of advertising and public relations for the funeral home and it became apparent to me that the easiest and most cost-efficient way to build future market share was through the sale of preneed funeral policies.

Preneed funeral policies were a pretty simple sale — especially those types of policies that guaranteed that the consumer could have the option to use the proceeds at a different funeral home in the chance that they moved out of the area or our funeral home would be closed or acquired.  In essence, potential consumer clients knew that a funeral policy was not like a term-insurance policy or a Long-Term Care policy that “might be used in the event of. . . ”   Funeral policies were certain to be used at some point in time — at the time of death of the policy-holder. . . . They could be thought of as “Set-it-up and forget-about-it” policies for a future peace of mind.

And the great thing about “Set-it-up” and “Forget-about-it” is that once that was done there was not a great deal of “retention contact” necessary to make sure that death call was at your funeral home. . . . in essence, the future market share growth was virtually assured.

Our funeral home got pretty good at marketing the pre-need policies at a very reasonable customer-acquisition cost.  We used monthly seminars that were well attended by retirement folk and those seminars provided tons of leads.  That kind of customer acquisition still works today and if your funeral home is not doing it yet drop an e-mail to Patrick Zalusky at Laker Planning (lakerp@aol.com) who can be your one-contact to get everything done for a successful and well attended seminar almost anywhere in the country.

However, the big key to getting more and more people into pre-arrangements with your funeral home in today’s world might also entail the option of enrolling and signing up future clients online without them having ever met you.  We know more and more people want to do this planning in the comfort of their own home, but it is our opinion, no one in the profession has really got this concept down to the correct science yet. . . . For instance, we know that there is a reluctance by the consumer to make a one-time pre-payment for future death care services via credit card.   Might it be easier with monthly pre-approved drafts?  I think so and maybe an online-insurer can do that.

I don’t know much about Prelude, but maybe it might be worth your while to check into what their website says, “Discover a modern planning tool designed to complement your relationship-driven business.

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A New Embalming Product? | FFFW 177

DISCLAIMER: None of the F’s in FFFW stand for “facts.” Enjoy the satire.

Happy March 1st! We’re in the last third of the first quarter and I’m feeling good. Let’s get it rolling!

Did you know Facebook Live videos don’t appear in Google Search?

This means going live on Facebook does not help you reach more people organically. Thankfully MemoryShare solves this problem.

All you need to do is create a service in your MemoryShare portal, use our app to record or livestream and keep your videos directly inside your obituary page.

Boom.

In 30 seconds you increased traffic and leads to your website, created generational value for a family, and gained a competitive edge in your market.

See how MemoryShare has helps funeral homes call volume.

Flex Seal Embalming Magic?

Hey funeral directors, are you tired of using several different tools and concoctions to do your embalming? Well, be tired no more! Flex Seal Embalming Magic*** is here for you with our new all-purpose embalming magic fluid.

Now, some will ask, “Isn’t this just normal Flex Seal?” and we say, “YES, it is, but that doesn’t it any worse of a product. It does make you more of a loser for asking.”

Need to fill body cavities? Flex Seal Embalming Magic does that!

Need to fill a face? Flex Seal Embalming Magic does that!

Need to do makeup? Our new multi-colored Flex Seal Embalming Magic can do that too!

No need to buy any more embalming chemicals. Flex Seal Embalming Magic has all you need!

*** Yeah, this is not a real product. The author’s a liar.

Trivia

If you click the right answer you’ll get a GIF of a puppy. If you click wrong, you’ll get something else.

How expensive is the highest-priced casket on Amazon?

A) $1,999
B) $3,999
C) $5,999

You Otter Be Proud

Here are some good things going on in the profession.

1. Nick Gerhart Appointed Homesteaders COO
2. Funeral director says preplanning helps families at a time of loss
3. Rockland County moves to improve, restore several abandoned cemeteries