My best friend's uncle died.... they need to bury him.

[moriah]

1. Thanks for the recs, guys. Here's a copy of the price list from the crematory.

http://www.arcremation.com/download/34878/CremationsofArka.pdf

It looks like to have a funeral at all vs just a memorial service without the body, it's nearly $3500. His widow, who is on Social Security already, really wants to give him a military funeral since his service was so important to him. It has to be paid for by the 16th, because that's as long as they can keep the body. I looked to see if there were other, cheaper funeral homes, but they've been holding the body this long already and will probably charge a fee for that if they don't do the cremation there. It's probable they've already done the embalming.

I can say from experience that actually being able to hold a funeral and say goodbye to your loved one is very critical in the grief process. I couldn't afford a real funeral for Dad, though I got his ashes back and buried them myself in the grave spot the family had bought for urn burials. He wasn't in an urn, just a plastic box. It's really hard to make it real when all you have are the ashes.

Thank you all for reading this post, and I appreciate the recommendations more than I can say. If anyone feels like sharing the GFM link out on groups or forums you think would be helpful, please do so, or just on your FB... and yes, any amount helps.