FAQs

Funerals provide surviving family members and friends with a caring, supportive environment to recognize the death of a loved one and share thoughts and feelings about that person. Funerals are the first step in the healing process. Attending a funeral service offers many benefits, including:

• Providing a social support system for the bereaved
• Helping the bereaved understand that death is final and part of life
• Integrating the bereaved back into the community
• Easing the transition to a new life after the death of a loved one
• Providing a safe haven for embracing and expressing pain
• Reaffirming one's relationship with the person who died
• Providing a time to say goodbye

A full funeral service is possible even for those choosing cremation. The importance of the ritual lies in providing a social gathering that helps the bereaved begin the healing process.

Embalming sanitizes and preserves the deceased, retards the decomposition process, and enhances the appearance of someone disfigured by traumatic death or illness. Embalming makes it possible to lengthen the time between death and the final disposition, thus allowing family members time to arrange and participate in the type of service most comforting to them.

No. Most states, however, require embalming when death is caused by a reportable contagious disease, when a deceased is transported from one state to another by common carrier, or when final disposition is not made within a prescribed number of hours.

As more people choose cremation, funeral service professionals are striving to give consumers a clear sense of the many options available for a funeral service. Often, funeral directors find that people have a preconception that they have fewer choices for a ceremony when selecting cremation for themselves or a loved one.

As a result, they request direct cremation and deny surviving friends and family the opportunity to honor the deceased with a memorial service. In fact, cremation is only part of the commemorative experience. Cremation can increase your options when planning a funeral. It gives people the flexibility to choose tributes that reflect the life being honored. But this doesn't mean that aspects of traditional funeral services have to be discarded. Even with cremation, a meaningful, personalized memorial could include:

• A visitation prior to the service
• An open or closed casket
• Special music
• A ceremony at the funeral chapel, your place of worship, or another special location
• Participation by friends and family

Commonly, cremated remains are placed in an urn and committed to an indoor or outdoor mausoleum or columbarium; interred in a family burial plot; or included in a special urn garden.

We can assist you with the necessary information for a funeral or memorial service with cremation. For more technical information about the cremation process, we encourage you to view information online at the National Funeral Directors Association.

When death occurs, Baca's Funeral Chapels personnel are available to assist you at any hour, seven days a week. Please call 575-527-2222 or any of our locations for assistance.

If you request immediate assistance, yes. If the family wishes to spend a short time with the deceased to say goodbye, it's acceptable. Our staff will come when the time is right for you.

When death occurs away from home, Baca's Funeral Chapels can assist you with out-of-state arrangements and transfer the deceased to a preferred location. Please call 575-527-2222 for assistance.