The world of those who start positive conversations about mortality issues was shaken this week with news of the death of Jon Underwood, 44, founder of the international Death Cafe movement. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) […] via Tumblr Death Cafe Founder Lived Life to the Fullest
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Jon Underwood, founder of the Death Cafe movement which has grown to 51 countries worldwide, died suddenly on Sunday, June 25 from acute promyelocytic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. The news was reported today by his family on the Death Cafe website. His wife Donna Molloy wrote, “As you all know the […] via Tumblr Celebrating the Life of Death Cafe Founder Jon Underwood Mark your calendars to attend the next Albuquerque Death Cafe, scheduled for Saturday, July 15, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Gail Rubin’s home. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s an interesting, unstructured conversation – […] via Tumblr July 15: Albuquerque Death Cafe Curious about Jewish funeral traditions? In an interfaith relationship and want to know more about your partner’s Jewish roots? Sign up for this Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class on Tuesday, July 12 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the University of New Mexico Continuing Education Center, 1634 University Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131 (located on the NE side […] via Tumblr July 12: Jewish Funeral Traditions Osher Class Funeral planning is a serious consumer issue, yet Americans persist in NOT planning ahead for their eventual mortality. It’s even worse than I thought. For the fifth consecutive year, the National Funeral Directors Association’s (NFDA) annual Consumer Awareness and Preferences Study indicates that consumers acknowledge the importance of preplanning their own funeral, but fail to […] via Tumblr Newsflash: Funeral Planning Not A Priority For Americans We were devastated to learn that Jon Underwood, the founder of the Death Cafe movement, died on Tuesday. Jon wholeheartedly believed that engaging with death is both important and overlooked so made it his mission to encourage society to embrace death as part of life. His life’s work was the Death Cafe movement, which began in Jon’s front room in Hackney in 2011 as a gathering of people talking about death over tea and cake. The impact of Death Cafe has been huge – as of 28th June 2017, there have been nearly 5000 Death Cafes in over 50 countries. Jon also painstakingly built and managed Funeral Advisor in association with the Natural Death Centre Charity and ran Impermanence – his commitment to doing good in the world by encouraging society to deal with death in interesting and innovative ways. He was a source of invaluable advice, support and encouragement to others in the fields of death and dying, always generous with himself and his resources. He was one of the good guys – the most genuine, well intentioned, humble, kind hearted and gentle person, both professionally and personally. His absence will be deeply felt by everyone in our community and beyond. Our thoughts are with his family right now. Jon’s commitment to Death Cafe was unrivalled, and came at a cost. Since 2011, Jon funded his Death Cafe work entirely through his own personal savings and small freelance projects and had recently begun trying to fundraise very actively so he could pay his bills. We’d love to support Jon’s young children – Frank and Gina – and have set up a JustGiving page in his memory. Please donate generously. In Memory of Jon Underwood
“I met Jon when he was at the beginning of his Death Cafe journey and his quiet determination to create a subtle social change in our attitudes to death was something I had never encountered before. It truly became his vocation, second only to his devotion to his children who were just babies then.
We also worked together setting up Funeral Advisor when I was a trustee of the Natural Death Centre, and he handed over the database of UK funeral directors that he had spent so many hours compiling for me to update and complete before the website was launched. It was a real labour of love and continued to be right until his death. Unlike other predatory funeral comparison websites, Funeral Advisor was wholly not for profit and must have consumed many hours of Jon’s time looking after it.
Over the years our paths crossed occasionally, we co-hosted a Death Cafe at the Festival Hall once, and bumped into each other at various events. He never changed, he was always a gentle, calm and warm presence in any gathering, and a man who truly lived his truth, his beliefs informing his living and his consciousness of the impermanence of life was a fundamental guidance for his work, to which he was dedicated.
He will be greatly missed but never forgotten, a quiet, inspirational revolutionary whose legacy is a better society. The Death Cafe movement has lost its founder, but his influence will continue spreading, like ripples on a pond.” Fran Hall, CEO, The Good Funeral Guide
“I first came across Jon when he was involved in an event at the National Gallery called Death & the Masters. He was talking about the gallery’s paintings and hosting a Death Cafe. I wanted to attend but was broke and couldn’t afford the £50 entrance fee. The National Gallery weren’t interested in helping but Jon found out and paid for me using his hosting fee with an insistence that I attend, even though I was a total stranger to him at the time. It was at that point that I came to understand the sort of person Jon was – generous, thoughtful and extremely special.
He’s been a mentor, an inspiration and a friend to me over the last few years. His dedication to his work has been unrivalled. He was a mix of quiet determination, loving kindness, extreme modesty and belief in the importance of the work he was doing. His commitment to making the world a better place through Death Cafe was unwavering.
The last time I saw Jon was when he was helping at Life. Death. Whatever. which was just around the corner from his house in Hackney, the home of Death Cafe. He offered his unconditional support in the form of informative talks, a Death Cafe, reassuring emails and many smiles, hugs and cups of tea.” Louise Winter, Editor, The Good Funeral Guide “I didn’t know Jon all that well. A man of still waters and deep spirituality, he was a of different order of human being from me. Which was why I liked being around him. People like Jon conduct good energy. I also enjoyed his twinkle. Only Jon could have teamed mortality-awareness with cake.
I first ‘met’ Jon when he read a blog post on the GFG about Bernard Crettaz, the intellectual progenitor of death cafe. He emailed. It was clear that the idea had gone deep. When he’d thought some more we agreed to meet in Oxford. He said he’d been to college in Oxford. A sixth form college perhaps, I thought. Maybe an FE college. We walked about a bit with the tourists and found ourselves in ancient place of honey-coloured stone and thousand-year-old lawns. ‘This is where I went to college,’ he said. So he was an Oxford man! How typical of him to underplay that. We drank coffee and he outlined his plans for death cafe. I considered what he said and replied carefully. I couldn’t see it taking off. The rest is legacy.”
Charles Cowling, Founder, The Good Funeral Guide
In Memory of Jon Underwood published first on YouTube via Tumblr In Memory of Jon Underwood The world of those who start positive conversations about mortality issues was shaken this week with news of the death of Jon Underwood, 44, founder of the international Death Cafe movement. The objective of the Death Cafe is “To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) […] via Tumblr Death Cafe Founder Lived Life to the Fullest WILBERT FUNERAL SERVICES ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT BY ALLEGHANY CAPITAL CORPORATION TO INVEST IN COMPANY6/28/2017 Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc. (WFSI or the Company) announced today that the Company has entered into an agreement with Alleghany Capital Corporation (Alleghany Capital), whereby Alleghany Capital will purchase a forty-five percent interest in WFSI. Alleghany Capital sources, executes, and oversees certain investments and acquisitions for its parent company, Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y). Alleghany Capital’s investment strategy seeks strong companies with good management and growth potential, all factors that are inherent in WFSI. Under the agreement, Alleghany Capital will have seats on WFSI’s Board of Directors but will look to WFSI’s management team to continue the success of the Company. “As the owners of Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc., we have responsibilities to our employees and their families, our Wilbert Licensees, and all of our customers to position WFSI for continued growth well into the future,” said Joseph U. Suhor, III, Chairman of the Board of WFSI. “We feel that this is the best course towards that goal and look forward to an excellent relationship with Alleghany Capital.” Alleghany Capital’s investments include: (i) Bourn & Koch, Inc., a manufacturer and remanufacturer of precision machine tools as well as a supplier of replacement parts and related services; (ii) IPS-Integrated Project Services, LLC, a technical service provider focused on the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; (iii) Jazwares, LLC, a global licensed and branded toy and entertainment company; (iv) R.C. Tway Company, LLC (dba Kentucky Trailer), a manufacturer of custom trailers and truck bodies for the moving and storage industry and other markets; (v) Stranded Oil Resources Corporation, an exploration and production company focused on enhanced oil recovery; and (vi) WWSC Holdings, LLC, a fabricator and erector of structural steel for use in commercial, industrial, and public construction projects. Joe Suhor and WFSI President Dennis Welzenbach will continue in their respective roles for the foreseeable future, working with the rest of the WFSI management team to continue the prudent management of the Company and guide its growth. “We are proud of the team we have assembled and feel they are prepared to take WFSI into the future,” stated Dennis Welzenbach. “We also feel that with Alleghany Capital, WFSI will maintain its integrity, culture and success to benefit all stakeholders.” For additional information about Alleghany Capital Corporation, visit www.alleghanycc.com. About Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc. Established in 1880, Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc. is a licensor of, and supplier to, independently owned concrete burial vault manufacturers that are licensed to manufacture Wilbert® brand burial vaults under an intellectual property license agreement including the sale of cremation products, vault forms, liners and other related products to the licensees. The Company sells other funeral industry products through its Signet Supply and Pierce Chemical brands to include caskets, columbarium niches, embalming fluids and related funeral products directly to funeral home customers through its North American distribution network. Their Company Store division manufactures and distributes vaults, caskets, lawn crypts, monuments, and other precast concrete products as a licensee. For more information about Wilbert, visit www.wilbert.com. WILBERT FUNERAL SERVICES ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT BY ALLEGHANY CAPITAL CORPORATION TO INVEST IN COMPANY published first on YouTube via Tumblr WILBERT FUNERAL SERVICES ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT BY ALLEGHANY CAPITAL CORPORATION TO INVEST IN COMPANY There’s a new pup in town. It is with a heavy sigh that we bring news of yet another swimmer in the crowded waters of funeral plan providers, complete with grandiose claims, dubious mathematics and an apparent complete and wilful ignorance of the real costs involved in providing a funeral of the type they are offering. Prosperous Life Limited has recently entered the unregulated funeral plan provider market, and is actively touting its wares to funeral directors and the vulnerable public alike. The sole director of the company, a Mr Edward Gerald Smethurst, has a broad and varied experience in life, with positions as a director or secretary of 49 companies over the last 16 years None of these have anything to do with funerals other than this, his latest appointment in a company incorporated on January 23rd 2017. Now we’re sure that Mr Smethurst is a very nice man who knows a great deal about window fitting, alarm systems, bathrooms and bedrooms, helicopter charter and conservatories, but we’re not sure that he’s the man to entrust with your savings when it comes to paying for your funeral. It’s the maths that bother us. The ‘Prosperous Silver’ plan will cost you £2,400. ‘Prosperous Gold’ is £2,600 and ‘Prosperous Platinum’ £2,800. The chart below shows what you get for those figures. And how much is set aside for paying the cremation fee, the minister and the doctors (£1,000 in total for all three. Not enough by a long chalk, with minister fees around £180, doctors’ fees £164.00 and some crematoria charging £999 for the cremation,) Predictably, there is nothing shown for commission paid to the seller out of the remaining figures. Nor the amount of money taken in administration fees. Perhaps Prosperous Life Ltd don’t pay commission to the agents selling plans? Maybe all Prosperous Life admin is done free of charge? Maybe Prosperous Life is a philanthropic, not for profit organisation with a network of similarly generous funeral directors across the UK willing to provide a solid coffin and a hearse and two limousines plus all other funeral director costs at the time of need for a maximum £1,800? Or maybe not. As our worried insider wrote to us when they let us know about this latest funeral plan provider: “Who are they going to get to carry out the funerals for these people and what standard of care are they going to receive?” Regulation anyone? The sales pitch to funeral directors from the Prosperous Life ‘Funeral Director Liaison Manager’ is shown below. “Prosperous Life Limited is a prepaid funeral plan provider, operating across the whole of the UK. We offer clients a choice of products, including not only the funeral plan but also legal services to compliment the plans purchased. Some of the services we offer include Wills, Probates and Power of Attorney. All plans guarantee to cover the designated funeral director’s fees and services, plus an allowance towards disbursements. All monies paid by customers are held securely in a trust called The Great British Funeral Plan Trust and this is a completely separate entity to Prosperous Life Limited, which is managed and governed by an independent board of trustees, including chartered accountants and registered solicitors. At the time of need, funds will be paid to the designated funeral director within 48 hours. We are actively growing in the prepaid funeral space and generate new customers via several different channels including advertising in most national and regional papers. With all this said, we are constantly trying to grow our funeral director panel and make mutually beneficial relationships. We get many requests for specific funeral directors as well as customers just wanting a reputable funeral director local to themselves” Buyer Beware published first on YouTube via Tumblr Buyer Beware Yesterday, I spent the day visiting our latest funeral director who has joined the list of those who are ‘Recommended by the GFG’ – Bennetts Funeral Directors in Essex, and met most of the lovely staff there, including Leigh Tanner, who has just recently set up a family support group for those who have been bereaved by miscarriage or stillbirth. Leigh has personally experienced the trauma of recurrent miscarriages, so this is something very close to her heart. When she and her husband were undergoing the sadness of losing their babies there wasn’t anything available locally where Leigh could share her experience with others who had been through the same experience. She felt completely alone and unsupported, so the opportunity to create a support group for other parents was one that she jumped at. Here’s Leigh speaking about the group in her own words: ‘So, at Bennetts we are very proud of our bereavement groups and that we are able to provide specialist services by people who have themselves experienced such losses. My group, Tiny Stars, is a miscarriage and still birth group run by myself. I personally experienced the trauma of recurrent miscarriages and found that there was no help out there locally for me and so therefore I felt very lonely and isolated. This group came about after I joined Bennetts and when I realised that they provided services for pre-term babies and miscarriage. I instinctively asked Jane if I could learn more about this. I explained that I had been through this and had never been given the opportunity to have a service or group support. Jane asked me if I would like to be the primary arranger for babies and start a support group for families who have been through such loss which I was very grateful of such an opportunity. The word miscarriage is so taboo, with women and men feeling as if it’s something too common to grieve over but this is not the case. We at Bennetts are fully aware that any loss is a loss and should be treated as such. For a family to lose a baby to miscarriage or still birth brings such an enormity of grief that destroys the hopes of a future for a baby you have already fallen in love with, and luckily through Bennetts, I have been given this opportunity to offer support for parents who feel that isolation and loss. Our group runs at Merrymeade House, Merrymeade Chase Brentwood CM15 9BG on the 2nd Friday of the month from 9.30 – 10.30 in the tea room. We have exclusive hire of Merrymeade House for the group and offer free refreshments to all guests. I do of course understand that attending a group can be very daunting and so therefore if anyone would like to contact me prior to coming or just for a chat I would always be available to talk to someone on 01277 210104 or by email on [email protected]’ This is such an important initiative, and the GFG is hugely supportive of Leigh and of Bennetts in setting up the Tiny Stars group for the community. If you or anyone you know in the Brentwood area has lost a baby to miscarriage or stillbirth, Tiny Stars could offer you a place where you can talk to others who have had a similar experience. Do contact Leigh and talk to her. Leigh also told me about Aching Arms, a babyloss charity run by a group of bereaved mothers who have experienced the pain and devastation of baby loss. The charity works with more than hospitals across the UK providing teddy bears for parents to take home from hospital when their baby has been miscarried or stillborn. Each bear is a gift from another family who has had a similar experience and who have donated in memory of their baby, and the bear given has the name of their baby on the label. The bears help to provide a connection for bereaved families and ‘to ease their aching arms as they grieve for their baby who has died’. A bereaved mother explains how this scheme could have helped her: “When I left hospital without my daughter my heart was broken and my arms were empty. Nothing could have fixed my heart at the point, but if I had had something to hold and cling to then the physical ache I felt so strongly in my arms as I clamped them tightly to my sides might have been less. As soon as I heard about the idea of giving grieving mums a bear to take home I knew that I would have been keen to take one to cuddle as I walked out of the hospital and to sob into in the dark days and nights that followed. Not to replace my baby – nothing ever could – but something to hold as I learnt to live with the empty space my baby left in my heart and in my life.” The charity also offers every hospital participating in the scheme training for their staff in caring for parents bereaved by miscarriage or stillbirth. If your local hospital isn’t on the list here do contact Aching Arms on [email protected] Babyloss – a unique kind of grief published first on YouTube via Tumblr Babyloss – a unique kind of grief |
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