Hail and Farewell – Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips
When someone says, “Just cremate me after I’m dead,” the family often has no clue what to do for a memorial service or final disposition of the remains. Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips helps families with memorial service guidance and creative ideas. The book by Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and Certified Funeral Celebrant, and Susan Fraser, respected memorial authority, covers everything related to creating a meaningful memorial service with cremated remains.
Content includes: Why it’s important to hold some sort of goodbye ceremony; A description of the cremation process, so families know what to expect; Examples of different ways to scatter ashes; Stories of creative memorial services in different settings to spark ideas; Templates to easily create meaningful memorial services; and readings, songs, and other resources.
The book’s title refers to the last line of an ancient elegiac poem written by the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus approximately 2,000 years ago. He mourns the death of his brother, who died while Catullus was traveling abroad. Upon his return, he sadly addresses his brother’s cremated remains, “… with brotherly weeping. And forever, brother, hail and farewell.”
About Gail Rubin, CT (Albuquerque, New Mexico Author)
Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, is author of the award-winning books A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die; Kicking the Bucket List: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die (Rio Grande Books); and Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips.
Host of A Good Goodbye television series and Internet radio program, she’s a Certified Thanatologist (a death educator) and a popular speaker who uses humor and funny film clips to get end-of-life conversations started. Her 2015 TEDx talk (https://youtu.be/r9qR4ZiGX2Y) focuses on the importance of starting end-of-life conversations before there’s a death in the family.
She’s a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association New Mexico Chapter. Past president of the New Mexico Interfaith Dialogue, she’s a Certified Funeral Celebrant who also serves on the cemetery committee for Congregation Albert and volunteers with the Chevra Kaddisha, which ritually prepares bodies for Jewish burial.
