Choose your funeral home
with confidence
At your difficult time, it's important to know that the firm you are choosing represents the highest of standards and professionalism. By the very nature of their association with ODFSA, they have shown their deep compassion towards attaining the highest standards for their families and communities. Their constant dedication to keeping themselves up to date on all of the latest legislative, consumer protection, advanced learning and caring practices is why you can choose an ODFSA Member firm with confidence.
Strength in Membership
The strength in membership comes in the form of strength in numbers. ODFSA represents a coalition of professional family owned funeral homes who believe that a solid future for funeral service is based on the collective insight and dedication from caring professionals. This unified voice helps to shape and provide the professional standards that families and communities count on in their time of need.
Visitation
A viewing means to have an open casket.
A visitation is when the body is laid out in the casket (which may be open or closed) before the service so that mourners may come to "visit."
A visitation offers a chance for people to "pay their final respects" to the dead person.
Just as important, the visitation can be a time for mourners to meet and console each other in a more informal setting than at the funeral.
You can schedule a visitation for as little as half an hour on the day of the service, or it can last for several days before the service.
The visitation can be restricted to just close friends and family, or be open to the public. You can even have a combination of private and public hours.
Is there a special ceremony?
As part of the visitation, you can arrange a formal ceremony, an informal ceremony, or none at all. The formal ceremony might be a brief service with the saying of the rosary (for Catholics) or prayers for the dead led by a mourner or member of the clergy.
The term wake is sometimes used to describe the reception after the funeral or memorial service.
Traditionally, though, a wake means the friends and family keeping watch by the body before it is safely buried