Family History Questionnaire, Family History, Family History Plaques, Family, Genealogy
We have a wonderful Family History Questionnaire on www.ValdostaMemorials.com at http://www.valdostamemorials.com/family_history_questionnaire.htm.
Burton Fletcher
Showing posts with label Family History Plaques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family History Plaques. Show all posts
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Genealogy--It's Not Just A Hobby, It's An Adventure!
I read the following tidbit message in an email today: "Genealogy--it's not just a hobby, it's an adventure!"
Think about those words for a moment.
"Genealogy--it's not just a hobby, it's an adventure!"
Yes, genealogy is an adventure! From personal experience, I can tell you that genealogy is very much an exciting pilgrimage to discover our heritage. I can credit, or blame, genealogy for serving as the stimulus to my entry into the monument industry as a memorialist. After traipsing through numerous cemeteries, I formed the opinion that I could improve memorialization, and I have for many families.
Sure, I enjoy setting a goal for myself to locate, visit and photograph the graves of my ancestors. The quest is an enjoyable experience to me. The opportunity to visit locations I would never visit, but for the challenge and adventure of the hunt, adds enjoyment to my life. Yes, genealogy is a rewarding experience.
One of the unfortunate aspects of monument building is the lack of effective story being perpetuated by the death-care industry.
Symbols, alone, will never tell a complete story and are often misinterpreted by those not versed in the study of symbols. The meaning of symbols changes or is forgotten over time. When well written, words are much more likely to communicate effectively generations from now.
Short obituaries, written by the grieving family, and often purposely short to save money in newspaper advertising fees, deny future generations important details, and clues, on the life of an individual. If you have ever had the privilege to read old obituaries, you can appreciate the deficiencies in modern obituaries that are often sanitized to hide the details of an individual's life story.
Likewise, most monuments have few details on the life of the deceased individual. Our Family History Plaques (SM) are a terrific and very economical resource for future generations and they present a treasure trove of information into perpetuity. See, http://www.valdostamemorials.com/LifeHistoryPlaques.asp.
Everyone has a story, but too many of those stories die with the individual and are a heritage lost. Instead of a gold mine, too many relatives discovery only a barren shaft in their search of their family tree.
Preserve your own family history and leave a legacy for the living and those unborn ancestors who will follow us decades and centuries from now. After all, it is the right thing to do!
Burton Fletcher
www.USAMonuments.com
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Think about those words for a moment.
"Genealogy--it's not just a hobby, it's an adventure!"
Yes, genealogy is an adventure! From personal experience, I can tell you that genealogy is very much an exciting pilgrimage to discover our heritage. I can credit, or blame, genealogy for serving as the stimulus to my entry into the monument industry as a memorialist. After traipsing through numerous cemeteries, I formed the opinion that I could improve memorialization, and I have for many families.
Sure, I enjoy setting a goal for myself to locate, visit and photograph the graves of my ancestors. The quest is an enjoyable experience to me. The opportunity to visit locations I would never visit, but for the challenge and adventure of the hunt, adds enjoyment to my life. Yes, genealogy is a rewarding experience.
One of the unfortunate aspects of monument building is the lack of effective story being perpetuated by the death-care industry.
Symbols, alone, will never tell a complete story and are often misinterpreted by those not versed in the study of symbols. The meaning of symbols changes or is forgotten over time. When well written, words are much more likely to communicate effectively generations from now.
Short obituaries, written by the grieving family, and often purposely short to save money in newspaper advertising fees, deny future generations important details, and clues, on the life of an individual. If you have ever had the privilege to read old obituaries, you can appreciate the deficiencies in modern obituaries that are often sanitized to hide the details of an individual's life story.
Likewise, most monuments have few details on the life of the deceased individual. Our Family History Plaques (SM) are a terrific and very economical resource for future generations and they present a treasure trove of information into perpetuity. See, http://www.valdostamemorials.com/LifeHistoryPlaques.asp.
Everyone has a story, but too many of those stories die with the individual and are a heritage lost. Instead of a gold mine, too many relatives discovery only a barren shaft in their search of their family tree.
Preserve your own family history and leave a legacy for the living and those unborn ancestors who will follow us decades and centuries from now. After all, it is the right thing to do!
Burton Fletcher
www.USAMonuments.com
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Monday, December 04, 2006
Do Catholic Cemeteries & For-Profit Cemeteries Place Unreasonable Burdens on External Cemetery Purchases
I received a call on December 4, 2006 from a monument builder in Gonzales, Texas. He expressed his appreciation for my numerous publications and history of advocacy for issues affecting consumers and the monument industry. I welcomed his call as it is always good to hear from my readers.
We talked about how some within the funeral industry have looked at cemeteries as the dumping grounds for its services instead of the place of importance that they should be. Cemeteries are places where we honor our loved ones, and members of the communities. They deserve to be properly maintained as places where we honor both the living as well as the dead. Accordingly, from cemetery maintenance to proper design and installation of monuments, we should all be concerned for the appearance and preservation of cemeteries.
Obviously, I do not want to sweep with too broad brush as the illegal, unethical or short-sided actions of one person should not mar the reputation of the entire industry, as every industry, trade and profession has good and bad apples.
We talked about the differences between a monument and a memorial and how our company prefers to build memorials and not monuments and the difference between the two is that a memorial honors the life of a person more than celebrating the death with seldom more than the name and dates of birth and death.
I explained how we build Family History Plaques (SM) and how these plaques have been very popular with our clients. See http://www.valdostamemorials.com/LifeHistoryPlaques.asp.
During our conversation, we discussed the difficulty of installing monuments in Catholic Cemeteries with onerous rules on outside monument companies. I have observed absurdly onerous rules designed to limit competition that were generated by for-profit cemeteries too, particularly those cemeteries owned by the large corporate conglomerates. I have even observed situations where private cemeteries falsely stated that they would not allow the installation of outside products, an event clearly in violation of Federal Trade Commission regulations and fair business practices.
I suspect the ability to compete fairly and on a level playing field is an area of common concern that should receive a united front by the monument industry. I would like to hear from my colleagues and the public on this and other subjects of concern.
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please email me at Burton@USAMonuments.com and I will post select comments on this site. I thank you in advance for your contributions to improve the death-care industry, memorialization and honor the loved ones of grieving families.
Burton Fletcher
Owner
http://www.usamonuments.com/
We talked about how some within the funeral industry have looked at cemeteries as the dumping grounds for its services instead of the place of importance that they should be. Cemeteries are places where we honor our loved ones, and members of the communities. They deserve to be properly maintained as places where we honor both the living as well as the dead. Accordingly, from cemetery maintenance to proper design and installation of monuments, we should all be concerned for the appearance and preservation of cemeteries.
Obviously, I do not want to sweep with too broad brush as the illegal, unethical or short-sided actions of one person should not mar the reputation of the entire industry, as every industry, trade and profession has good and bad apples.
We talked about the differences between a monument and a memorial and how our company prefers to build memorials and not monuments and the difference between the two is that a memorial honors the life of a person more than celebrating the death with seldom more than the name and dates of birth and death.
I explained how we build Family History Plaques (SM) and how these plaques have been very popular with our clients. See http://www.valdostamemorials.com/LifeHistoryPlaques.asp.
During our conversation, we discussed the difficulty of installing monuments in Catholic Cemeteries with onerous rules on outside monument companies. I have observed absurdly onerous rules designed to limit competition that were generated by for-profit cemeteries too, particularly those cemeteries owned by the large corporate conglomerates. I have even observed situations where private cemeteries falsely stated that they would not allow the installation of outside products, an event clearly in violation of Federal Trade Commission regulations and fair business practices.
I suspect the ability to compete fairly and on a level playing field is an area of common concern that should receive a united front by the monument industry. I would like to hear from my colleagues and the public on this and other subjects of concern.
If you have thoughts you wish to share, please email me at Burton@USAMonuments.com and I will post select comments on this site. I thank you in advance for your contributions to improve the death-care industry, memorialization and honor the loved ones of grieving families.
Burton Fletcher
Owner
http://www.usamonuments.com/
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Abraham Lincoln Items On EBay!
I have over 100 items up for auction on eBay. If you collect Abraham Lincoln, Civil War or similar memorabilia, then you will want to check out my site. Happy bidding!
Visit my site on e-Bay. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfletch-in-valdostaQQhtZ-1
Share with us by emailing your thoughts to Burton@USAMonuments.com.
Visit my site on e-Bay. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZfletch-in-valdostaQQhtZ-1
Share with us by emailing your thoughts to Burton@USAMonuments.com.
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