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What is Apple’s Legacy Contact Feature?
What it is and how to set it up for your iOS phoneApple has simplified the digital legacy process by allowing users to assign up to five members the rights to iCloud data upon their death. Prior to this advancement, access to the decedents’ data was severely restricted, often required quite a bit of time and correspondence with the tech giant, and sometimes even required a court…
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“Mortality” by Christopher Hitchens
The bestselling author, fervent anti-theist and respected intellectual explores his cancer and impending deathIt may be ironic that the first book I’ve read by Christopher Hitchens is his last: “Mortality,” a short memoir of his fatal encounter with esophageal cancer. Beginning with his diagnosis and ending, abruptly, with some unfinished jottings (followed by an afterward from his wife, Carol Blue), “Mortality” offers a touching look at one man’s…
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Our Monthly Tip: Finger Paint to Express the Pain of Loss
Art therapy at home is an inexpensive way for young mourners to share their griefOur Monthly Tip Creating and connecting with art has been utilized as a therapeutic experience for centuries. Very often, the acts of drawing and painting are used in therapy, especially when professionals are working with children. When a neighborhood or school experiences a loss, gathering the children together to process their grief through finger painting…
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Headstone Hunter Shares the Beautiful Side of Cemeteries
Author, photographer, and artist aspires to make death a little less scaryJeane Trend-Hill is known as the Headstone Hunter in the U.K. She has been obsessed with death since childhood. While mourners stood over graves, Trend-Hill wandered off to see the statues of angels, crosses and doves. After she lost both parents by the age of 20, her destiny became clear. Death would become her life.
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The 21 Most Breathtaking Locations to Scatter Ashes in the U.S.
Beautiful state parks to spread your loved one’s remainsLosing a loved one is one of the most difficult experiences in many people’s lives. How to honor the dead and lay them to rest is an important decision. The National Funeral Directors Association has predicted that by 2035, nearly 80% of Americans will opt for cremation. With its growing popularity, the choice to be cremated…
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“Words at the Threshold: What We Say As We’re Nearing Death”
A book suggesting transcendental worlds may be revealed in end-of-life ramblingsThe project is a collection of stories and cases studies from participants, who were asked to transcribe their loved one’s final declarations. It becomes obvious that language of the dying morphs into a language all its own. It changes from literal to nonsensical, conveying sensations that may be felt in different areas of the brain…
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How Did the American Funeral Come to Be? (Interview)
An Interview with Todd Harra, author of “Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral”A fourth-generation undertaker who lives in Wilmington, Delaware, Todd Harra is an author who enjoys writing about his profession in his spare time. Having collaborated with Kenneth McKenzie to create “Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt” and “Over Our Dead Bodies: Undertakers Lift the Lid,” Todd’s latest work, “Last Rites: The Evolution of the American…
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My Mother’s Best Friend Was Held Prisoner by Her Daughter
The sweetest woman I ever knew had the saddest end of lifeThis is Sally’s story as told by Irena Kaci. Our “Opening Our Hearts” stories are based on people’s real-life experiences. By sharing these experiences publicly we hope to help our readers feel less alone in their grief and, ultimately, to aid them in their healing process. In this story Sally tells the story of her…
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“Wind Beneath My Wings”
This popular movie soundtrack pays homage to a heartfelt hero lost“Wind Beneath My Wings,” recorded by Bette Midler in 1988, was a short-lived number one hit. This ballad serves as the signature song to the album and Academy Award nominated melodrama of the same name, “Beaches.” The movie co-stars Midler and Barbara Hershey. It is the story of lifelong friendship between two women from very…
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