SUPER SOURCES

As more and more people age, the resources to explore and explain the sometimes mystifying journeys of death and dying are growing, too. Along with Fiction, Health and Fitness and Travel, bookstores already feature sections on Death and Dying, and the World Wide Web is practically exploding with sites for obituaries and message boards for grieving.

Here are a few we have come across and particularly like:

Legacy.com - Where Life Stories Live On
Here’s a one-stop spot for information on the deceased – and where you can read Susan Soper’s blogs. Legacy.com is visited by more than 14 million users each month and, along with obits from 900 newspaper partners, includes blogs on grieving, celebrating and coping.

Obit-Mag.com
An online magazine (“What death can mean to the living and what living can have meant to the dead”) that posts obits of notable folks (celebrities, politicians, artists, writers, etc.).

PhotoLively.com
This helpful team will gather, organize and archive letters, papers, pictures – memories of all kinds. PhotoLively will take your photos, mementos and other treasures to a digital media format for easy storage and sharing with family and friends, and even create a life time of memories in a custom photobook.

Funeria.com - Ashes to art
A site specializing in beautiful, handcrafted containers for keeping or scattering ashes.

RenaissanceUrns.com
This site offers biodegradable and handmade fabric or wooden containers.

EternalReefs.com
Families and individuals who choose to be cremated may become part of an environmentally correct memorial reef.

Ancestry.com
Here’s the world’s largest online family history resource.

LifeGem.com
This company creates diamonds from cremated remains or locks of hair.

EulogySpeech.net
Here are some tips and guidelines to follow if you are writing a eulogy.

NaturalBurialCompany.com
This company makes biodegradable containers – coffins and urns -- of wicker, recycled paper and other environmentally sustainable materials.

FuneralPrinter.com
An online resource offering funeral programs and prayer cards for every possible need (religious, ethnic, military, joyful, noble, etc.) which can be viewed, purchased and downloaded from the site.

FuneralProgramsOnline.com
Another site with resources for creating an appropriate tribute.

NextGenMemorials.com
Ideas and products for creating a memorial service.

In addition, there are dozens of sites suggesting music, readings for funerals and send-off services which are easily found by Googling “funeral music” or “readings for funerals.”