untitled

A29 A1-A44 B1-B28

Page A29 SEPTEMBER 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
ARE YOU FRUSTRATED BY YOUR PAPERWORK..?
WE HAVE THE ANSWERS YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR..!!
For an EXTRA DISCOUNT use Promotion Code NOMIS0917
Our software gives you the option to purchase ONLY the functions you need.
FREE
DEMO
• Do you waste time every day
trying to get simple things done
for your funerals on your
computer or at the printers..?
• Are you looking for
an easy, affordable
way to automate a
few daily tasks..?
• Do you think all funeral software
programs are too hard to use and
make you pay for more than you
really want and need..?
• PrintPROTM - Print folders, memorial cards & programs yourself
• LedgerPROTM - Organize cases & print government forms
• A/R PRO TM - Do your at-need billing and reports
• P/N PRO TM - Analyze your preneed arrangements
To get your Free Demo, call us at: 1-888-227-9411
Or click “Free Demo”
TM
TM
T
TM
You can also send data to QuickBooksTM , websites and more!
SCI Announces Second
Quarter Financial Results
and Quarterly Dividend
carved iconology, the carver barely had time to carve the
deceased name, date of birth and death into a stone marker.
At the same time, undertakers learned the art of embalm-
ing so that soldiers could be transported by horse and car-
riage or by rail home. The first successful effort to embalm
a body was performed on Colonel Elmer E. Ellswoth, the
first military casualty of the Civil War. After he successfully
removed a confederate flag from the roof of the Marshall
Hotel in Alexandria, VA, Ellswoth was shot and killed.
At least 40,000 of the 650,000 soldiers who died dur-
ing the Civil War were embalmed. Mary Lincoln consent-
ed to have President Abraham Lincoln’s body embalmed
in preparation for the 1,654 mile journey from Wash-
From Undertaker and Stone Cutter to Embalmer and Stone Carver
HOUSTON,TX— Service Corporation International
(NYSE: SCI) reported results for the second quarter of 2017.
Tom Ryan, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Execu-
tive Officer, commented: “We are pleased to deliver an-
other solid quarter reporting a 25% increase in adjusted
earnings per share and an 11% increase in adjusted op-
erating cash flow. Growth in cemetery revenue, effective
funeral and cemetery cost management and a lower tax
rate were the primary drivers of our double-digit adjusted
EPS growth in the quarter. As a result of our strong per-
formance in the first half of 2017, we are increasing our
full year guidance for both adjusted earnings per share
and adjusted operating cash flow to $1.42 to $1.52 per
share and $480 million to $520 million, respectively. I
would like to thank all 23,000 associates as these results
could not have been achieved without the hard work and
dedication of our entire team.”
SCI also announced that its Board of Directors has ap-
proved a quarterly cash dividend of fifteen cents per share
of common stock. The quarterly cash dividend is payable
on September 29, 2017 to shareholders of record at the
close of business on September 15, 2017.
3” HEARSE NAMEPLATES
1-8 spaces $80.50 per nameplate
9-13 spaces $92.50 per nameplate
14-15 spaces $109.00 per nameplate
16-18 spaces $119.00 per nameplate
Many Letter Styles and Sizes Available
DEDUCT $10.00 each for Satin Aluminum Finish
ington, DC to Springfield, IL. After the war, the practice
of embalming was almost discontinued since people died
closer to where they lived and were buried in family plots
or neighboring cemeteries.
However, the practice of embalming became popular
again in the 1890s as companies marketed embalming
fluid and sent salesmen around the country to sell and
demonstrate the preservation process. Licensing of these
practices began in the 1930s. Now improved chemical
formulas are used to temporarily preserve the deceased.
To honor the deceased, ministers and historians published
small books copying the epitaphs carved on gravestones as
early as 1813. Little attention was ever given to the beauti-
ful art and symbolism carved on these early stones. In the
first half of the 20th century, museum curators and histori-
ans began to recognize the gravestone artisans’ talents. Grave-
stone scholars through their research, e.g. comparing carving
styles, location of marker, type of stone used, probate re-
cords, bills of sale, and undertaker receipts can actually iden-
tify the gravestone carvers of the 17th through 19th centuries.
Environmental concerns and new preferences for eco-
logically friendly methods of preserving and burying
loved ones as well as creating maintenance free monu-
ments are concerns for both funeral and memorial carv-
ing industries. The history of undertaking and stone
carving is indeed fascinating and continues to evolve as
technology improves embalming practices, and methods
used in creating images on monuments and markers.
Paulette Chernack is co-owner of Gravestone Artwear
and is the author of Lasting Impressions: Art, Symbolism,
and History Found in Graveyards and Cemeteries. Cher-
nack can be contacted at or
by emailing .