April 2021

Page A20 APRIL 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A The Fan Man, Inc. Fans Calendars Urns Register Books Dresses Advertising Specialties John Mannion “WhatEver You Need” 1-800-671-8280 Cell: 803-417-2940 Thefanman@comporium.net bankersadvertising.com/thefanman attract up to 500 viewers a day to read posts, blogs, mini-podcasts, share stories with fellow readers, and find resources. You can also share the following link to books, blogs and resources designed to help every widower to find answers and support: https://www.fredcolby.com/ • I bought this book after the passing of my wife. A must buy and read, greatest gift to give to yourself. You need to get this book to help in the healing pro- cess and to know you are not “crazy.” Tim Paris • I was in a very dark place after my dearest wife passed. Fred Colby’s book was a great help. I strongly recom- mend it to all widowers! R.E. Rex King • Great book! The sooner a widower reads it after losing his wife the better. Pat Krummel • Get this book: It can be game changer for you. Arnold L. • The book is well worth a read. It is honest and no holds barred. Steve D. • I would highly recommend this book to any Widow - er. While reading it, I felt I was looking in a mirror at times. Thank you, Fred! JimW. • One of my first thoughts after losing my wife Susan was that there’s no instruction manual for what hap- pens next. But you’ve come close. Larry Ahrens • Excellent manual for moving through the toughest time a Man can face!! Thanks, Fred, for creating this great tool! John Prenger Herb Knoll’s (my co-column author) Widowers Sup- port Network has become the place to go for hundreds of new widowers. Through Herb’s website and Facebook page widowers find a community that supports them through posts, kind words, shared experiences, and refer- rals to all kinds of help. Herb also offers a great book, The Widower’s Journey , and an impressive list of podcasts and other resources. My own Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/ FredColbyAuthor and my web page, www.fredcolby.com Herb Knoll Working With Widowers Fred Colby Help a Widower with a Book & Counseling By Fred Colby, Author Do you struggle when confronted by a widower who is suffering and unable to ask for help? How do you re- spond when a widower breaks down in your office, or is having trouble making decisions? What do you tell widowers who ask you where they can go to for help? My first recommendation is always to suggest they seek grief counseling support. I specify “grief ” counsel- ing because I often hear of widowers disappointed with a counselor who is not a specialist in grief counseling. The first place to send a widower is your local hospice. Hospices often offer grief counseling support for which there is no charge to the patient for several visits. A second recommendation is to join Grief Groups, preferably Men’s Grief Groups. Widowers often are uncomfortable in general groups as the widows will usually outnumber the widowers by a factor of 8 to 1. As men have some differences in how they grieve, they often find the combined groups to be of limited value for them. The primary places to go for these groups are hospices, area churches, and online resources such as: • www.griefshare.org • www.griefnet.org • www.facebook.com/WidowersSupportNetwork My third recommendation is to give them a book that can help them through this hell-on-earth experience in the privacy of their home. Two of the best available books are offered through this article by myself and Herb Knoll. My book, Widower to Widower , is avail- able internationally through local bookstores, Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Target, and Walmart. Auto- graphed copies are available through my website. I will let a few of my readers speak to how Widower to Widower helped them survive their grief: Losing a loved one was not something new to Fred Colby. However, the death of his father and stepfather at a young age did not pre- pare Fred for the pain and emotional turmoil he suffered when his wife of 42 years, Theresa, died after a yearlong bout with uterine can- cer. His therapist challenged him to put his grief and lessons-learned into words to help others going through the same hell-on-earth ex- perience. Though he has extensive professional writing experience, Widower to Widower is his first book. For more information, go to www.fredcolby.com. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at to group meetings, individual counseling sessions, writings by fel- low widowers, and discussions resulting from happenstance meetings with fellow travelers on the grief journey. Special Offer: 6 books for $59.94! Visit https://www.fredcolby.com/buy-books/order- 6-pak-for-groups Widower to Widower: Surviving the End of Your Most Important Relationship Fred Colby's first book blends blogs he wrote be - fore, during and after his wife's passing, together with his research, observations, and experiences during the first year of grieving her loss. The book is in part a result of his frustration with the lack of other in-depth or quality materials available to help fellow widowers. His search for answers took him ORLANDO,FL — In a year in which a global pandemic sent shock waves through the funer- al business, Foundation Partners Group continued to invest in in- novation and methodically exe- cuted a strategy to acquire funer- al service businesses with a high cremation mix to become one of the nation’s leading providers of cremation services and the second largest provider of funeral services by case volume, the company has announced. Foundation Partners acquired eight funeral service businesses with 25 locations this past year, growing its footprint in three states with existing locations and ex- panding to two new markets, Ken- tucky and New Mexico. Owned by Access Holdings, a Baltimore- based mid-market investment firm specializing in a buy-and-build in- vestment approach, the company now operates nearly 160 locations in 20 states and will serve more than 75,000 families this year. “It’s been nearly one year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the funeral profession like a tidal wave, and the result has been a funda- mental shift in the way many fam- ilies think about the final disposi- tion and memorialization of loved ones,” said Foundation Partners Group president Kent Robertson. “While funeral directors across the country quickly pivoted to online arrangements and streaming ser- vices, fear of infection, govern- ment restrictions and the reality Continued on Page A21 of delayed memorials caused many families to consider cremation for the first time.” In a market estimated to reach $28.7 billion this year, the cre- mation rate in the United States reached an all-time high of 54.6 percent in 2020. A Cremation As- sociation of North America (CANA) study , released in November 2020, which looked at data from 15 states for the period from March – August 2020, reported a dramat- ic increase in the average annual cremation growth rate – from 1.5 percent for the last decade to an average of 2.74 percent during the height of the pandemic. “Foundation Partners was found- ed 10 years ago with the belief that cremation is the future,” Robert- son added. “Our industry-leading infrastructure operates at a mix of 86 percent cremation and puts us in a perfect position to take advan- tage of the current trends.” Tom Kominsky, Foundation Partners Group chief financial of- ficer, leads the company’s M&A growth initiatives. “Our acquisi- tion strategy is to partner with in- dependent funeral home opera- tors who believe in providing the highest quality service for fami- lies regardless of the final disposi- tion method they choose,” Komin- sky said. “We do this by building density in existing markets and ex- panding into new ones. Assisting owners with their succession plan- ning and providing a partner to help further grow their businesses Foundation Partners Group Disrupts $28.7 Billion Death Care Market with Strategic Focus on Cremation and Innovation and extend their legacies sets Foun- dation Partners apart and makes us the buyer of choice for many fu- neral home owners. We offer open and honest advice throughout the entire process and support them every step of the way.” A key to the company’s growth has been its ability to leverage the knowledge and expertise of former owners. A large number of for- mer owners stay on, continuing to manage and expand their busi- nesses with Foundation Partners’ support. Others have become im- portant members of the company’s leadership team. Tommie Kamm, whose Denver- based All-States Cremation and All Veterans Funeral and Crema- tion joined Foundation Partners in 2019, said, “We didn’t want a public corporation. Foundation Partners is a private company. We wanted a partner who believes in value, affordable cremation. A company strong enough to go head-to-head against our com- petitors. Foundation Partners has invested in companies similar to ours; they see the future of this in- dustry.” In an innovative, multi-chan- nel approach to pre-need and at- need funeral service sales, Founda- tion Partners firms offer families everything from multi-sensory ShareLife® memorial services to simple cremation services offered under its Tulip Cremation brand. Offering affordable, online di- SEND US YOUR NEWS! PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 1-800-321-7479 info@nomispublications.com