We are happy to offer the Cross Memorial Chapel for memorial services as our calendar allows. Our minister is available as well. He will want to consult with you regarding the service. Check with the Church Office about specific dates and times.

Costs

The cost for use of the Chapel for a memorial service is $350. This may be given by the family as a gift in memoriam if you wish.

The cost of staff (Minister, Organist & Janitorial) is $275. We ask the family to pay these fees rather than asking us to bill the estate. We will provide an itemized list of costs if you request.

Many times there is a simple reception following the memorial service, either in the Parlor (up to 80 guests) or in Haver Hall (up to 250 guests.) The charge for the Parlor is $220; Haver Hall is $300. We presume your caterer will prepare the food elsewhere, bring it to the kitchen, and use the kitchen as a staging point from which to serve food at the reception. Disposable utensils, plates and cups should be used unless you and the caterer wish - at an additional cost - to use our dishes, cups and utensils and hire our dishwasher to do the dishes and put them away.

Plan to pay these fees to the church prior to the day of the service.

The Service

The family should consult with the minister regarding their wishes and preferences for the memorial service. The minister will want to obtain information, recollections, etc, about the person to be remembered. If there are favorite songs (or preferred styles of music) to be played on the organ, or favorite poems or readings for the minister to incorporate into the service or to be read by others, bring these to the consultation with the minister. If you have any idea as to the number of people who will attend, let the minister know. The consultation may last between 30 to 90 minutes.

The Day of the Service                                                                                       [TOP]

One family member should be at the Chapel forty-five minutes prior to the service to make decisions as to the placement of floral arrangements which may have arrived. Prior or following the service someone should remove the cards that come with the flowers, and write a brief description of the arrangement on the back of each card. This helps tremendously in sending out thank you cards for the flowers.

The rest of the family should plan to arrive at the Church twenty to thirty minutes prior to the service. If you wish, you can tell arriving family members to gather in the Parlor until all have arrived, then the family group can proceed to the Chapel to be seated on the left side of the front of the Chapel seating area. Let us know how many pews should be reserved for family.

If a funeral home is involved, they may provide a guest book for your guests to sign as they arrive at the Chapel.  If none is provided, you may want to purchase one from a stationery store.

At the conclusion of the service, the minister will come down from the pulpit and greet the family members and ask that they leave the Chapel before the guests are excused. If there is to be a refreshment time following the service, the family should go directly to the reception area in the other building. If there will be no refreshments following, the family should remain in the entry of the Chapel to greet guests.

Before leaving the Church grounds, you may want to make some decisions about flowers. Please take any or all the arrangements you want. If you would like, one or two arrangements can be left at the Church for other groups to enjoy in the following day or two. If a funeral home is involved, they may have some mechanism for delivering floral pieces to nursing or convalescent homes.

Memorial Gifts

If memorial gifts are given to the Church by any friends of the family, we will notify the family that these gifts have been given and by whom. We will also thank the donors for their gifts to the Church.

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