| There are two main trade associations
for the funeral industry in Illinois. One of them is the Illinois Funeral
Directors Association (IFDA) which was founded in 1881 and is located in Springfield.
They have 750 members and are purported to be one of the biggest and most successful
associations in the country. The
IFDA offers its customers a pre-need trust which was established in 1979.
Individuals can be assured of the safety of their funds since the trust is audited
annually through the Office of the Comptroller in the State of Illinois.
The second organization is the Illinois
Cemetery and Funeral Home Association (ICFHA) located in Homewood which was founded
in 1928. This company stresses the need for outstanding service
to its customers as well as the importance of keeping up with modern funeral technology.
Both of these companies offer a
credit union, legislative lobbying, and a job location service to their members
among other benefits. The
Funeral Ethics Association a separate entity - believes in promoting the highest
ethical standards in the practice of funeral service. If a disagreement
should occur between a customer and the staff of a funeral home that cannot be
settled amicably, this organization will act as ombudsman and provide neutral
mediation in the dispute. The
IFDA hosts a museum in Springfield, Illinois to provide the public with a deeper
understanding of the history of American funeral and mourning customs, funerary
art and practice. These are some of the exhibits you will find at
the museum:
- Re-creation
of an Embalming Room from the 1920s.
- Embalming
equipment and instruments.
- Rare
books on embalming that date back to the 16th century.
-
Furnishings and equipment from funeral
chapels.
- Coffins
and For Funeral Homes from different time periods.
- Horse-drawn
hearses from cities and small towns.
- Re-creation
of a funeral setting in an American home in the 1870s.
As
a whimsical touch, the museum also sells chocolate made in the form of coffins
both in dark chocolate as well as in milk chocolate. Seminars
are held in the museum on various topics of interest to members of the funeral
industry. In addition, a Symposium is planned to gather together professional
individuals from a number of disciplines such as anthropologists, psychologists,
academic historians and members of the funeral industry (among others) to examine
the depth of studies about death so that all might become aware of current research
in that area.
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