Yes. Our private funeral home is available should you wish to view the deceased. A viewing in our private funeral home can be a positive experience, especially when some family members may not have been able to say goodbye personally.
A positive environment and presentation is important for the viewing to be of most benefit.
A coffin is tapered in shape, wider at the shoulders and narrower at the foot, and is made of custom wood, solid timber or cardboard.
While a casket is rectangular in shape, comes with a hinged lid and can be provided in custom wood, solid timber or metal.
For those who are environmentally conscious, we also offer a choice of quality finished and presented environmental coffins.
Whatever your choice rest assured it will be hand crafted by specialists using premium grade materials.
Most funeral services vary in costs based on requests from loved ones. In order to provide a general idea of costs, we have made available our full pricelists online.
Most funeral services are held in a church, crematorium chapel or at a cemetery. The choice belongs to the family. Some may feel an alternative location best reflects the deceased person, and provided permission from the appropriate local authority is gained, a funeral service can be held at almost any place.
Any person is able to conduct a funeral service. Most often, families choose a minister of religion or a funeral celebrant. The funeral director is able to assist in locating the best person to suit your family’s needs.
The individual choices available to families help make the service a unique experience that embraces the special lifestyle of the deceased. The selection of music, recorded or live, can add atmosphere to the service, as can the choice of floral tributes.
Our funeral director may also be able to suggest other means of making the service particularly significant. The placement of a national flag, service medals or other memorabilia on the coffin, release of balloons or doves, a photograph display or a family tribute DVD are some examples.
At Keith Logue & Sons there are many elements involved in providing the best service possible to our families. We strive to create an environment of ‘calm and peace’ and endeavor to:
Sensitivity and respect for cultural diversity is something we pride ourselves on at Keith Logue & Sons. We provide services to a wide range of cultural and religious groups.
The cost of a funeral varies, depending on the options you and your family select. It is important to advise us if a pre-arranged funeral plan exists for your loved one. Funerals are very personal, and the only way the cost can be properly calculated is by talking with one of our trained staff so that all options can be explained and discussed.
Typically, those costs would include the cemetery/crematorium, church, clergy or celebrant, coffin, newspapers and florists, certified copy of death certificate, doctor’s fees, etc. At Keith Logue & Sons we provide a range of options that allow you and your family to tailor the funeral to suit your personal, cultural and religious requirements.
If you would like a detailed explanation of costs, or have any special requirements for a funeral service, please don’t hesitate to call us.
Grief is the name given to the feelings often experienced following a personal loss of any kind and it is perfectly natural. One of the most common and debilitating types of grief occurs after the death of someone close.
Grieving is important as gradually it allows you to adjust to your loss. During the process of coping with grief you may experience a range of symptoms, some of which include:
Yes, the death of a loved one is a traumatic event and can trigger many emotions, even many at the same time.
Common reactions to grief are:
The main way to manage grief is to let these feelings come and to give yourself time to change to your new circumstances. This does not mean that your grief will be ‘cured’ or that you should forget the person who has died. Even in years to come there may be occasions when you will still feel sad.
It is best not to put a time frame on the whole experience of grief. This creates unrealistic expectations and does not allow for individual differences. You need to deal with your grief and face any changes in your life.
To do that you may need to:
Loss can come into our lives in lots of ways, and it affects each of us differently. One of the biggest and most difficult losses comes due to the death of someone very important to you.
When a person experiences the loss of someone they love, they are forced to deal with grief but unfortunately, most of us are unprepared for how to handle it, especially if we have never had to deal with grief before. You may feel a whirlwind of emotions, from intense grief and loss to relief and calmness.
You may have confused thoughts, feel numb and have difficulty making decisions. In your own time and in your own way you need to deal with your grief and face the changes to your life.
Some things you can do to help that process include:
Accept how you feel – understand that what you are feeling is natural, it will help it sink in. Let yourself cry, talk about the loss, or have a laugh. Let yourself feel what you are feeling.
Accept loss as a part of life – loving someone includes a willingness to let them go when their life ends.
Be kind to yourself – eat, drink, sleep, get fresh air and try to avoid alcohol and sedatives. Do things you like doing. Treat yourself to things that make you feel good.
Talk about your feelings – don’t think you have to cope on your own. Talk to someone you trust. Support from family and friends is important when someone has died. You may also wish to seek grief counseling which can be very effective in coping with grief and loss.
Take each step at a time – live each day as it comes. Understand and accept disruption in your life.
Take control of things you can. Understand there are things you have little or no control over. Give yourself permission to grieve.
Explore your spirituality – pray, meditate or spend some time with nature. Use your own personal spirituality to explore what death or loss means to you and your spiritual self.Change – your routine will change and you will change. You need to accept that is part of the process, and when you feel right – start something new. Don’t feel guilty about this, it is a part of the healing process.
Be prepared for ups and downs – birthdays, anniversaries or a particular smell can ignite memories that can upset and or bring you down. You can find ways to remember the person that brings you comfort, like visiting their memorial, writing your thoughts and feelings down or even writing a poem.
Few events in life are as painful as the death of your spouse. You may feel uncertain you will be unable to survive this overwhelming loss. At times, you may be uncertain you even have the energy or desire to try to heal.
You are beginning a journey that is often frightening, overwhelming and sometimes lonely. This was your companion, the person you shared your life with. Your grief is unique because no one else had the same relationship you had with your spouse. Your experience will also be influenced by the circumstances surrounding the death, other losses you have experienced, your emotional support system and your cultural and religious background. As a result, you will grieve in your own special way. Don’t try to compare your experience with that of others, or to adopt assumptions about just how long your grief should last.
The best thing to do is take it one day at a time, grieve at your own pace, and be kind to yourself.
No matter how old or young you are, losing a parent changes everything. Whether your parent dies when you are still in childhood, during teenage years or even if you are 65, you can still experience strong feelings of grief and loss.
Even when the death is expected through old age or chronic illness, it can still have a tremendous emotional impact. A parent dying may bring up all kinds of feelings and emotions such as sadness, relief, anger, and guilt, depending on the type of relationship you had with them. If you were close to them and are used to consulting with them before making major decisions, you will miss being able to ask them for advice. If your relationship with your parents was difficult, once they have passed away so has our chance to repair the relationship.
The loss of a parent, even after a long and full life, has a tremendous emotional impact, and healing can take place only when you allow yourself to confront your feelings and allow yourself time to grieve.
No parent is ever prepared to experience the loss of a child. Everything that has been hoped for, dreamed about and worked for up to that moment just ends. It is heartbreak like no other. No matter how one loses a child, whether by prolonged illness or sudden death, the loss of a child is perhaps the most profound, the most overwhelming, and the most inconsolable of all losses to deal with.
After a child dies, the caring role ends and life will never be the same. It has been described as being a more intense grief than any other type of loss. It is a period of great change and conflicting emotions. People experience a wide range of emotions after the loss of a child such as guilt, disbelief, or anger, which can manifest into the inability to eat or sleep or a whole range of emotional and physical symptoms. Grief regardless of how it manifests, is a unique personal experience for the parent and for the rest of the family.
Children show us new ways to love, new things to find joy in, and new ways to look at the world. The memories of joyful moments you spent with your child and the love you shared will live on and will always be a part of you.
Facing a sudden loss can be confusing and disorienting as it is often a loss that does not make sense. A sudden death can leave us feeling shaken, unsure and vulnerable. The grief response following sudden loss is often intensified since there is very little or no opportunity to prepare for the loss, say good-bye, finish unfinished business or prepare for bereavement.
Families and friends are suddenly forced to face the loss of a loved one suddenly without warning. The shock and trauma experienced with this type of loss can be devastating, and will leave friends and family experiencing emotions such as shock, disbelief, anger, fear, anxiety, hopelessness and deep sadness. It can also cause many physical symptoms such as nausea, sleeplessness, anxiety and disorientation.
Support from friends, family, co-workers and even perhaps a therapist can ease your stress and guide you in safe expressions of your grief
Infant death is one of the most devastating experiences any parent could face. Nothing can take away the pain or fill the infants place in your heart.
Parents often retain strong feelings of guilt and sometimes a sense of responsibility for what happened even though they’ve been told there was nothing they could have done to prevent the death. Acknowledging your baby’s death, as well as your lost hopes and dreams for the baby’s future is an important part of the grieving process. It is often comforting and beneficial to share your grief and feelings with others who have had similar losses.
Whatever the circumstances of your baby’s death, you will need to share your grief outside of yourself. Whether you were pregnant for a brief time or many months, delivered a stillborn baby or your baby lived for a longer time, you have every right to grieve. The death of your baby may have come suddenly, without any warning. You have been given little, if any, preparation for this experience. You will grieve in your own special way.
Try not to adopt assumptions about how long your grief should last. Just try and take it one day at a time. Don’t be surprised if out of nowhere you suddenly experience surges of grief, even at the most unexpected times. This is a natural response to the death of your baby. Find someone who understands your feelings and will allow you to talk about them.
It can be very hard to know just what to say to someone who’s grieving. Some people are so unsure of what to say they may avoid the funeral and their friend all together, leaving the person who is suffering from grief confused by the fact that their friend seems to have abandoned them.
However, a good friend will always reach out to those in need. The best thing you can to do is to allow the person to cry and show their real feelings. Talk about the person who has died and listen to the circumstances of the death. The most loving thing you can do for your friend is to just be there with them and for them. The simple fact of being there is a tremendous comfort to the grieving person.
There are no magic words to heal the pain. Listening to someone talk about how much they miss their loved one, or listening to a story about the deceased, is often what they need. Allowing that person to get out what they have been keeping inside is a special gift. It is best not to say things like “be brave” or “be strong” – this encourages grieving people to bottle up their feelings.
And avoid saying things like “I know how you feel” – you can never really feel another’s inner feelings, or fully know all the things that are part of someone else’s grief. Offer practical help such as buying groceries or cooking meals. Do this not just in the days straight after the death but in the months to come when the real effect of the death is often being felt. Be a loving, gentle, and patient friend.
Suicide occurs when an individual’s physical or mental suffering is so severe that they believe there is no hope for it to go away. Suicide is perceived as a way to end the suffering. A loss due to suicide can be among the most difficult losses to bear. It can leave family and friends with a tremendous number of unanswered questions and they sometimes feel partly responsible for the death and this can be very hurtful.
If you are going through feelings like this in the first few weeks after a suicide then counseling may be beneficial. People usually attempt suicide to block out their own unbearable emotional or physical pain, which can be due to a wide variety of factors. When a person commits suicide they are often so distressed that they cannot see that they have other options and do not think of anyone they can turn to.
The most important thing to remember is that very often the signs of distress and helplessness in a person thinking about suicide are not always obvious and no one is to blame for the suicide.
Like adults, children will react to the news of death individually, perhaps with unexpected responses. The child may say, “it’s not true” or lash out physically or verbally. Wanting to be left alone or being curious and full of questions may be more common for some children than sadness.
When helping children deal with their grief, it is probably most important to remember these three simple rules:
1. Be honest with what you say.
2. Be open with your own emotions.
3. Be patient. Children deserve clear and honest answers to their questions, especially the difficult ones.
They also deserve the adults around them to be open with them concerning their own grief. Often cuddles, hugs and some quiet time together will satisfy a child who is feeling frightened or unsure about the changes happening in the family. However children still require as much time to adjust to grief as adults do.
Adults should not hide their own tears from children of any age. Your grief will show them that they need not be ashamed or scared to express their own. If children are not given good role models in coping with grief, then they may learn unhelpful ways of coping with grief such as hiding their true feelings or believing that they must deal with their hurt, confusion, questions, anger or fear silently.
Teenagers can be particularly affected when a school friend or family member dies because their grief can become complicated by the ups and downs of adolescence. Their need to appear ‘grown up’ in front of their peers, or their family, can result in isolation and difficulty in asking for help or expressing feelings.
Teenagers experiencing grief and loss may show some of these signs: