By Michelle O’Hara It’s hard to think about your own death and even harder to talk about it. In my experience, though, once the conversation begins it brings great satisfaction and sometimes even great joy. As a funeral planning educator at the Sullivan Funeral Home in Utica I advise people in all elements of pre-planning. […]

Michelle O’Hara has joined the staff in Utica to exclusively help people plan their funerals in advance. While she’s had customized training in the field she says the thing that prepared her best for her work was her experience as an elementary school teacher. “I’m using my education degree but in a different way,” she […]

Planning ahead for a funeral can relieve families of financial and emotional burdens at what can be a terrible time in their lives. Representatives from William Sullivan and Son Funeral Directors will conduct free lunch and learn sessions on this topic on Feb. 27 and March 13. On Feb. 27, Steve Privette, an Edward Jones […]

The Detroit Free Press recently ran two stories with useful information about how to plan and manage costs connected to your funeral. This article reports that 59 percent of families now choose cremation over burial, a trend we see here at Sullivan & Son. The articles quotes our co-owner, Michael Lope, reporting that, even when […]

Our blog editor visited Italy recently and shared these photos with us. The hearse is a Mercedes Benz and, while we admire its style, we’re going to stick with our American-made Cadillacs! She also visited an Etruscan museum with extensive funerary artifacts, like this crematory urn. These were elaborately decorated, with an often-lifelike portrait of […]