Weird Ways That Cemeteries & Caskets Made News on Election Day

As this election season seems to have been one of the oddest in American history, it might not be a surprise that last week, several cemeteries and a former president’s casket shared the news spotlight with pundits and polling places. Because … why not?

Just check out these election day headlines — and what deathcare can learn from them:

Election night: Republicans party at a mortuary while Democrats lament in a gay bar

Were Kansas-area Republicans being ironic when they picked a “mortuary” as their election night watch party? Whatever their strategy, Cozine Life Events Center probably hosted one of the most celebratory and lively events in its history. The facility is described as “part of the Cozine Memorial Group, ‘conveniently located adjacent to beautiful Kensington Gardens cemetery in thriving northeast Wichita.’” Although the center often plays host to large funerals and receptions, a reporter from The Wichita Eagle found a crowd of “giddy Republicans on cellphones and tablets counting up win after win” last Tuesday.

If you’ve had reservations about opening your event space (or adding one) for community events, the success of this party should reassure you that there will always be occasions and audiences who love to gather in lovely places.

Thousands visit Susan B. Anthony’s grave, place ‘I voted’ stickers on headstone

Inspired by Susan B. Anthony’s “defiant act of voting” in the 1872 presidential election, women voters in Rochester, New York covered her gravestone with their “I voted” stickers last week. It’s a tradition that began during the 2016 Clinton vs. Trump election cycle and continued with the 2024 race — both of which offered the potential outcome of electing the country’s first female president. In 2020, officials at Mount Hope Cemetery placed plexiglass around the stones of Anthony and her sister to protect the granite from the expected barrage of stickers. Incidentally, Anthony’s home — and the place where she was arrested two weeks after her crime — is now a museum … as well as an early voting location.

This physical, intentional tribute to someone whom these passionate visitors never met but nonetheless admired shows the enduring value of permanent memorialization. Having a place to go to honor someone who has passed is still important.

Army Releases Report On Altercation During Donald Trump’s Arlington Visit

Perhaps not coincidentally, the U.S. Army released a “heavily redacted” report detailing an August  incident involving a member of Donald Trump’s staff at Arlington National Cemetery. According to reports, the staffer shoved a cemetery official who was trying to enforce the cemetery’s photography policies. Although Trump was invited to Arlington by family members of service members killed in the 2021 during their withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is assumed that the cemetery official believed photographs of the ceremony would have framed the visit as a campaign-related event. Federal law prohibits campaign and election-related activities within Army national military cemeteries. The investigation is still ongoing.

Rules are rules, and whatever rules you have in place at your funeral home or cemetery have to be enforced — just like this cemetery official was trying to do. At the same time, no one wants a “scene,” an altercation, or a confrontation that has to involve law enforcement. Although no one can prepare for every potential problem during such highly-emotional events as funerals, but sharing the rules, regulations, and expectations ahead of time and having a response plan in place should anything occur could go a long way.

Presidential memorabilia, including a lock of George Washington’s hair, to be sold at NYC auction

Several pieces of presidential memorabilia will be up for auction on November 22, including the flag that draped Abraham Lincoln’s casket during its 1600-mile, seven-state, and two-week journey on Lincoln’s funeral train. The flag, on the back of which Lincoln’s April 14, 1865 assassination date is inked, is expected to sell for between $800,000 and $1.2 million.

Very few funeral directors will conduct services for presidents, dignitaries, or celebrities, and not every flag, program, or trinket will become valuable memorabilia worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But as you know, families will find momentous value in the treasured mementos the keep from their loved ones’ life celebrations or memorial services, whether it’s the flag from the casket of a veteran, a flower from the pall of a beloved mom, or the beautiful register book or order of service you provide for them.