We are often asked: Who owns cemeteries? In Evansville, Ind., there are two cemeteries owned by the city, several religious cemeteries, two cemeteries owned by large publicly traded corporations (Alexanders and Parklawn), and Sunset Funeral Home, Cremation Center & Cemetery. Sunset is the last privately owned cemetery in the Evansville area. Owned by third generation cemetery and funeral home owners, Sunset is the nicest cemetery of its type in Evansville.
Family Owned vs. Publicly Owned
Many people just assume cemeteries are all privately owned. Years ago Alexanders Funeral Homes and Cemetery was bought by Service Corporation International, which operates more than 1500 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries in 43 states, eight Canadian provinces, and Puerto Rico.
Parklawn was bought by a public company, The Loewen Group, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy. It is now owned by Stonemor which owns 322 cemeteries and 93 funeral homes in 27 states and Puerto Rico. Hardly local.
And Sunset? Sunset Cemetery is still privately owned. Public companies operate differently than family-owned businesses. Public ownership means that policies are made for cemeteries and funeral homes all over the country and don’t have as much local consideration policy and prices as a family owned business
In fact, prices at public company cemetery and funeral locations average 20% higher or more than private cemeteries.
Cremation Options
For example, cremation has been rising rapidly in Evansville, Indiana. In fact, some sources indicate that as many as 45% of families in Evansville may choose cremation over burial in 2019. Cremation may be new to some families and may not be as well understood as traditional burial.
Families are often concerned that they can’t have a chapel service for cremation or that the final placement of the ashes can’t be in a family plot. In fact, cremation opens up all options to families who choose it. You can bury ashes, put them in a mausoleum niche, use of our dozens of personal family cremation options, or even put small portions of ashes in specially designed cremation jewelry, or a small keepsake urn. Keepsake urns and cremation jewelry allow families to give small portions of ashes to many different family members.
As a special service, we scan the fingerprints of all clients we serve at Sunset Funeral Home that allows families to create personal one of a kind jewelry that contains the fingerprint image of their loved one.
Water Burial of Ashes at Lake Sunset
Sunset Funeral Home, Cremation Center & Cemetery has the most cremation options than any other facility in Evansville. We now offer water burial of ashes in Lake Sunset. Services take place at our beautiful new Lakeside Pavilion. Ashes are placed in a biodegradable floating urn. The urn is sent to the middle of the lake and will release the ashes into the lake after about 10 minutes.
Contact Sunset at (812) 477-5316 or email us at support@sunsetevansville.com to learn about all our services that fit any budget.
