Decorated caskets allow families to honor their loved ones
To learn more
For more about Signature Series Caskets, visit www.signaturecasket.com or call Whitcomb-Lynch-Albrecht Funeral Home at (608) 752-2444.
Photo
Darrell Holcomb shows off a customized casket lid that his Edgerton company created. The military-themed transfer has the look and feel of a painted surface, but with much more detail.
EDGERTON — When Darrell Holcomb's grandfather died, his grandmother wanted to give her husband a burial that paid homage to his military service.
But she couldn't afford a fancy, painted military casket, Holcomb said.
Holcomb didn't think that was right, and he set out to find an affordable way for families to honor their loved ones' personalities on their caskets.
Signature Series Caskets was the result.
Holcomb's business uses a "high-performance material that replicates paint" to personalize caskets using artwork, photos and text, he said.
"We tailor it to how the family wants it," Holcomb said. "There are no limits."
Holcomb has worked on the product for the last year, and now he's ready to offer it nationwide. He has formed a partnership with specialty printer Large Format Digital and works out of the company's headquarters in the Edgerton Business Park.
Locally, Whitcomb-Lynch-Albrecht Funeral Home offers the service from its Janesville, Milton and Edgerton locations.
Samples at Holcomb's headquarters show a wide variety of options. One casket lid bore a collage of family photos surrounded by seven roses, one for each of the deceased's seven children. It also included a poem the woman selected before she died.
A patriotic design showed military planes, an American flag and the shadow of a man saluting. A casket for a farmer showed an empty tractor against the sunset with the Lord's Prayer printed alongside.
The company also personalizes urns, vault lids and memorial markers, Holcomb said. It makes a matching candle for the family to take home.
Personalization is important to the baby boomer generation, and that extends to funerals, said Adam Albrecht, funeral director for Whitcomb-Lynch-Albrecht.
"Everyone wants their service to be different than the one before them," he said.
Other companies have tried to personalize caskets through stickers or other means, but Whitcomb-Lynch-Albrecht was never impressed with the quality, he said.
It took the funeral home "about five minutes" to decide to offer Holcomb's product, he said.
The funeral home offers a personalized casket lid for $550 and a half-lid for $450, not including the cost of the casket. That's far less than the cost of a painted casket, Albrecht said.
The funeral home has offered the service for a few weeks, but no one has bought it yet, Albrecht said. He thinks it's because families have trouble understanding how many options are available to them with the service.
Albrecht tells the families the caskets and urns are permanent memorials, even if they go in the ground.
"You can spend the money on flowers, but those only last a few days," he said.
May 28, 2009 at 4:35 p.m.
Suggest removal
I want one of them funerals where I am sitting in a Lay-Z-Boy watching television. I annoy, bother and creep people out while alive, why not do it after I am gone?
I also want a mechanical hand that will come up out of the ground so when someone steps on my grave it grabs at their feet.
May 28, 2009 at 4:03 p.m.
Suggest removal
I'm with hannah. Toast me good, then dump me in the mighty Rock River.
May 28, 2009 at 11:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
A decorated casket does not "allow" a family to honor a loved one. Honoring can be done in multiple ways, not all of them have to be a part of an undertaker's bill.
May 28, 2009 at 11:15 a.m.
Suggest removal
Well said kscmomof2. Hannah cremation isn't as green as you would think although much more so than cadaver preparation, casket ect. I ponder how much natural gas is used to incinerate a person but it is a rather morbid thought that does not warrant further study. There is a natural burial movement when you pass you get about a day after being prepared for those you leave behind to say goodbye whence you are then promptly buried in a nice cardboard box so you can return to the earth the nutrients that you borrowed. My wife knows this is my wish as the thought of some mortician sucking my fluids out with a big pump, breaking multiple bones so I look "at peace" and painting a new face on me scares me more than the natural decay process. My wife prefers to be Cryogenicly frozen until a later time that medical science or an advanced alien culture can resurrect her. And I am the SCI-FI fan in the house! Couple of link for those interested (no I am not a hippie or even a liberal): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_bur... and http://www.naturalburial.coop/
May 28, 2009 at 8:25 a.m.
Suggest removal
I remember planning my mothers funeral. She was actively dying from cancer and wanted to be a part of the planning. We went to the funeral home together and picked out her casket and her memorial cards. I think its about more than 'a box going into the ground to rot'. I have piece of mind knowing that my mother is buried in what SHE chose, and that is her final resting place. Cremation is fine if that's what one wants, but it would be wrong to expect others to do it. Some feel it is not acceptable in their interpretation of their religious beliefs.
May 27, 2009 at 10:27 p.m.
May 27, 2009 at 2:18 p.m.
Suggest removal
I have never understood spending THOUSANDS on a beautiful piece of wood only to stick in a cement vault and never to be scene again.
I also wonder how many can be buried in the grass in a casket until we run out of room. I say it isnt very green to bury yourself. I think creamation is the way to go.
or casket rentals just like wedding dress rentals.
May 27, 2009 at 11:35 a.m.
Suggest removal
"$550 and a half-lid for $450" is an inexpensive way to memorialize a loved one? Sounds to me there's more about profits in this casket enhancement than simple compassion and remembrance. Creative thinking to solve a perceived problem? Yes, absolutely! But, please, this is not any more affordable to most.
May 26, 2009 at 4:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
If they're going to give me a design, I'd rather it be on the inside!
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.