My mother passed away December 21, 2015.She had a pre planned funeral from 2003 paid in full. Normally those policies increase in value , but due to the economy the annuity had not increased to keep up with the rate of inflation. Steen honored the contract and did not ask for anything more. Rusty and his wife did an amazing job preparing her .She was beautiful. She was 86 years old and had been ill for many years. the ravages of time and illness had been wiped away .She looked natural with just a touch of cosmetics.Rusty took her to our family cemetery in WV. and became part of the family for a while. He was professional with a sense of humor and empathy. I can not thank the staff and especially Rusty enough for taking care of every detail and allowing my family to come together and celebrate her life.

My father passed away on the 10th of December and although we knew it was near, we did not have enough time to shop for funeral homes. I’m sure this is a common story.

My father used Steen Funeral Home years ago for his mother so we called them first. I was able to go by and talk to them in order to shop around. Little did we know we would need help so soon. I had done some internet research a few months earlier so I knew that a “direct cremation” should only cost about $1500 for everything we wanted. When I was talking with them I asked why they were so much higher than what I thought it should be. They explained that “they were the best” and it costs a lot to maintain the facilities they have. In my mind, I wrote them off the list right then. What I requested was direct transportation to and from the crematory, placing of the obituary I wrote, and completion of minor paperwork, and no more. For this they quoted about $4200. When he died the next morning, we had no choice but to proceed with Steen. I did complain that their price did not represent a fair market value for what they were specifically providing us. They asked me what would be fair and I replied $1200. They said they would let me know. I left feeling better about it. Two days later when they were handing me my father, they handed me an invoice for $4400. They had added $200 for “cleaning and disinfecting prior to cremation” to the bill. I was livid, but I paid the full amount and walked out. I later asked friends about their experiences and found that this type of service is usually about $2000 in the Ashland area.

The notion of “full blown” funerals with all the bells and whistles is rapidly changing and some funeral homes are adapting to a different demand. Older funeral homes seem to hold on to the traditional ideas and charge the same base rate no matter what they actually provide.

I generally do not agree with government regulation, but sometimes I wonder if taking advantage of the bereaved should be against the law.