A Brief History of the Memorial and Funeral
Society Movement
Pearl Davie
President, Federation of Ontario Memorial
Societies
Many people have heard of Memorial Societies or Funeral
Information Societies but few are sure of just what the
terms mean.
Memorial Societies began in the 1930's in the USA and
were formed by people who did not agree with the form the
traditional funeral was taking, with increased cosmetology,
elaborate caskets, overabundance of flowers and resulting
high costs. These people felt that the public was often
unaware that an alternative arrangement could be made and
felt that information and education was essential so that
those consumers who prefered a simple funeral arrangement
could have one at moderate cost.
The idea spread and many memorial societies were formed
in the USA and eventually in Canda as well. All memorial
societies are non-profit and primarily or entirely run by
volunteer boards of trustees and special committees. A very
modest lifetime fee (usually about $15) provides a member
with considerable information on funerals and alternatives,
pre-arragement forms to plan a funeral and the annual news
letter of that society updating changes in the funeral
industry.
A Brief History of the Funeral Information
Society of Ottawa
Condensed from Eric Inch's "A Brief History of
the Ottawa Memorial Society
The Ottawa Memorial Society officially began on April
15, 1958, When its organizational meeting was held in the
old Unitarian Church on Elgin Street with 57 persons in
attendance. An organizing committee, chaired by Ruth Cook,
had been working for a year to lay the groundwork.
The expressed purposes of the society included, in
addition to those we still list in our current aims, "to
promote the establishment of a crematorium in Ottawa". Ross
Colvin was primarily responsible for this effort, and
conducted a study which led him to conclude that, because of
Ottawa's relatively small population and a number of Roman
Catholics who, at that time, did not favor cremation, a
crematorium would not be economically feasible at that time.
(One opened in 1962).
In his introductory remarks, Mr. Young, first president
of the board, emphasized that the Ottawa Memorial Society
did not intend to perform the function of a Funeral
Director, nor to be a cut rate burial society, nor a
Unitarian Memorial Society, nor an anti-Funeral Director
Society.
During the first year of operation , the board
established working relations with 8 of the 12 Ottawa
funeral homes. the board were invited to attend a meeting of
the Ottawa District Funeral Service Association to explain
the purpose of the Society. The president of this
Association expressed the opinion that funeral directors
were prepared to cooperate with memorial societies. An
illustration of the good relations which prevailed was the
fact that Joe Tubman was the guest speaker at the Annual
Meeting in 1960.
It is important to remember that, until 1962, each North
American Society was an isolated entity. Much of the work of
the Ottawa Board was in completing reciprocal membership
arrangements with 22 societies, including 6 in Canada.In
1961 there were discussions on possible national and/or
continental organizations, and in 1962 the Continental
Association of Funeral and Memorial Societies (CAFMS) was
formed. The Ottwa Memorial Society (OMS) was invited to
join. But because the OMS had lifetime, rather then annual
dues, the OMS Board felt that membership in CAFMS was not
practical.
The period from 1963 to the end of the decade was one of
steady, if unspectecular, growth and consolidation for the
OMS. Support was provided to the Toronto society in its
battle to modify some of the more objectionable features of
a proposed new "Embalmer and Funeral Director Act" and to
obtain the appointment of a non funeral director to the
Board of Administration.
OMS was incorporated provincially in 1968 and received
charitable status at about the same time. In 1971 the
Canadian Memorial Societies formed the Memorial Society
Association of Canada (MSAC). Now, for the first time, all
Canadian Memorial Societies, including OMS, were part of a
single national organization. This Association run into
difficulties because of personality conflicts but out of it
grew the Federation of Ontario Memorial Societies (FOOMS),
primarily to provide a single voice to speak to the
provincial government on behalf of all Ontario Memorial
Societies.
After a spurt of growth in 1971-72, when membership in
OMS jumped from 1000 to 1850, the remainder of the seventies
was a period of consolidation and relatively little growth.
Our relations with funeral directors, which had been
generally good for 20 years, soured suddenly in 1978 and the
number of cooperating homes dropped from 7 to 1. The only
reason given was that quoting prices to OMS might be
construed as price advertising.These misunderstandings
gradually got resolved and today we have good relationships
with all Ottawa funeral homes.
During the 1980 and 1990 growth has been slow and
steady. At the annual Meeting in 1990 OMS adopted its
constition. In 1995 OMS lost its charitable status but FOOMS
is trying to win it back. In the year 2002 the membership
roll stood at about 3000. In that same year at the annual
meeting the the Board of Trustees recommended and the
members accepted that, OMS change its name to Funeral
Information Society of Ottawa (FISO), in order to reflect
more accurately its functions.
|