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Memorial Societies and our History

 

The Memorial Society movement had its beginning in Seattle Washington in 1939 where apparently the members of an Unitarian Church decided to take action when the cost of a traditional funeral there reached the staggering amount of $350.

It wasn't until 1950 that the movement spread to Canada. There are now 23 branches here with some 250,000 members. BC leads the way with a reported 161,300 members (having provided service for 82,500 deceased members). There are presently 11 active branches in Ontario serving 51,000 plus members.The Peterborough branch was formed in 1979 and has passed the 2.200 membership mark. (Seattle, where it all started, reported a membership of 75,000 in 1994.)

We got going when the Toronto Memorial Society sponsored a meeting here.There was a program on CBC Marketplace about Memorial Societies in 1978. Viewers were invited to write in for information. These requests were passed on to the Toronto Memorial Society. Some 70 came from the Peterborough area.
TMS decided there was enough interest to try to form a branch in Peterborough. They hired a hall, advertised and sent out some 60 invitations to the meeting 11 Oct 79. Thirty-two came including several funeral directors (unknown at the time). A number of attendees decided it was a good idea and stayed on at the end of the meeting with several volunteering to be an acting executive and they put $2 each in the kitty for postage etc.

Our first official meeting followed on 29 Nov 79 with Jim Foster as president, Tina Streefland as secretary and Rex Booker as treasurer. Shirley Thomas volunteered as membership secretary*, Nick Nickles public relations and Glenn Jones funeral director enlistment. Jim and Glenn took on the job of trying to find a funeral director who would co-operate with us in providing simple low cost funerals for members. After some not very productive meetings with local funeral directors who really looked on us a s quite a threat Jim and Glenn got a funeral director in Bobcaygeon to come on side as our first co-operating funeral director. (*Shirley did two separate stints as membership secretary.)

Members who have served in the past on the board include: Catherine Gallop, Newton James, Vida Johnston, Ida Weeks, Rev John Gardner, Maurice Boote, Barbara Bradstreet, Jan Worthington, Ib Bylow, Roy Brand, Ron Yates, Billie Gregory, Francis Kemerer, Everdina Verchuren, Jean Burkholder, Pat Pell, Billie, Gerry Harris and Ed McKenna.

Memorial society branches are found in most major population centres in Canada and the USA. We are the largest consumer group in Canada. Locally we called ourselves the Funeral Planning Association (Peterborough). This was to better communicate what we are about. (Our registered name is Memorial Society of Peterborough and District.) In 2005 we adopted the name Funeral Advisory & Memorial Society of Peterborough, this again to update what we were about. We presently have contracts with thirteen funeral providers at fourteen locations. Our area of service is from Oshawa through to Belleville and north to Minden and the Haliburton Highlands.

The Funeral Advisory & Memorial Society of Peterborough was funded by the onetime membership fee. Member donations have become very important as the membership growth slows and costs continue to bump ever upwards. There are no paid employees or perks for board members.

We have done a modest amount of media advertising but there is never a rush of new members following these expenditures. Word of mouth seems to be most effective. Revenue Canada took away our registered charity status as it did with all memorial societies in 2000. The rules of that arrangement came to require us to spend a large part of the donation money received communicating to the public.

We have participated in seminars and will speak about memorial societies at any opportunity. Early on our longtime treasurer Rex Booker was the guest several times on a talk show hosted by Sylvia Sutherland on CHEX TV and wife Valerie also appeared on TV and filled in for Rex a number of times in the money department.

The FA&MSP phone is located in the Jones', residence and Anne Jones has been the primary telephone response person for many years.

FA&MSP is a member of the Federation of Ontario Memorial Societies-Funeral Consumers Alliance (FOOMS-FCA). This is an umbrella organization which monitors the death care industry in Ontario and has been very successful in getting funeral consumer legislation changes. FOOMS-FCA meets once a year (Sep/Oct), usually in the Toronto area, and we encourage directors to attend at least one of these meetings. FOOMS-FCA in turn is affiliated with the Continental Association of Funeral & Memorial Societies (CAFMS) USA.

Of increasing interest locally is the Immediate Disposition funeral and the least expensive way to do this is through a licensed transfer service because of their lower costs compared to full service funeral homes. Immediate Disposition is available through all funeral providers.

The following have recently served on the Board: Fred Ionson, Dan Clunis, Barb Anderson, Bob Patterson, Chuck Neads, John Sherin, Helen McIntyre, Alan Garnet, Betty Pimmett, Ralph & Alice Nicholson, John Clarke, John Lawrence, Neville Sharpe, Herbert Watson, Barbara Glaum, Tom & Helen James and Carolyn Archbold.