The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
FUNERAL HOME HOSTS SERVICE
Community gathers, lights candles at funeral home to honor their loved ones
Participants at the Behm Family Funeral Home’s Candlelight Service of Remembrance hang ornaments in honor of their deceased loved ones Nov. 20 on the Tree of Remembrance during the annual community event at the Behm family’s Madison Village location.
Hundreds joined in Nov. 20 for the first Candlelight Service of Remembrance at Behm Funeral Home in Madison Village in a few years that’s been able to live up to its name.
Thanks to calm conditions, organizers weren’t forced to abandon the candle-lighting portion of the ceremony that’s become a tradition for folks from all over Northeast Ohio for nearly 20 years.
“This year, we knew it was
going to be a large turnout because the weather was nice,” said Trevor Behm, president of Behm Family Funeral Homes, following the candle-lighting ceremony Nov. 20, adding that the event has become a tradition for many area families and friends who find solace in coming together before the holiday season to remember loved ones who have died.
“It’s just a way for us to give back to the community and we look at it as a real honor.” — Trevor Behm, president of Behm Family Funeral Homes
“I think people just love it,” he said. “For some people, this is the only memorial service they’ve had for their loved one.”
He also said it’s a good time to gather together to remember because — especially for those who have recently lost someone close to them — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s and whatever other holidays people are observing in the coming weeks can be awkward and sad without that person there.
“We tend to forget how hard it can be for people during the holidays because there’s now an empty seat at the table,” he said, adding that the talk the Rev. Bruce Hitchcock gave during the service aimed to communicate that very message.
In it, Hitchcock, who is the pastor of Geneva United Methodist Church, said he was happy to see such a big turnout. But, he said, he was even happier to recognize those in attendance who can’t be seen.
“I’m struck more deeply by those that are here that I cannot see,” he said. “They’re here in spirit, in love and in courage. That courage is great. It is beautiful.”
He went on to talk about how, even though it might seem difficult or even inappropriate to go on with celebrating the holiday season in their absence on Earth, that’s exactly what we should do.
“We can celebrate and thank God for the promise (of eternal love) kept,” he said. “Our loved ones are not dead and gone. They live on in glory. They live on in Christ.”
It’s sentiments like these that brought Geneva resident Bobbie Reed and her sisters — Mentor residents Lisa Demeter and Becky Reed — to the service.
T he t r io lost t heir mother, 78-year-old Carol Reed, on Nov. 2 to kidney disease, Bobbie said, adding that she thinks their mom would have appreciated the event.
“I think it’s beautiful — just gathering with my sisters and honoring our mom,” she said. Becky agreed. “It’s a nice remembrance to continue,” she said, explaining that she thought the service was only for people who had lost loved ones in he last year. “But that’s not the case. I think that’s really nice because, maybe the first year, it might be a little too fresh.”
She agreed with Bobbie, saying her mom would have appreciated the service.
“I think she would be very happy,” she said.
Demeter said she’d been to a similar service at a different funeral home to honor her in-laws and it’s a good thing to do.
“It really, really makes a difference,” she said. “You can go by the tree, see the ornaments and it just really brightens your heart.”
She added that, in hanging a memorial ornament on the Tree of remembrance, it bridges the gap between a deceased loved one’s spirit and the physical world.
“It just brings the person to us for the holidays,” she said. “The first Christmas is definitely the hardest and, with (the ornament), they’re still here.”
After the last ornament was hung and the candles were extinguished, Behm looked through the list of names for which those in attendance hung ornaments. There were 271, he said. And that’s only counting the ones on the list, as there were some additional names for which ornaments were hung.
“This has definitely been our largest one,” he said.
All in all, Behm said, he and his family are just glad to be able to give back to the community in a meaningful way.
“Our family just really enjoys being able to put this on,” Behm said. “It’s just a way for us to give back to the community and we look at it as a real honor.”