While I wish I hadn't gotten to know this business quite so soon, I can say that they twice made an incredibly horrid experience slightly more bearable, and that I really appreciate what they've done for my family.
My father had insisted upon Shure decades ago, and my mother began the pre-payment of their arrangements some time back. When my mom became terminally ill, I contacted Shure per her request to (1) get in contact with the cemetery to schedule a time for the miserable chore of choosing my parents' final resting places and (2) ask if her pre-payment included my being able to touch base with them as needed. I was told Of Course, and they were as good as their word.
My mother had the funeral whose arrangements she asked me to finalize, and I think that Shure carried out her every wish. I'm not an expert of funerals; this isn't "Harold and Maude." I know that I told them her dying wishes, and that they made sure that they granted everything that they could. I know that they helped me with her obituary since I had never had to write one (and which she HAD written, but the pre-Hospice nursing home had misplaced her papers). I know that they gently explained to me any rituals I didn't know and/or couldn't find on Google. (I'd expected my dad, my mom's senior, to go first, and that my mom would be here to help me.) They gave me several books on the Jewish ways of mourning. They recommended a Rabbi who was so perfect that I, non-observant, go to his shul every week to say Kaddish as my mom asked. They were physically present, but in the background, at the funeral so that they could be by our sides in a heartbeat. They came to my family at every stage of the funeral to let us know what would be next and to tell us that it was absolutely fine if we needed to leave if we couldn't bear it.
Two hundred and eighty-three days later, I got the phone call that we'd suddenly, though not unexpectedly, lost my dad. I'd walked out of my office and started driving to Shure even before I called Jimmy, and he met me right away.
He gave me several hours to talk and cry as we finalized my father's details. The crummy nursing home where he lived and died had screwed up my dad's paperwork (read: there were almost formal repercussions) and Jimmy took care of it; they fixed their heinous error and hand-delivered the paperwork to Shure. My dad, a Veteran of WWII and the Korean War, never asked me to get him an American flag, but I know my dad and knew that he would be pleased. The funeral was to be the next day. I had a flag for my daddy. (They presented it to my brother at the funeral.) They also told me - and I'm sure it's standard but how would I have known - about the simple process of obtaining a military foot stone for my father. We'd lost my dad's Honorable Discharge papers in Hurricane Sandy, but as Next of Kin I had no problem ordering them from the National Personnel Records documentation facility.)
My mother is very pious and had requested formalities. Shure not only took care of that; but they also worked with my dad's wishes, which were far less religious (though both of our parents were buried Orthodox). I know that my mom would have been shocked at the idea, AND that my dad would have LOVED the idea, of my taking a picture of the flag on his casket. I wasn't sure of the rules, but they encouraged me to do what he wanted.
This comparison may be in poor taste, but they treated me like a bride. These were my parents' days, but they gave me whatever I wanted. (I didn't take advantage of this, and kept everything About Them and didn't make it About Me.) Everyone at Shure treated me as though I had a million bucks to spend in there, and not as though we were sending my parents on the modest budgets they wanted. Shure made me feel valued without making me feel like a dollar sign.
Jimmy even called the following day to see how I was holding up.
After both funerals, I wrote thank you cards (oh, they provided those to us, too) to Shure right after I'd written the Rabbi's. I don't want to be in a position to recommend them, but it's inevitable that I will be. Therefore, I kept their number and will forward it to anyone who needs it. read more