A homemade DVD that celebrated the life of his deceased grandmother helped Jason Schumacher, a Dubuque funeral director, launch a service that helps other grieving families.Schumacher enlisted the help of his wife, Tricia. The couple acquired numerous photographs from family members taken over the course of Virginia Schumacher’s life. Music, another ingredient, accentuated the photos. It proved to be a very popular tribute.
Two years ago, Schumacher made his service available to local and area funeral directors, who in turn offered the DVD to their client families. Kevin Casey, a Cuba City, Wis. funeral director, gives families the opportunity to have a video tribute. He shows it on a big-screen television.
“They are a good thing,” Casey said. “It is such a great healing tool.”
It takes Schumacher about two hours to produce the DVD, which costs about $50.It is available for the funeral or visitation service. People can order additional copies.
“You can go back a year or two years later, life might be back in a normal routine and you’re not grieving as much,” Schumacher said. “Now you get to sit down and really appreciate the life that was there. It’s permanent. It doesn’t go away. The pictures don’t fade, they don’t crack, and you don’t lose them.”
Schumacher uses between 40 to 50 photos for the DVD that traces a life — from infancy, through school, to adulthood.
“It provides a really good glimpse at the whole life,” Schumacher said.
Why this is a great idea: There are plenty of other events that could benefit from something like this. I’m sure that parents would provide a years worth of photos for someone to edit into a professionally produced 15 minute video for a high-end birthday party. Other possible venues include weddings and graduations.
Photo by lusi.
Steve Heston on December 12th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Another good thing about the business idea is that it doesn’t require the grieving family to make the video after their family member’s death.
These are really nice at funerals, but I can imagine that it would be difficult to put together right after someone died.