Our Day at Western and Southern Masters Tennis Tournament in Mason, OH.

mike — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:35:41 +0000

Yesterday, my wife and I spent a fantastic day at the Western & Southern Masters Tennis Tournament. We go to the tournament two or three days every year, and it truly is one of the hidden gems of Cincinnati. The tournament hosts some of the best players in the world, and they love coming to Cincinnati. We love to spend the day watching Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, and the other top players in the world.

World Class Tennis in Cincinnati, Ohio

If you haven’t been to this tournament, you should go. It’s a world-class event, is very fan-friendly and is affordable. For an old monument guy like myself, it’s a good distraction from the daily rigors of business. And , I get to see the new bronze statues and plaques on the grounds, which fits right in with my work.

When we got home last night, we gave my son his very first tennis racket. We were so excited to give it to him, and his eyes lit up when he took it out of the bag. A perfect ending to a great day!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cremation

mike — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:23:19 +0000

Many folks these days are choosing to have their loved ones cremated. This is usually an economic choice as opposed to a choice resulting from a set of beliefs. Below are a few of the advantages and disadvantages of choosing cremation for your loved ones.

Advantages of Cremation

1. Most everyone knows that cremation is less expensive than traditional burial. Direct cremation (without any memorial services prior to the cremation) is the least expensive option. Of course, there are options you can choose that can drastically change your price structure, sothose details should be discussed with your funeral director.

2.Cremation gives the family many options: a loved one’s cremains can be interred in a grave, put in a mausoleum, spread over an ocean or a field, or be kept at home in an urn.

3. Some people are simply not emotional people and choose not to have full services which may be emotionally hard on them. Cremation seems to be a good solution for these people.

Disadvantages of Cremation:

1. The biggest and most emotionally difficult issue we hear about are that there’s no place to go and “visit” your loved one and to grieve.

2. If the family doesn’t get along, it is often hard to agree on choices. Do we put the cremains in an urn or spread them over the Atlantic Ocean? If you put the cremains in an urn, who gets the urn? If you want to “split up” the cremains among family members, who chooses which family members get them and which ones are left out?

3.There are also issues of religous beliefs to be considered, and only your family can discern how your beliefs translate in this area. We are not experts in how different faiths view cremation, so please contact a minister within your own faith to discern whether cremation is right for your family.

As always, we at Cincinnati Monument are here to help, so please call us with any questions or comments you have.

How do you grieve after a loved one is cremated?

mike — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:35:27 +0000

I talk to many people who have chosen to have their loved ones cremated, often for financial reasons. Direct cremation (that is cremation before services requiring a funeral director are held) is much less expensive than traditional burial. A memorial service can be held after cremation, and does not require a church or funeral home’s services.

Often times, a cremation brings up bad feelings in a family because no one knows who “gets” the remains and there is no place to visit (such as a gravesite) where they can grieve. Many family members also feel that the person who has passed away won’t be honored at all without a marker or monument.

A solution we recommend is to have the cremains inserted in a grave marker and have the marker installed on a family plot. Cincinnati Monument has some beautiful options for this type of markers. By doing it this way, you won’t have to buy a grave, but there is a place for family to come visit and grieve properly. There may be an installation fee with the cemetery, but overall, you will have saved thousands but will also have a place to visit and grieve your lost family member.

Please call us with any questions you may have regarding cremation memorials. As always we at Cincinnati Monument are here to help you any way possible.

Where does our granite come from?

mike — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:41:42 +0000

We get lots of questions about where our granite comes from. Many customers like to buy American products, and that includes their granite monuments and markers. Simply put, the granite colors we carry come from Africa, India, USA, and Canada. For those of you who would like to choose an American granite, here is a list of granite colors and origins.

USA Granites

Autumn Rose-Oklahoma

Barre Grey-Vermont

Dakota Mahogany-South Dakota

Georgia Grey-Georgia

Missouri Red-Missouri

Salisbury Pink-N. Carolina

Wausau Red- Wisconsin

India Granites

Paradiso

Bahama Blue

India Jett Black

Norway Granite

Blue Pearl

Africa Granite

African Jett Black

Canadian Granites

Morning Rose

Superior Green

We have available many other granite colors,. If you have a favorite granite that is not on our list, ask us and we will glady provide that granite color for you.

In Memory of Amy Fawcett

mike — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:52:42 +0000

photo of Amy FawcettWe lost a great friend this week. Amy Fawcett was a wonderful person whom my wife and I have known since she came to Cincinnati in 2004. We played golf and spent many hours laughing and watching sports with Amy.We always had great times with her. Although she wasn’t a blood relative to us, we considered her an aunt to our son.

Amy moved back to her hometown in Wisconsin just a few weeks ago. We missed her, and we didn’t get a chance to say goodbye before she moved away. Amy passed away in her sleep Thursday night or Friday morning. We will miss her, but the world is better because she was here . We’re praying for her family and friends who miss her as well. God bless you all, and may we all find peace in the fond memories we have of Amy.

The Loos Family

Texas Meets Kentucky

mike — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:47:26 +0000

I got a phone call back in 2008 from a man in Texas. He had found a custom black monument on another company’s website, but was given a quote of over $7,000. He nearly fell over. Mind you, this was a tall, black monument with two custom etchings.

This customer was a young guy who had just lost his 18 year-old brother and wanted tohonor him properly. He didn’t have a lot of money, but didn’t want to skimp on his brother’s monument. We were able to quote him a price of $4,200 total, including tax, shipping, cemetery fees and installation.

He checked pricing with a few other companies and found that we were much less expensive even with shipping and third-party installation fees. The amazing thing is how much less we were than the our competitors who were actually based in Texas.He decided to work with us,and we imported the granite from Africa, and added all the lettering and etchings to honor his brother.

We stayed in contact with him throughtout the process, and he asked lots of questions along the way.We kept him updated on the status of the work every few weeks and that gave him a sense of peace that these Kentucky monument people were looking out for him. After the monument was delivered and installed, he called to say thanks. It was one of the most rewarding calls I’ve ever received, because he could finally relax knowing that his brother was properly honored through this monument.

I take every client’s story personally, and I remember the vast majority.I believe that a memorial is how you tell the story of someone’s life.It’s hard to do that on a piece of granite, but we always tell as much of the story as possible. At Cincinnati Monuments, we specialize in telling the story.

If you have questions about telling the story of someone’s life call us. We’ll guide you and make sure that you’re proud of the way the story is told through a monument or marker.

How To Tell A Life Story on a Monument

mike — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:59:01 +0000

The challenge in telling a life story on a memorial is using limited space to tell the world about that person’s life. Monuments and markers have limited space, and lettering can’t be “squeezed in” on a stone. The more lettering you use, the smaller it has to be. This can cause clutter and make the lettering hard to read. You want to be able to read an upright monument from at least 20 feet away.

A good rule of thumb in designing a memorial is “simple elgeance”. You can tell the story of a life well lived by deciding what was most imprtant to the person being remembered. For instance, if someone was a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, sister and cousin, you may want to consider “Loving Wife, Mom, and Grandma because those are usually the closest relationships.

We are glad to help you choose the wording that will go on your memorial. You will receive a design proof to preview what the stone will look like. Use that opportunity to confirm your choices. If you think you’ve made a mistake, let us know and you’ll get another design proof. No harm, no fould, and no guilt needed.

Use our expertise to help you design a memorial to be proud of. Don’t be afraid to ask us for help. We have lots of experience and want to share our experience with you!