Green burials are becoming more popular at one of New York’s most venerable cemeteries. Two mortuaries and a funeral home have been closed in Ghana for operating without a license and environmental concerns. And Black veterans buried at a Virginia cemetery are finally being honored for their service. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

Parish, Cemetery Lay 22 Cremated Remains to Rest as Part of “Gather Them Home”
By Gabriella Patti (Detroit Catholic)
Following a memorial Mass on November 8, 2025 at the Church of the Divine Child in Dearborn, MI, the cremains of 22 individuals were solemnly accompanied by their families to their final resting place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, MI, in the All Souls Remembrance Room. The Mass and service were part of "Gather Them Home," an initiative of Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services' All Souls Remembrance Program, which offers to anyone at no charge the opportunity to inter the cremated remains of loved ones within consecrated ground. Read more here.

Green Burials Take Root in Brooklyn, NY
By Kaya Laterman (BK Reader)
Amid the concrete jungle, a growing number of New Yorkers are embracing green burials, a more sustainable alternative to traditional interments. Inquiries about placing the body directly in the earth, forgoing embalming and using biodegradable materials have increased so much at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, staff there organized an hours-long seminar this fall that was packed with about 80 curious residents, death doulas and family members planning after-death care. Read more here.

Plan to Turn Popular Woods into Cemetery Approved
By Elliot Jessett (BBC News)
Plans to turn a popular woods in England into a cemetery with thousands of burial plots have been approved despite “1,500 objections,” campaigners against the development have said. Knowsley Council announced plans to buy part of Whiston Woods in Rainhill and turn it into a cemetery in 2023 as burial space at the nearby Knowsley cemetery on Fox Bank Lane was running out. Read more here.

Black Veterans’ Cemetery Was Overlooked in Ceremonies. How Fellow Vets Are Paying Tribute
By Julie Carey (News 4)
For the first time, Black veterans laid to rest at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Manassas, VA, are receiving special recognition this Veterans Day. The local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Post recently learned about the African American cemetery and the fact it had been overlooked in traditional ceremonies. Read more here.

Two Mortuaries and One Funeral Home in Ghana Closed for Violations
By Kingsley Adusei Amakye (3 News)
The Mortuary and Funeral Facilities Agency in Ghana has shut down three facilities in Greater Accra for operating without licenses and failing to meet environmental standards. Read more here.

Florida Man Allegedly Dumped Mother-of-Four’s Cremated Remains Alongside 500 Pounds of Trash on Roadside
By Zoe Hussain (New York Post)
A Florida man allegedly dumped a mother-of-four’s cremated remains and 500 pounds of trash on the side of a road late last month, according to reports. Daniel Rolando, 26, was arrested and charged with one felony count for littering more than 500 pounds of commercial or hazardous waste after Charlotte County Sheriff deputies discovered a massive pile of trash in Punta Gorda on October 30, 2025. Read more here.

Hospital Authority in Hong Kong Extends Free Mortuary Storage from Three to 28 Days Following Backlash over New Fees
By Hillary Leung (Hong Kong Free Press)
Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has revised its plan to introduce charges for mortuary services in public hospitals following backlash, extending the free storage period from three to 28 days. Read more here.

The minimum hourly wage for most employees in New Jersey will increase by approximately 2.8 percent on January 1, 2026.

The new minimum wage will $15.92 per hour, a 43-cent increase from the current wage of $15.49, according to the state Department of Labor. Increases to New Jersey’s minimum wage are tied to federal Consumer Price Index, which is set through data provided to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 2019 state law mandated an increase in the minimum wage to $15 hour, with subsequent yearly raises calculated through the CPI.

“This increase will provide vital support to all Garden State workers by making the dream of a livable wage reality,” Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo said in a press release.

Funeral homes are reminded that with the wage increase, a mandatory poster update is required to be posted by all employers. All New Jersey businesses with at least one employee on payroll must display an updated posting in their locations. The revision date should be 1/26.

Thanexus worksites will automatically receive updated posters in the new year.

The 2019 law established a gradual approach to increasing the minimum wage from what was then $8.85 an hour. The law changed the minimum wage to $10 an hour in 2019. It then increased $1 per year until 2024, when through CPI calculations it reached $15.13.

Employers who violate the minimum wage law face fines of “not less than $100 nor more than $1,000.” Subsequent violations can result in increased penalties and administrative fees.

A judge in Colorado has rejected another plea deal in the case of two funeral home owners accused of allowing approximately 190 bodies to pile up in their establishment and misleading consumers about the disposition of their family members’ remains.

Colorado State District Judge Eric Bentley refused to accept the plea of Carie Hallford who would have faced between 15 and 20 years in prison as part of the deal after family members objected to the sentence, calling it far too lenient, according to published reports.

“The sentence negotiated by the parties does not adequately account for the harms that these crimes have caused,” Bentley said, according to a PBS News article.

A plea deal for Carie Hallford husband, Jon Hallford, was rejected by Bentley in August 2025.

Jon and Carie Hallford were charged with scores of counts of abuse of corpse following the discovery of piles of human remains stacked in their Penrose-based Return to Nature Funeral Home in 2023.

An investigation found that the Hallfords sometimes returned dry concrete mix to family members instead of cremated remains.

The couple also both pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud in October 2024 in connection with the fraudulent acquisition of Small Business Association loans designed to provide relief for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

PBS reported that some families were seeking nearly 200 years in prison for Carie Hallford, one year for each body found in the funeral home.

“We are not asking for revenge, we are asking for acknowledgment, for the court to see each victim as the human being that they were,” Derrick Johnson told the court, according to PBS News. Johnson’s mother’s remains were among those in the funeral home.

The Hallfords’ case was cited as one of the reasons for an overhaul of Colorado’s funeral industry regulations, which were among the most lax in the country. Funeral directors in the state were not licensed, a fact that led some advocates to point out that, although the Hallfords faced criminal charges, there was little the state could do to sanction them as funeral directors.

The state in 2024 adopted a sweeping reform of funeral industry regulations, which called for the licensing of funeral directors, along with basic education and continuing education requirements.

Robert D'Amico, a member of the Monmouth and Ocean Funeral Directors Association, died on November 4, 2025. He was 54.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Robert had a passion for funeral service from a young age, becoming a funeral director and eventually opening his own facility, Evergreen Memorial Funeral Home in Middletown, more than a decade ago. He counted the opening of Evergreen as one of his greatest accomplishments.

Robert had a variety of interests, talking up golf, billiards and racquetball, among other things.

He is survived by his wife, Valerie; his children, Leah and Robert; his parents Nancy and Dominick; and his brothers, Anthony and Dominick.

Rumpf

Our sincerest condolences to former Middlesex and Somerset Funeral Directors Association members Gail Rumpf Young and Gary Rumpf on the death of their mother, Margaret A. Rumpf, who died on November 1, 2025.

VanArsdale

Our sincerest condolences to the VanArsdale Family on the death of former Middlesex and Somerset Funeral Directors Association member Norman R. “Skip” VanArsdale, who died on October 25, 2025.

Three more New Jersey licensed funeral directors have completed the inaugural Certified Funeral Service Employer course, raising the state’s total number of graduates to 11 out of the 15 who had registered.

The course, conceived by the Northeast Funeral Service Partnership and conducted by Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Illinois, was designed to help funeral home owners and managers reimagine funeral home employment and ultimately become better employers.

The following New Jersey funeral directors completed the coursework and earned the certified funeral service employer designation:

• Daniel Bitecola III, CFSP, Halpin-Bitecola Brookdale Funeral and Cremation Service, LLC
• Timothy W. Brock, CFSP, Vander Plaat Funeral Home, LLC of Wyckoff
• Sherry T. DeGraff, DeGraff Lakehurst Funeral Homes Inc.
• Randy S. Gagnon, Brunswick Memorial Home
• Joanna Hagan, Hagan-Chamberlain Funeral Home, LLC
• Jill Bradley Ingram, Bradley Funeral Home
• Kyle P. Ledford Sr., CFSP, Ledford Funeral Home, Inc.
• David Milne, Norman Dean Home for Services, Inc.
• Geraldine Oliverie, CFSP, Oliverie Funeral Homes
• Robert J. Prout, Prout Funeral Home, Inc.
• Kiera Scanlan-Wespestad, Scanlan’s of Pompton Plains

The course, which was made up of six monthly seminars, included participants from the NFSP’s five member states, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. A total of 49 funeral directors from the five states participated.

Participants had to complete the work for each of the six webinars by November 1, 2025 to earn their certification. The seminars covered topics such as Effective Communication and Multigenerational Collaboration, Inclusive Culture and Employee Integration, Legal Compliance and Policy Development, and Strategic Recruitment and Branding. Participants gave the courses and presenters high marks for their value.

The Certified Funeral Service Employer program was the first course to be conceived by the NFSP. Following this successful course, the NFSP has now created the Certified Funeral Service Employee program, which will begin shortly. The new course also will be conducted by Worsham College of Mortuary Science.

A survey conducted among the participants in the employer certification course proved the program’s value and hinted at the advantages both the employer and the upcoming employee courses give their participants.

“We need to understand who we are and what our values are before we can tell our story,” a respondent wrote. “How we deliver a message is just as important as the message itself.”

The certified employer course will be repeated in 2026.