Navigating Life's Final Chapter: A Conversation with Antonia Cummings from Parklawn-Memorial-Gardens
November 30, 2024 • 16 mins
Join Eric Peguero, host of the Greater Rockville Chamber podcast, as he sits down with Antonia Cummings, Family Service Director of Parklawn Memorial Park & Menorah Gardens. In this thought-provoking episode, Antonia shares valuable insights and expert advice on planning for a successful passing. From understanding the importance of advance planning to navigating the complexities of funeral arrangements, Antonia provides guidance on:
Click for a Personal Guide:
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/maryland/rockville/parklawn-memorial-park-and-menorah-gardens/9736
Guest Information
Antonia Cummings
Family Service Director
Parklawn Memorial Park & Menorah Gardens
(301) 881-2151
Antonia.Cummings@DignityMemorial.Com
- The benefits of pre-planning funeral services
- How to ensure your wishes are respected after you're gone
- Navigating grief and supporting loved ones
- Understanding funeral home and cemetery options
- Creating a meaningful and personalized farewell
Click for a Personal Guide:
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/maryland/rockville/parklawn-memorial-park-and-menorah-gardens/9736
Guest Information
Antonia Cummings
Family Service Director
Parklawn Memorial Park & Menorah Gardens
(301) 881-2151
Antonia.Cummings@DignityMemorial.Com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, rock stars, this is Eric Paguero. Today we're talking
about the inevitable. This is going to happen to all
of us, whether we want to or not, whether we
plan or don't plan for it, it will happen. The
question is when. Yeah, I'm talking about taxes. No, in reality,
we're talking about passing away. And we have a special guest,
a member of our chamber have Antonia Cummings from Park
(00:26):
Lawn Memorial Park. Antonia, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi, Eric, Thanks so much for having me on. This
is something I'm very passionate about. I'm excited to be
with you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Today, Antonia. So we're talking about passing away, which is
a subject that you know, a lot of people don't
necessarily like to talk about, but it's one of those
things that we got to plan for. I'm really glad
you're here and we're going to talk about some things
that people need to know in order to make sure
that they have a successful passing. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, that's definitely one way of putting it. Like you said,
and I appreciate what you said at the beginning, Like
death and taxes, so two things that we are gary
in life, neither of which are things we are fond of,
and yet they come inevitably. So something that I have
grown to be incredibly passionate about in the funeral service
(01:12):
industry is the ability for us to plan for this
inevitable thing. So a lot of us think that it's
something that can't be planned for, that it's just going
to happen when it happens, and we'll handle it when
that happens, and at best we'll have a roadmap to
be able to explain what our wishes were using a will.
Those are great pieces of paper to be able to
(01:33):
get our estates in order. But ultimately your next of
kin has a lot to do with what will be
needed to actually fulfill those wishes, And if you aren't
speaking with a funeral professional, there may be some things
that you have not considered would be necessary to fulfill
those needs. Just as a quick example, a lot of
(01:55):
people will say, Oh, I want to be scattered, I'm
going to be cremated, I'm going to have my ashes
scattered and X, Y and Z place that was very
important to me, But they don't look into the fact
that a lot of those places may actually be illegal
to have a scattering performed or it may be quite
some time before a permit can betequired to do that.
So when your loved one is being given this map,
(02:18):
your will, of your wishes and they aren't quite sure
how to fulfill those things, it can be very stressful.
On top of it being a very emotional time, and
the financial elements of that. While we have things like
life insurance or hopefully we do have a good estate
set aside, it can be something that is just very
overwhelming for someone to have a grip on as a whole.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Before we get deep into this, let's talk about how
you got into it. How did you get into this?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So I was actually in college getting my undergrad with
the intention of being able to do mission work and
become an RN a registered nurse, and in my sophomore
year I ended up losing two of my best friends
back to back, both very sad and unexpected deaths, as
you would believe for people in their sophmore year of college.
(03:06):
And it's just something that when you're nineteen and twenty
years old, you don't really consider as part of your
normal college life. But all of a sudden became very
clear to me that I was going to die and
that I needed to be okay with that, as well
as be okay with people around me dying, regardless of
(03:27):
when that was my own parents, someday, my siblings, and
one of eight children. So the idea of losing my
siblings is incomprehensible to me. But I'm the eldest, so
that's going to probably happen at some point. Probably won't
get the privilege of dying before all of them. Just
kind of realizing that this is something that I wanted
to be okay with and I wanted to help other
people be prepared for was a huge eye opening moment
(03:50):
for me going through those losses, and it also gave
a lot of value to those losses for me, making
it almost seem like they were a part of my
life by guiding me towards this ministry that I'm so
passionate about. It's just something that people don't know a
lot about, like you said, because we're uncomfortable with it,
so we may just subconsciously not want to know anything
(04:10):
about it, and even a lot of estate planning lawyers
they also don't want to know about it. And so
that's something I do, is work with a lot of
state planning lawyers trying to work with them on how
we can fully and comprehensively protect families, not just financially,
and in leaving their goods behind, their worldly goods, Like
they say, you can't take it with you, So you
(04:32):
leave those things behind. But what you can take with
you is the ability to have your wishes fulfilled and
make the lives of the people you leave behind at
least a little less stressful because they know that they
did exactly what you wanted.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
There's a lot there, and I want to just nipick
out a couple of things that you said. One of
them is definitely planning, because it is a time when
you lose somebody, it is now up to your loved
ones to fulfill your you're dying wishes. In many cases
they do leave wills behind. It is up to your
loved ones to fulfill your wishes. Right. So one of
(05:09):
the big things that when it is such a either
dramatic passing or even if it was a long term sickness,
it is still something sad that's going on, right, and
then adding stress to it makes it even worse. So
talking to somebody like yourself is probably important. What would
that look like, you know, somebody coming in and having
(05:29):
a conversation with you about a passing, should how should
we be prepared?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So ideally I through things like this with this podcast,
or being able to go to seminars for veterans or
retirement unities. I'm educating people in advance so that they
can make these decisions for themselves or for someone in
their life who maybe is sick in advance. But what
the decisions that you end up making when a death
(05:55):
has occurred are often going to be rushed and financially streamed,
because it's going to be a lot of different elements,
and maybe you don't have access to the will yet,
so you're really not even sure what it is that
they wanted, and so you're trying to do something that
needs to be done within a timely fashion, simply because
we want to give dignity to the body of the
decease but also be able to emotionally have closure. So
(06:19):
we're trying to speed through things at times. And then
I've had, unfortunately a number of circumstances where families realized
after the fact they didn't want to be cremated. They
had set aside funds in X account that we didn't
have access to without a death certificate and all these
sad situations, or maybe the will was put in a
lock box at a bank that required a death certificate,
(06:41):
but to be able to do the death certificate, you
needed the will to get the executor to do all
these different things to get access to that will. So
it's just kind of a flow chart of unfortunate situations
that can happen if the planning isn't done correctly. So
seeing a lawyer is definitely a really good first step.
But the sure fire way, so to speak, to actually
(07:02):
have your wishes fulfilled is to have something pre planned,
not just with a cemetery. I do work with cemetery currently,
but I am also a licensed funeral director, and so
a lot of people don't know you can not only
pre purchase property as a cemetery, but you can actually
put together your entire plan at a funeral home and
have everything down to the flowers you want and have
(07:23):
the finances all taken care of, and by laws of
airship and next of kinship in America, regardless of who
your executor is, your next of can have the authorization
to move forward with your wishes. So if you've taken
care of your wishes financially and verbally at a funeral
home and a cemetery. Regardless of who your executor is,
(07:45):
the next of kin can move forward with that. Now,
if your next of kin or people that you haven't
talked to in a long time, that can be an issue,
or if you don't have any but you can also
appoint what's called a designate in those arrangements, specifically designating
someone to authorize your disposition, because America does consider disposition
(08:08):
a basic human right, and so they make it as
simple as possible for people to be able to give
in disposition simply by allowing a designed to be selected
by the person the catches. You have to do that
before you pass away. We do not do seances or
anything like that to try to communicate with the test
to find out who they wanted to authorize these things.
(08:31):
So you do have to do a little communication and
a little selection, but with a little bit of homework done,
a lot of stress is alleviated from whoever you're leaving
behind to handle these things.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That's perfect. Hold on, I'm just writing here. No seances, Okay,
got you, We're gonna take that out. I'm gonna ye
take that out of my oasis. So no, that's great information.
I appreciate that. So, Parklawn, are you connected to all
these other parklawns throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Probably not so. Unfortunately, we do get a lot of
calls from other Parklawn cemetery clients throughout the country that
are not affiliated with us, with random complaints and once
I realized what state they live, and I'm quickly able
to eliminate that that's not our park. Parkland is a
pretty common name for a cemetery. The thing that makes
(09:20):
our name a little unique is that we are Parklawn
Memorial Park and Minora Gardens. We're very proud of that,
simply because we did not have a strictly Jewish cemetery
in the area, even though it is a very high
populated area for Jewish families, and so back in the
early nineties we opened Minora Gardens and we have artwork
(09:44):
on the gateway there to be able to distinguish the
twelve Tribes of Israel. So that's something that we take
a lot of pride in. We're actually having our annual
service of remembrance for our Jewish families this coming Sunday
on October the sixth and so we'll have a rabbi
here and a choir, and we try to honor all
(10:05):
religions here, of course, but we are very proud of
the fact that we have a Jewish cemetery within our park.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That's one of the things that it's great about, especially
living in Montgomery County, and it's very inclusive, very welcoming.
Now it totally killed the fact that you're not connected
to Parkland in California. My next question, which is was
anybody famous buried there?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So we take the privacy of our families very seriously,
and so we don't discuss who is buried here. While
anyone can come here and see headstones or markers on
their own, because that is considered public property to be
able to come visit your loved ones, we just don't
want to ever publicize who's here without the permission of families.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Gotcha, Okay, I can respect that, you know. I'm just
thinking about all those celebrities have died. But that's Parkland, California,
So no baking. So, but what makes your park lawn
here such a prestigious place? Because it is a prestigious place,
it has a good name in the community, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That Parklann has created a bond with the community simply
because it has been here for quite some time. It
originally was opened in the late fifties as a cemetery,
having been initially a historic summer home to the Wilkins
family who were very fond of their horses in nature
and came here to be in nature. And there are
(11:30):
five hundred plus acres that the park originally was ended
up selling it after World War Two, and that's when
it became cemetery, and then that property slowly got sold off,
So we're closer to one hundred and sixty acres now
that we own. But we're right in the heart of
Rock Creek Park, which is a beautiful park going all
(11:51):
the way to DC just about six miles out from here,
and so we have that serenity of a park. Even
though we're in the center of kind the industrial area
of Rockville. It is perfectly quiet here. So a lot
of people are amazed by the fact that it's almost
like a little bubble getting you away from the city
and you really can have that serene, quiet experience with
(12:12):
your loved ones when you come here. We have people
when I'm leaving in the evenings having picnics out in
the park. I even saw the other evening someone had
brought out like folding tables and folding chairs and candles
and like they were having like an outdoor banquet. So
it's like it's a beautiful environment for that sort of thing.
And I love that people feel comfortable enough to do
that here. And that's the kind of environment we want
(12:33):
for people who are memorializing their families. So I think
that people know that that's what we stand for, is
memoralizing heritage of families from all walks of life. And
that's the message we want to continue with.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
What kind of resources are there for families going through
grief right now that you guys provide.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, that is a good question and something that we're
working more on currently. We do have for all of
the families and friends that attend services here at Parkland,
we offer a Compassion Helpline, so people of all different
languages can call anytime twenty four to seven to be
able to speak with a licensed counselor and be able
(13:15):
to kind of work through any crises maybe they're going
through after experiencing a loss. There's no fee for that,
so that's a really really good benefit for families that
come here. We also are trying to do more and
more religious and non religious memorial services, like we're having
our annual service of remembrance for Jewish families coming out.
(13:35):
I'm trying to arrange a procession for the DALs Mortos
in November to honor our Hispanic culture as well as
Catholic cultures. So I'm trying to encourage more families to
embrace their heritage and roots as well as just their
family roots. So there's always room for improvement for that.
(13:56):
But my counselors here do a great job of following
up with families and making sure that they feel like
they can call us if they need anything, not just
from an arrangement standpoint, but really have us be there
for them if they need help.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think that's fabulous services, because I mean, I don't
know that everybody offers that, so just having that on
hand is great. And the last question I have is,
I'll say that this can be a little bit more
complicated than what we let on right here. There's a
lot of moving parts to either one passing away or
loved one passing away, right so I think it'd be
important to just maybe sit down with you and have
(14:32):
a conversation about planning and all that. How do we
get a hold of you.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, so all my counselors and myself offer counsel for
any family. There's no fee to come and sit down
with us and go over what we call Personal Planning Guide,
which will give out to anyone who requests one. It's
a really helpful book that you can fill out either
as a PDF on your computer or you can manually
handwrite it in and you can put in everything from
(14:58):
points for your obituaries, information required for death certificates, where
your financial institutions are, what lawyer you worked with, like,
all these really really helpful details, and it gives you
a checklist of things that you would need to do
to be fully protected for a death to occur tomorrow,
the tragedy that would be, but that your family would
have everything they need in one book that you can
(15:20):
put with your estate planning, and if you decide to
make arrange one, we have a seamless arrangement with our
funeral homes in the area, so that you can make
sure that you have everything done, not just one thing,
because that's something I find very important having been a
licensed funeral director and still am. I never want to
do a family and injustice and go that's great, you
(15:42):
bought your property, you took care of your headstone or marker,
whatever it is you selected. I always want to make
sure they're a where you can plan even your funeral
service and you can have everything done so that you
truly have a peace of mind that your wrists will
be fulfilled and your family won't have any of that
financial stress.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Give me just contact information real quick. Sure so.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
My name is Antonia Cummings and our office number at
Park one Memorial Park is three zero one one two
one by one, and if email is your preferred method
of contact, my email is Antonia period Cummings at Dignitymemorial
dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Antonia, thank you so much again for being part of
the podcast and for being part of this greater Rockville
Chamber of Commerce. We we're very grateful that you are
part of our chamber in our community.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thank you so much for having me Eric. This is
really great and I hope we get to chat offline again.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Absolutely
Hey, rock stars, this is Eric Paguero. Today we're talking
about the inevitable. This is going to happen to all
of us, whether we want to or not, whether we
plan or don't plan for it, it will happen. The
question is when. Yeah, I'm talking about taxes. No, in reality,
we're talking about passing away. And we have a special guest,
a member of our chamber have Antonia Cummings from Park
(00:26):
Lawn Memorial Park. Antonia, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi, Eric, Thanks so much for having me on. This
is something I'm very passionate about. I'm excited to be
with you.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Today, Antonia. So we're talking about passing away, which is
a subject that you know, a lot of people don't
necessarily like to talk about, but it's one of those
things that we got to plan for. I'm really glad
you're here and we're going to talk about some things
that people need to know in order to make sure
that they have a successful passing. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, that's definitely one way of putting it. Like you said,
and I appreciate what you said at the beginning, Like
death and taxes, so two things that we are gary
in life, neither of which are things we are fond of,
and yet they come inevitably. So something that I have
grown to be incredibly passionate about in the funeral service
(01:12):
industry is the ability for us to plan for this
inevitable thing. So a lot of us think that it's
something that can't be planned for, that it's just going
to happen when it happens, and we'll handle it when
that happens, and at best we'll have a roadmap to
be able to explain what our wishes were using a will.
Those are great pieces of paper to be able to
(01:33):
get our estates in order. But ultimately your next of
kin has a lot to do with what will be
needed to actually fulfill those wishes, And if you aren't
speaking with a funeral professional, there may be some things
that you have not considered would be necessary to fulfill
those needs. Just as a quick example, a lot of
(01:55):
people will say, Oh, I want to be scattered, I'm
going to be cremated, I'm going to have my ashes
scattered and X, Y and Z place that was very
important to me, But they don't look into the fact
that a lot of those places may actually be illegal
to have a scattering performed or it may be quite
some time before a permit can betequired to do that.
So when your loved one is being given this map,
(02:18):
your will, of your wishes and they aren't quite sure
how to fulfill those things, it can be very stressful.
On top of it being a very emotional time, and
the financial elements of that. While we have things like
life insurance or hopefully we do have a good estate
set aside, it can be something that is just very
overwhelming for someone to have a grip on as a whole.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Before we get deep into this, let's talk about how
you got into it. How did you get into this?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So I was actually in college getting my undergrad with
the intention of being able to do mission work and
become an RN a registered nurse, and in my sophomore
year I ended up losing two of my best friends
back to back, both very sad and unexpected deaths, as
you would believe for people in their sophmore year of college.
(03:06):
And it's just something that when you're nineteen and twenty
years old, you don't really consider as part of your
normal college life. But all of a sudden became very
clear to me that I was going to die and
that I needed to be okay with that, as well
as be okay with people around me dying, regardless of
(03:27):
when that was my own parents, someday, my siblings, and
one of eight children. So the idea of losing my
siblings is incomprehensible to me. But I'm the eldest, so
that's going to probably happen at some point. Probably won't
get the privilege of dying before all of them. Just
kind of realizing that this is something that I wanted
to be okay with and I wanted to help other
people be prepared for was a huge eye opening moment
(03:50):
for me going through those losses, and it also gave
a lot of value to those losses for me, making
it almost seem like they were a part of my
life by guiding me towards this ministry that I'm so
passionate about. It's just something that people don't know a
lot about, like you said, because we're uncomfortable with it,
so we may just subconsciously not want to know anything
(04:10):
about it, and even a lot of estate planning lawyers
they also don't want to know about it. And so
that's something I do, is work with a lot of
state planning lawyers trying to work with them on how
we can fully and comprehensively protect families, not just financially,
and in leaving their goods behind, their worldly goods, Like
they say, you can't take it with you, So you
(04:32):
leave those things behind. But what you can take with
you is the ability to have your wishes fulfilled and
make the lives of the people you leave behind at
least a little less stressful because they know that they
did exactly what you wanted.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
There's a lot there, and I want to just nipick
out a couple of things that you said. One of
them is definitely planning, because it is a time when
you lose somebody, it is now up to your loved
ones to fulfill your you're dying wishes. In many cases
they do leave wills behind. It is up to your
loved ones to fulfill your wishes. Right. So one of
(05:09):
the big things that when it is such a either
dramatic passing or even if it was a long term sickness,
it is still something sad that's going on, right, and
then adding stress to it makes it even worse. So
talking to somebody like yourself is probably important. What would
that look like, you know, somebody coming in and having
(05:29):
a conversation with you about a passing, should how should
we be prepared?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So ideally I through things like this with this podcast,
or being able to go to seminars for veterans or
retirement unities. I'm educating people in advance so that they
can make these decisions for themselves or for someone in
their life who maybe is sick in advance. But what
the decisions that you end up making when a death
(05:55):
has occurred are often going to be rushed and financially streamed,
because it's going to be a lot of different elements,
and maybe you don't have access to the will yet,
so you're really not even sure what it is that
they wanted, and so you're trying to do something that
needs to be done within a timely fashion, simply because
we want to give dignity to the body of the
decease but also be able to emotionally have closure. So
(06:19):
we're trying to speed through things at times. And then
I've had, unfortunately a number of circumstances where families realized
after the fact they didn't want to be cremated. They
had set aside funds in X account that we didn't
have access to without a death certificate and all these
sad situations, or maybe the will was put in a
lock box at a bank that required a death certificate,
(06:41):
but to be able to do the death certificate, you
needed the will to get the executor to do all
these different things to get access to that will. So
it's just kind of a flow chart of unfortunate situations
that can happen if the planning isn't done correctly. So
seeing a lawyer is definitely a really good first step.
But the sure fire way, so to speak, to actually
(07:02):
have your wishes fulfilled is to have something pre planned,
not just with a cemetery. I do work with cemetery currently,
but I am also a licensed funeral director, and so
a lot of people don't know you can not only
pre purchase property as a cemetery, but you can actually
put together your entire plan at a funeral home and
have everything down to the flowers you want and have
(07:23):
the finances all taken care of, and by laws of
airship and next of kinship in America, regardless of who
your executor is, your next of can have the authorization
to move forward with your wishes. So if you've taken
care of your wishes financially and verbally at a funeral
home and a cemetery. Regardless of who your executor is,
(07:45):
the next of kin can move forward with that. Now,
if your next of kin or people that you haven't
talked to in a long time, that can be an issue,
or if you don't have any but you can also
appoint what's called a designate in those arrangements, specifically designating
someone to authorize your disposition, because America does consider disposition
(08:08):
a basic human right, and so they make it as
simple as possible for people to be able to give
in disposition simply by allowing a designed to be selected
by the person the catches. You have to do that
before you pass away. We do not do seances or
anything like that to try to communicate with the test
to find out who they wanted to authorize these things.
(08:31):
So you do have to do a little communication and
a little selection, but with a little bit of homework done,
a lot of stress is alleviated from whoever you're leaving
behind to handle these things.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That's perfect. Hold on, I'm just writing here. No seances, Okay,
got you, We're gonna take that out. I'm gonna ye
take that out of my oasis. So no, that's great information.
I appreciate that. So, Parklawn, are you connected to all
these other parklawns throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Probably not so. Unfortunately, we do get a lot of
calls from other Parklawn cemetery clients throughout the country that
are not affiliated with us, with random complaints and once
I realized what state they live, and I'm quickly able
to eliminate that that's not our park. Parkland is a
pretty common name for a cemetery. The thing that makes
(09:20):
our name a little unique is that we are Parklawn
Memorial Park and Minora Gardens. We're very proud of that,
simply because we did not have a strictly Jewish cemetery
in the area, even though it is a very high
populated area for Jewish families, and so back in the
early nineties we opened Minora Gardens and we have artwork
(09:44):
on the gateway there to be able to distinguish the
twelve Tribes of Israel. So that's something that we take
a lot of pride in. We're actually having our annual
service of remembrance for our Jewish families this coming Sunday
on October the sixth and so we'll have a rabbi
here and a choir, and we try to honor all
(10:05):
religions here, of course, but we are very proud of
the fact that we have a Jewish cemetery within our park.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That's one of the things that it's great about, especially
living in Montgomery County, and it's very inclusive, very welcoming.
Now it totally killed the fact that you're not connected
to Parkland in California. My next question, which is was
anybody famous buried there?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So we take the privacy of our families very seriously,
and so we don't discuss who is buried here. While
anyone can come here and see headstones or markers on
their own, because that is considered public property to be
able to come visit your loved ones, we just don't
want to ever publicize who's here without the permission of families.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Gotcha, Okay, I can respect that, you know. I'm just
thinking about all those celebrities have died. But that's Parkland, California,
So no baking. So, but what makes your park lawn
here such a prestigious place? Because it is a prestigious place,
it has a good name in the community, I think.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That Parklann has created a bond with the community simply
because it has been here for quite some time. It
originally was opened in the late fifties as a cemetery,
having been initially a historic summer home to the Wilkins
family who were very fond of their horses in nature
and came here to be in nature. And there are
(11:30):
five hundred plus acres that the park originally was ended
up selling it after World War Two, and that's when
it became cemetery, and then that property slowly got sold off,
So we're closer to one hundred and sixty acres now
that we own. But we're right in the heart of
Rock Creek Park, which is a beautiful park going all
(11:51):
the way to DC just about six miles out from here,
and so we have that serenity of a park. Even
though we're in the center of kind the industrial area
of Rockville. It is perfectly quiet here. So a lot
of people are amazed by the fact that it's almost
like a little bubble getting you away from the city
and you really can have that serene, quiet experience with
(12:12):
your loved ones when you come here. We have people
when I'm leaving in the evenings having picnics out in
the park. I even saw the other evening someone had
brought out like folding tables and folding chairs and candles
and like they were having like an outdoor banquet. So
it's like it's a beautiful environment for that sort of thing.
And I love that people feel comfortable enough to do
that here. And that's the kind of environment we want
(12:33):
for people who are memorializing their families. So I think
that people know that that's what we stand for, is
memoralizing heritage of families from all walks of life. And
that's the message we want to continue with.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
What kind of resources are there for families going through
grief right now that you guys provide.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, that is a good question and something that we're
working more on currently. We do have for all of
the families and friends that attend services here at Parkland,
we offer a Compassion Helpline, so people of all different
languages can call anytime twenty four to seven to be
able to speak with a licensed counselor and be able
(13:15):
to kind of work through any crises maybe they're going
through after experiencing a loss. There's no fee for that,
so that's a really really good benefit for families that
come here. We also are trying to do more and
more religious and non religious memorial services, like we're having
our annual service of remembrance for Jewish families coming out.
(13:35):
I'm trying to arrange a procession for the DALs Mortos
in November to honor our Hispanic culture as well as
Catholic cultures. So I'm trying to encourage more families to
embrace their heritage and roots as well as just their
family roots. So there's always room for improvement for that.
(13:56):
But my counselors here do a great job of following
up with families and making sure that they feel like
they can call us if they need anything, not just
from an arrangement standpoint, but really have us be there
for them if they need help.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I think that's fabulous services, because I mean, I don't
know that everybody offers that, so just having that on
hand is great. And the last question I have is,
I'll say that this can be a little bit more
complicated than what we let on right here. There's a
lot of moving parts to either one passing away or
loved one passing away, right so I think it'd be
important to just maybe sit down with you and have
(14:32):
a conversation about planning and all that. How do we
get a hold of you.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, so all my counselors and myself offer counsel for
any family. There's no fee to come and sit down
with us and go over what we call Personal Planning Guide,
which will give out to anyone who requests one. It's
a really helpful book that you can fill out either
as a PDF on your computer or you can manually
handwrite it in and you can put in everything from
(14:58):
points for your obituaries, information required for death certificates, where
your financial institutions are, what lawyer you worked with, like,
all these really really helpful details, and it gives you
a checklist of things that you would need to do
to be fully protected for a death to occur tomorrow,
the tragedy that would be, but that your family would
have everything they need in one book that you can
(15:20):
put with your estate planning, and if you decide to
make arrange one, we have a seamless arrangement with our
funeral homes in the area, so that you can make
sure that you have everything done, not just one thing,
because that's something I find very important having been a
licensed funeral director and still am. I never want to
do a family and injustice and go that's great, you
(15:42):
bought your property, you took care of your headstone or marker,
whatever it is you selected. I always want to make
sure they're a where you can plan even your funeral
service and you can have everything done so that you
truly have a peace of mind that your wrists will
be fulfilled and your family won't have any of that
financial stress.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Give me just contact information real quick. Sure so.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
My name is Antonia Cummings and our office number at
Park one Memorial Park is three zero one one two
one by one, and if email is your preferred method
of contact, my email is Antonia period Cummings at Dignitymemorial
dot com.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Antonia, thank you so much again for being part of
the podcast and for being part of this greater Rockville
Chamber of Commerce. We we're very grateful that you are
part of our chamber in our community.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Thank you so much for having me Eric. This is
really great and I hope we get to chat offline again.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Absolutely
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