Our compassionate and experienced staff have been serving the Stratford area for many years. Our commitment to serve you better transcends our facility. We invite you to browse our website, and plea
... - continue reading »
What's New
Friday, May 10, 2024
Rutherford Cremation & Funeral Services always, always, always, has your service and your cost in mind.
This information has been made available, through Rutherford Cremation & Funeral Services to empower people with information and demystify issues concerning death and dying.
MYTHS & TRUTHS
URNS:
Funeral homes have urns, or can obtain urns, that range in price from approximately $200 to $5,000. Metal urns, wooden urns, stone urns, composite urns, biodegradable urns – there is no shortage to choose from. Urns hold remains from a cremation or aquamation and lend a certain dignity to a funeral... more
Posted at 01:08 PM
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
HAT TRICK WITH A MIRROR
In and around the 15th century the invention of the mirror started changing the psyche of the world. It changed people and it changed art. Individuality, as we understand it today, did not exist because largely people did not see themselves as individuals like we do now. They certainly didn't, nor could they, look at themselves at all; and as such they felt themselves more part of a whole in relation to groups, household, town – and in relation to God.
The mirror changed all that. Once a person... more
Posted at 12:16 PM
Monday, January 22, 2024
A THANK YOU FROM THE MANAGER
At the end of 2017, the James A. Rutherford Funeral Home made a bold move – a departure from what some considered to be the norm. The old, dark and somewhat dingy funeral home on Albert Street was sold, and the business moved into two bright and spacious units across from the Canadian Legion at 804 Ontario Street, Stratford. The funeral home became Rutherford Cremation & Funeral Services having taken over the compassionate care that Heinbuck Funeral Home demonstrated for decades, before many... more
Posted at 12:21 PM
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
THE WEIGHT OF MEMORY
Sometimes, in the late golden glow of the dusk and decaying leaves of autumn, among the dancing colours of the Christmas lights on snow in December or enveloped in the smell of the warm and mossy winds of approaching summer, when the workday has ended and I'm on my way home – I reflect. Who have I served this day whose life has irreparably changed?
The reflections are my way of praying. I join myself to the thought of them and I try to let all good vibrations fly. I know little of their lives. I know even... more
Posted at 10:41 AM
Friday, January 12, 2024
THE RENEWAL YEAR
Nature is perfect. Its persistence. Subtle and inspiring. Mighty, and yet an intimately hidden power. It renews. A flower emerges again and again even from the tiny crack in the concrete. We don't always feel its preparations. We don't always appreciate its dressings in season, before we realize the season is already upon us. When it comes, it comes in a glorious burst, like trumpets. Or it comes softly, like a bow arcing on a violin string, in tiny buds and infinitesimal sprouts along the crust of the earth –... more
Posted at 02:00 PM
Friday, January 5, 2024
THE RENEWAL YEAR
Nature is perfect. Its persistence. Subtle and inspiring. Mighty, and yet an intimately hidden power. It renews. A flower emerges again and again even from the tiny crack in the concrete. We don't always feel its preparations. We don't always appreciate its dressings in season, before we realize the season is already upon us. When it comes, it comes in a glorious burst, like trumpets. Or it comes softly, like a bow arcing on a violin string, in tiny buds and infinitesimal sprouts along the crust of the earth –... more
Posted at 10:37 AM
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE
So - 'tis the season once again. For many who observe Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukah, Rohatsu, the Solstice, Mawlid el-Nabi, or any other usually sacred tradition, the recognition of the tradition isn't a terribly daunting task. The experience is something else. Some folks over the years, me included, have at times found themselves in manoeuvres around issues concerning certain holidays, like Christmas – stemming from its “commercialism" to lamenting that it's not what it used to be like when we... more
Posted at 11:30 AM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF DEATH AWARENESS / Dec. 13, 2023.
The overall aims of death awareness are to promote the quality of life and living and to educate and empower people with proper information. This is accomplished through new and expanded knowledge and changes in attitudes and behaviour. This should be the first goal of funeral service to the public and the funeral home should be an advocate for it. – Rutherford Cremation & Funeral Services
PROCEDURES WHEN A DEATH OCCURS Whether a death is sudden or... more
Posted at 04:54 PM
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
TO GET HERE (for a friend who is not yet a ghost)
There is no life that ever follows the plan we set out for ourselves. I read these lines in a book entitled “In A Strange Room" by Damon Galgut: “Maybe when two people meet for the first time, all the possible variations on destiny are contained in their separate natures. These two will be drawn together, those two will be repulsed, most will pass politely with averted gaze and hurry on alone."
It struck me, after many deaths of friend and family, after two marriages, the... more
Rutherford Cremation & Funeral Services always, always, always, has your service and your cost in mind.
