Services

At Dalfonso-Billick Funeral Home and Cremation Services, we pride ourselves in being professional yet compassionate to every family’s needs, and by doing so, lighten their burden during a very difficult time. We are “hometown people” providing an “at home” atmosphere, with warmth, sincerity and trust, and the comfort of knowing we will always be there for you. We have built a reputation for assisting the families before, during, and after a service. Our funeral home offers many different types of services, and will assist you in choosing a service that meets the needs of your family, and one that you are financially comfortable with.

Before the service, we can assist in pre-planning the funeral, so that at the time of need, most decisions are already made, making a difficult time a little easier.

During the service, we will make arrangements with the clergy, contact the cemetery and assisting in choosing a plot if needed, order flowers, place obituaries, make arrangements for a luncheon if desired, order certified copies of the death certificate, contact Social Security, and order engraving of a headstone or assist in the purchase of one.

After the service, we will assist in the filing of claims for private and fraternal life insurance, contact pension plans or the former employer of the deceased, file for county and federal veteran’s benefits if eligible, and are available to help guide and assist you with other personal business if requested.

Below is a description of the above listed services. Please keep in mind, that each type of service can be changed to meet your individual needs.

This type of service is the one chosen by most families. The viewing, whether public or private, gives the family members an opportunity to express their grief through reality. Our funeral home prides itself in making your loved one look as natural as possible, thus giving you a much better memory than that of seeing the person in a hospital, nursing home or residence. Psychologist tell us by having a public viewing, family and friends have the opportunity to share your loss with you, helping to support and comfort you, thus helping you through the grief process. The viewing is not for the person who died, but for those of us left behind to grieve.

For this type of service, the casket is normally open for the viewing, with the time of the viewing being chosen by your family. Following the viewing, a funeral service is held either at our facility or at your place of worship. A procession to the cemetery follows, where a brief committal service is held, either at the gravesite or cemetery chapel.

As more people chose cremation as their preferred type of disposition, they are also choosing to have a traditional viewing followed by a service. This service is the same as the Traditional Service with Viewing and Burial, except that after the service the deceased is cremated. Then at a later date the cremated remains, if desired, is buried or entombed. The viewing and/or service can either be public or private.

This service is commonly referred to as Direct Cremation. Following death, the person is removed from the place of death and held until all legal requirements are meet by the funeral home, then cremated. In Pennsylvania, this time period is a minimum of 24 hours. There is no viewing. A memorial service can be held for family and friends at a later date, and can be held either at our facility, your place of worship, or an alternative site.

This type of service is commonly referred to as Direct Burial. For this type of service, there is no viewing. The family can chose to have the person buried or entombed without a service, or they can choose to have a service either at our facility or their place of worship, followed by the burial or entombment. Another option is to have a service at the gravesite or mausoleum.

This type of service is provided when someone wants to be buried here, but has died somewhere else. Each individual case is different, but most of the time, a person has moved to another state, and at the time of their death would like to be brought back to our area for their funeral service. In other instances, a person is away visiting or an vacation when an untimely death occurs. Whatever the situation, our funeral home can handle all the details just by calling us first. We will arrange for the deceased to be removed from the place of death, prepared for transportation home, embalmed if required, file for the necessary permits and certificates for the transportation, and arrange for the type of transportation (either by airline or motor vehicle). Once the deceased is brought back to our facility, the type of service requested by the family is arranged. By calling our funeral home first, we will be able to keep the cost associated with bringing your loved one home to a minimum.

This type of service is provided when a person needs to be transported out of the area. We can remove the deceased from the place of death, prepare the person for transportation, embalm if required, file the necessary permits and certificates, and arrange for the type of transportation. This service can also be provided after a viewing and funeral service. We will make all the arrangements with the funeral home or cemetery that will handle the burial out of our area.

Talking with families, either while pre-planning a funeral, or while arranging the funeral of someone who just died, we encourage them to make their loved ones viewing and funeral service personal. Some of the suggestions we make are: bring in pictures to place on our “Memory Board” (2’ x 3’ board on an easel) or on tables in the viewing room; bring in items that honors the deceased persons life style, such as if they like to hunt, fish, golf, or liked crafts, arts or cooking, some item(s) can be brought into the funeral home and placed either in the casket or in the viewing room; bring in a CD or cassette of their favorite music for us to play during the viewing or service; provide us with a good photograph of the deceased to use on prayer cards or memorial folders, obituaries, and for the funeral service program.

A death certificate is a legal document that is required to prove that a person has died. They are required for: to file for life insurances; to probate a will; required by financial institutions such as banks, IRA, mutual fund, and stock companies; pensions plans; to take a persons name off a real estate deed or to sell property or a vehicle that was owned by the deceased. Once the funeral home receives the death certificate from the doctor or coroner, we will fill it out with the information provided by the family, and file the death certificate with a local registrar. The local registrar will issue to the funeral home the number of Certified Copies of the death certificate requested by the family. The family will order the number of Certified Copies of the Death Certificate needed during the arrangement conference. The cost of each copy issued by the local registrar is $6.00. At the end of the month, the original death certificate is file with Department of Health, Division of Vital Records in New Castle, PA. If additional copies are needed, Vital Records charges $9.00 per copy, with turn around time for the request taking up to three weeks. Additional copies can always be ordered through the funeral home.

In order to apply for county or federal veterans benefits, which can include a flag, a burial allowance and grave marker, the funeral home will need the individuals “Honorable Discharge” papers. This form is referred to as the “DD-214”. Once we have the honorable discharge, we can apply for available veteran’s benefits. If you are unable to locate the honorable discharge document, we will assist you in trying to obtain a copy.