Because we focus on Life and Legacy, and ask “How do you want to be remembered?” we listen when you share. Have you attended a funeral where the officiant is not a member of local clergy? Times change and so do your needs, even if it’s just a small group who needs flexibility and creativity. Some families ask us to design an appropriate service for a loved one who didn’t belong to a specific religious faith. Or you want a nontraditional remembrance of life outside a sanctuary or funeral center. We remain committed to serving the needs of a contemporary society while remaining steeped in the tradition you’ve come to expect of us.
We’re pleased to introduce Dawn Lee Wakefield as our Official Life Celebrant and Tribute Professional, available exclusively through Callaway-Jones. Many of you know Dawn Lee’s obituaries and tributes she’s shared for years. Maybe she spoke at a funeral, or unofficially helped your family prepare elements of traditional services for your loved ones.
A respected community volunteer, for over 20 years, Dawn Lee has contributed time and funds to over 28 local nonprofits, from co-chairing annual fundraisers to extensive committee service, improving health, education, music, youth and family services. Her desire to help those going through end-of-life choices for loved ones’ arrangements led to our mutual collaboration.
In early 2016, she completed formal training in California to become our Official Celebrant. I’m very excited to share she’s also key in our Legacy Program. An option to the very lengthy obituaries which last only a day in print media, we offer you our new Permanent Legacy Program.
You’ve known Callaway-Jones for five decades as a keeper of tradition and family heritage when it comes to providing meaningful funeral services for those you love.
So, when do you need or want a Life Celebrant? Within the community of funeral directors to which I belong, the past few years I’ve been hearing about how valuable it is to have a Life Celebrant on your staff.
Some people are not affiliated with a specific religious faith. So, it makes sense that you’d want a different kind of service than a traditional formal service with hymns, scripture and prayers. In other cases we’ve found that some people relocate to Bryan-College Station to join family members here, and they don’t have a regular place of worship where a minister can get to know them and be with them in their final years.
That’s why our family decided to keep pace with changing times and choose our own representative to send for training to become our very own official Life Celebrant and Tribute Professional. For over 10 years, we’ve known Dawn Lee Wakefield as a writer and editor in town. She’s been active on several committees at churches she’s belonged to from the moment she moved here and we’ve heard her speak and share heartfelt memories when her friends have passed away. Family friends have asked Dawn Lee to help them compose their obituaries we submit to the newspapers here and around the country.
Dawn Lee is a storyteller; that’s what she does, whether she’s speaking to groups about one of their loved ones now gone, or whether she’s talking and working with family members to write the life story of one of your loved ones. At Callaway-Jones, we are cost-conscious and believe that you should have a standard size obituary notice printed in the newspaper, and we are happy to host a longer-length life tribute for you at no extra cost on our own dedicated website. It stays there permanently.
Now that our new funeral center is completed and finishing touches are going on our new parking lot right now, we will invite you to come and visit our new home. See where you can have a different kind of funeral service without leaving the building. Or, with a life celebrant, you can have a graveside service, an observation and sendoff at your ranch, or any special kind of tribute you might want to have. We help you say goodbye to those you’ve loved.
And, we recognize that many people simply do not belong to a religion but they want something really special to remember the lives of those who’ve passed away. That’s where a Celebrant can be of help, interviewing the family members and friends who best knew the person who passed away, sharing what was most important in their lives and telling the story of their life (and writing it) for generations to come to know exactly who their loved one was and what they did while they were here on Earth.
If this term is new to you, please call or come by and we’ll tell you more. If you know Dawn Lee and want to talk with her about helping your family write a life legacy tribute ‘before you need it’, please give us a call at (979) 822-3717. We have options for the types of life tributes you might want to have, whether a longer tribute for the newspaper or an extensive life history/legacy that you can pass on to future generations about who you are and were during your lifetime. Having a Certified Life Celebrant and Tribute Professional is just one more way in which Callaway-Jones is growing to meet your needs.
