Mission Park: Press Release

How Would You Like To Be Remembered?

Texas' Oldest Family-Owned Cemetery and Funeral Home Business Knows Value Of Planning Ahead

San Antonio, TX (April 2007) - "Making funeral arrangements can be the worst shopping day of a person's life. I know this is true because I've grown up in the profession and had to help so many families during this difficult time. And I've witnessed first-hand the problems they have in making funeral arrangements to bury their loved ones."

Robert D. Tips is making it the mission of Texas' oldest, family-owned funeral business to education people about the importance of planning ahead.

Making arrangements for your funeral in advance - whether you buy a plan or not - makes it easier for the people left behind to deal with the grieving process, instead of dealing with a myriad of decisions.

What type of service would they have wanted? What type of casket would they have wanted? What would they have wanted to wear? Is there any special music they would have preferred? Is there anything special they would have wanted to have said?

"Ten years from today, or 20, 30 or 50 years, what would people say about you? How would you want to be remembered?" Tips asks. "You can decide how you want to be remembered today, instead of letting someone else decide for you."

Where is your final resting place? Would you prefer cremation or burial? If it's burial, should it be above ground? At sea?

The professionals at Mission Park Funeral Chapel and Cemeteries have seen it all too often. That's why Texas' largest, family-owned funeral business is launching an unprecedented campaign filled with new incentives and new, state-of-the-art funeral products.

"At Mission Park, 100 years of service has taught us that the people left behind are the people who struggle the most, the ones who have the most difficult time in determining what their loved ones would have wanted," Tips said. "It's so hard."

It's a difficult, emotional time that can lead to overemotional spending, financial hardships and arguments that may leave rifts in families for years. It's not an ordeal you would ever wish on a relative, friend, or enemy.

A Man On A Mission

Mission Park is pushing this campaign on several fronts. First, there are the interesting incentives.

Anyone who has the foresight to pre-arrange their funeral with Mission Park before the age of 80 will be reimbursed for the cost of their funeral expenses when they reach the age of 100. Customers who already have pre-paid funeral arrangements with Mission Park automatically qualify for the complimentary funeral services when they turn 100.

Any Bexar County resident who turns 100 years or older, or who celebrates a 100th birthday in 2007, will be offered complimentary funeral services at a Mission Park facility.

The average cost of a traditional funeral is $6,500, not including cemetery costs, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

For Mission Park CEO Robert D. Tips, whose family founded the company a century ago, the family business is all about celebrating life. That's why Mission Park is offering people the opportunity to enjoy life when they make pre-need arrangements.

"The funeral business is no different than the hotel business in this regard. If they want a very simple service, to wanting a helicopter ride to having their ashes spread at sea on a private yacht. We can arrange that."

Many pre-need packages come with a complimentary dinner and a night's stay for two at the historic, recently renovated Fairmount Hotel in downtown San Antonio. Others give customers the option of enjoying a helicopter ride over the city, or enjoying dinner and a sunset cruise along the Coastal Bend aboard a private yacht.

All of this is being done to bring in more people to talk about planning for their own mortality today, so they can spare their loved ones the pain of planning for them in the future.

Mission Park also is investing tens of millions of dollars in five gleaming new funeral homes designed to re-think the way people think of deathcare. Chapels will be equipped with cutting-edge technology that allows loved ones who can't attend to view services live over the Internet. Large viewing screens in the chapel can offer slide show photos or film footage of your life's highlights, which can be professionally shot through Mission Park.

Tips is banking on the idea that Mission Park can change the way people view pre-planning for funeral services so they see it as a moral responsibility to family and friends.

Locking In Costs, Assuring Your Wishes Are Met

Budget is the first question most people consider. Paying for a funeral is one of the three largest single-item purchases for the average American, along with home and car ownership.

Funeral costs normally run anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000, with cumulative staff hours totaling 150 hours to 200 hours per arrangement. Because the business must operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, chances are that prices will increase over time.

Pre-arrangements guard against those future increases by locking in costs today. It also means families will avoid overemotional spending when they are pressed for time, and it relieves them of the financial burden that can accompany a funeral.

When you decide to make the call, a funeral director of service professional can help you draw up a pre-need contract, which will detail your choices and the associated costs.

You also can be assured that you will get what you pay for. The funeral industry in Texas is highly regulated, with regular monthly audits from the Texas Department of Banking, and regular reviews also from the Texas Department of Insurance.

Another reason to plan ahead is that it ensures your instructions for how you want to be remembered - whether it's in a mausoleum, funeral plot, cremation or even burial at sea - will be followed.

Texas law protects your right to decide where you will be laid to rest, what kind of service you will have and how you want to be remembered if you make funeral arrangements in advance. That means the type of tug-of-war between family members illustrated in the recent deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and soul singer James Brown won't be played out in your family.

"Before anything, you should sit down with your family to talk about this important issue, and then schedule a conference with a caring, professional counselor in the industry," Tips says. "Let them help guide you in making certain your wishes are honored."

"Funerals can be very difficult to talk about, but it's good to talk about it," Tips said. "We have thousands of families who come to us every year to make these arrangements. In every case, the people we deal with feel better about themselves and the person they are honoring."

For more information, call Mission Parks at 210.924.4242.

Mission Park has a long and proud history of personal service provided by the Tips family with deep roots in San Antonio and a deep commitment to upholding professional standards. Mission Park is the oldest continuously family operated funeral home and cemetery combination in Texas.

At Mission Park, it is our Mission to Care.