It's 2 a.m., and the phone rings. A call at that hour is never good news. If a loved one has died and you are responsible for handling the funeral arrangements, the next 48 hours are going to be a mad rush for you and your family. The whole ordeal tests your sense of organization, and your memory, patience and relationships. The dreaded feeling of "What did I forget to do?" is heavy. The shock of the death, in addition to the sheer number of details associated with funeral planning and taking care of your loved one's wishes and estate, can be overwhelming even for the most organized person. The Ultimate To Do List When Your Loved One Dies: Before & After the Funeral will keep you organized, reduce your stress and burden, and help you to approach these necessary tasks and to do items with confidence. A large majority of the tasks enumerated in this book can be discussed, decided upon, and completed prior to someone's death. Through a concerted effort at pro-active funeral planning, you or someone responsible for taking care of your funeral will have the information needed to carry out final arrangements and wishes with ease and confidence when death happens. Even though we exist in a death-averse society and typically avoid conversations about death, we shouldn't allow this to affect our preparedness or prevent us from putting a plan in place. This book will help you to be ready for death and to systematize what we need to do prior to death. Life planning conversations and taking an active role in your or a family member's funeral arrangements can transform a painful and stressful occasion into one of great meaning and peace for all of those involved. This book will help you to be prepared. Visit www.funeralplanning.com for more information.
About the Author: Dr. Donna Vincent Roa started her journalism and communication career writing obituary notices for the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper's Lake Charles, Louisiana bureau. She wrote this book following the death of her mother in January 2011 to help others through the funeral planning process. Currently, she is Managing Partner & Chief Strategist for Vincent Roa Group LLC, a Maryland-based firm specializing in communication to improve the earth and its people. An IABC-accredited business communicator, Donna is a business process expert who builds best-in-class communication portfolios for government agencies, corporate clients and international organizations. Previously, she was Public Affairs Director and Director of Science Communication at the Environmental Protection Agency. A former United Nations senior communication officer and water sector communication consultant for the World Bank and UNICEF, she was the keynote speaker at the first class of graduating social marketers in Cajamarca, Peru. She was also one of ten US Treasury Department-designated researchers to conduct research to support the first redesign of the $100 bill. She is past president of the largest US chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators, has a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Southern Mississippi, was a Rotary Scholar, and is a former Environment Commissioner for the City of Rockville. Just a few years ago, she could be found doing stand-up in Hollywood, writing screenplays, and promoting her short film that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She is currently working on two novels which are based on screenplays she wrote while in Hollywood -- "One Child" and "Possession Point." She lives in Rockville, MD, with her husband, Victor, her children, Alex and Gretchen, and a rescue Chihuahua Shih Tzu, named Max.