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Welcome to the Farewell Project Blog

“Do Any Human Beings Ever Realize Life While They Live It?”

July 14, 2021

by Mark Noonan

0 The End of Lincoln Center Theater’s Production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” November 9, 1988 – April 2, 1989 Starring: Penelope Ann Miller Spalding Gray Frances Conroy Jeff Weiss…

7 Tips To Deliver A Heartwarming Eulogy

July 7, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Breathe. All you have to do is tell everyone what they already know: how amazing your loved one was. It’s pretty simple actually. But we get inside our own…

New Ideas! Lasting Letters

June 30, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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2 Everyone has a letter in them. Sometimes you just need a little help writing it. “I am a letter midwife,” says Frish Brandt, President & Partner at the Fraenkel…

5 Simple Steps to Write an Awesome Obituary

June 23, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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2 The dreaded Obituary. No one wants to write it. But somebody has to. And unfortunately, that person is You! I feel your pain. But let’s try to make this…

New Ideas! Death Over Dinner

June 16, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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1 It all started with a University of Washington graduate course called Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death, taught by Michael Hebb and Scott Macklin. On August 24, 2013…

To Embalm or Not To Embalm? That Is Not The Question

June 9, 2021

by Mark Noonan

0 The Question is: What Does Embalming Do To A Body? And more specifically: What Does Embalming Do To A Loved One? Embalming is a Temporary Preservative, like Nitrates in…

New Options: Fireworks!

June 2, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson designed a 153 foot cannon shaped like a double thumbed fist clutching a peyote button rising from the hilt of a dagger that launched…

Post-Life Profiles: Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble

May 28, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 The Singing Nun. The Flying Nun. The Dying Nun? Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble wants you to remember you’re going to die. She’s not pushy about it. She doesn’t alarm…

Pre & Post-Covid Bucket List

May 26, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 The Pre-Covid Bucket List: Skydive into the Cave of Swallows. Order everything on the menu and pay with a pouch of pearls. Moonwalk firewalk. Ski down Mt. Everest in…

Great Headstone Inscriptions

May 21, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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1 Mark Noonan, Founder – Farewell Project Subscribe to my Blog Visit Farewell Project & Create Your Simple Plan So Friends & Family Know What You Want

New Ideas! Legacybox

May 19, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Simply the best way to preserve your past. Receive Legacybox with pre-paid shipping label. Fill it up with VHS tapes, film, photos, audio recordings. Legacybox digitizes all of your…

Funeral Industry Facts: Caskets

May 14, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 There is no greater moneymaker for a funeral home than the Casket. The markup on Caskets is enormous: 300% – 600%. 75% of all Caskets are metal. Caskets do…

0 Traditionally, burial happens in a cemetery. With headstones. Caskets. Mowed grass. But times have changed. Environmentally sustainable burial options are now available. Nowadays you can choose an alternative: Nature…

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying (and a fabulous scalloped potatoes recipe)

May 7, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Sinatra crooned, “Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” Tom Rush sang, “No regrets, no tears goodbye…” And Edith Piaf belted out: “Non, Je…

Greatest Obituaries in the History of Humanity: Harry Stamps

May 5, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 “He loved bacon, women, and his over-size man remote.” “He definitely was one of a kind,” said friend, Wayne Catlett. “He always found humor in every situation. It was…

Your Willpower Might Be Low, But You Still Need A Will

April 30, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 71% of Americans Have No Will $30 Trillion in assets being transferred from Baby Boomers to their children. Got Kids? You need a Will. Own a House? You need…

New Ideas! StoryWorth

April 28, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

0 Each week for 1 year, a question is emailed to you to answer. After the year: all your answers are compiled and a physical memory book created that is…

Is Cremation Green? Are There Eco-Friendly Alternatives?

April 23, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 As the American cremation rate continues to rise (53% in 2019), the question becomes: Is Cremation environmentally-friendly? Cremation is far greener than a conventional “Embalming-Metal Casket-Concrete Vault” Package. And…

How Do You Pay For A Funeral With No Money?

April 21, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Aunt Edna passed away. You loved Aunt Edna, she taught you how to rollerskate and curse like a sailor. Everybody liked her. But unfortunately she left behind very few…

Funeral Industry Facts: Why Does The Funeral Industry Exist?

April 16, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 The Funeral Industry Exists for 2 Reasons: To Embalm a Body To Sell You a Casket Funeral Bill is the 3rd Largest Expense of Your Life: House Automobile Death…

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice & Men Often Go Awry

April 14, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Robert Burns was a poet so he enjoyed long elucidations. Put another way: Shit Happens. In life, the only constant is change. Death & Taxes. Yadda Yadda, you get…

New Options! Biodegradable Caskets

April 9, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 In the old days, if you chose burial, chances are 75% you’d be placed in a Metal Casket. Or maybe you’d fall for the upsell and go with Copper…

The Memory Picture. The What?

April 7, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 The whole reason for embalming a body is to create the…Memory Picture. The What? When someone at an open casket viewing says, “She looks great,” they’re talking about the…

Greatest Obituaries in the History of Humanity: Mary “Pink” Mullaney

April 2, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 WHITEFISH BAY, WISCONSIN: OBITUARY If you’re about to throw away an old pair of pantyhose, stop. Consider: Mary Agnes Mullaney (you probably knew her as “Pink”) who entered eternal…

Post-Life Profiles: “Mobituaries”

March 31, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Mo knows obituaries. CBS Sunday Morning correspondent and humorist Mo Rocca created Mobituaries, an irreverent but deeply researched appreciation of the people (and things) of the past who have…

New Options! Mushroom Burial Suit

March 26, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Mushrooms. Magic Mushrooms. Mushroom Burial Suit. Some would say it’s a natural progression. Created by M.I.T. research fellow Jae Rhim Lee, the Infinity Burial Suit is a handcrafted biodegradable…

How To Have “The Talk”

March 24, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Not the birds and the bees. That’s on our sister site, the Puberty Project. There are two areas, both unavoidable, which nobody likes to talk about: Death & Taxes.…

You’re Worth A Lot Of $$$!

March 19, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Your body is not only a wonderland, it’s a life-giving bank capable of helping a lot of people. Body Breakdown Kidney: $200,000 Liver: $150,000 Heart: $120,000 Eyeball: $24,000 Bone…

Greatest Memorials in the History of Humanity: C.N. Annadurai

March 17, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 We would all like to have people attend our funeral/memorial. Family, of course. Longstanding friends. Colleagues. Distant relatives. Acquaintances. Our local bartender or barista. Heck, maybe even the Fedex…

New Options! Blast Off Into Space!

March 12, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 If you want to visit the International Space Station, cost of a ticket will run you a cool 55 million dollars. However, if you want to launch your cremation…

Funeral Industry Facts: Where Did Funeral Homes Come From?

March 10, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 History of the Modern American Funeral Home What we in America call a Funeral Home can be traced back to the Civil War and the birth of Embalming. Deceased…

The “Chris” Way: Just Roll Me Up In A Rug And Toss Me In A Dumpster

March 5, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 I have a friend. I’m going to call him “Chris” for anonymity’s sake and because that’s his name. He knows who he is. His retort for a post-Chris world…

Coronavirus: The Lost Year. So What Have We Found?

March 3, 2021

by Mark Noonan

0 Lost. Lost In Translation. The Lost Boys. Lost Highway. Land Of The Lost. Lost Horizon. The Lost World. Lost In Space. All Is Lost. Every one of those versions…

Greatest Obituaries in the History of Humanity: Meet Joe Heller

February 26, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 MSNBC Katy Tur One More Thing: Joe Heller CENTERBROOK, CONN. — Per his final demands, Joe Heller was laid in his casket Thursday in a T-shirt featuring the Disney…

New Ideas! Recompose

February 24, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Become Soil When You Die Recompose, the first human-composting funeral home is now open for business in Seattle, Washington. The first bodies were “laid in” on Dec. 20, 2020,…

Go Green! Guide to Environmentally-Friendly Options

February 19, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Times Have Changed We eat kale. We recycle. We buy secondhand. You care about the Environment. You care about Your Children. You care about the Future For Your Children.…

Coronavirus Has Made Us All Think About Our Health & Mortality

February 17, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Covid-19 has sucked. Let me rephrase that: Covid-19 has SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, Big Time. It’s hard to find anything positive about the Coronavirus: I got to know the 4 walls…

Real Farewells of Genius: Irish Grandad Pranks His Own Funeral

February 12, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 “Let Me Out!” Dublin Grandad, Shay Bradley, 62, hatched his genius gag a year before passing. As bagpipes finish their somber wail, a casket lowers six feet into the…

How To Make A Molehill Out Of A Mountain

February 10, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 I’m Dead. Now What? First of all, you no longer have to worry about Finding a Parking Spot, Paying Your Taxes, or Flossing. Being Dead takes the stress out…

New Options! Become a Coral Reef

February 5, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 The Ocean is Calling You. High Adventure on the High Seas! Well, actually, it’s more like stagnant adventure that you won’t be aware of but you can still be…

Don’t Burden Your Kids By Having No Plan. Burden Your Kids Emotionally.

February 3, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 It sure would be fun to Pull a Prank on the kids on the way out. Leave them No Clues: no records, no will, no ideas, not even the…

Good Riddance, 2020! Hello, Beautiful 2021!

January 29, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

0 Shit Happens. Be Prepared. If 2020 proved nothing else it proved that Bad Things happen all the time. Bad Things happen to Good People all the time. If you’re…

Nobody Knows Anything About Anything

January 27, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

1 Farewell Project’s Beginner’s Guide to Goodbye 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FUNERALS You’re Not Alone Funeral Industry Isn’t Changing, But People Are Don’t Pre-Pay. Do Pre-Talk. Do…

New Options! Become a Tree

January 22, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Remember in kindergarten when you played Tree #3 in that epic production of The Giving Tree directed by Mrs. Donahue? You’ve wanted to be a tree from early on.…

Greatest Generation = Greatest Stories

January 20, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Newsflash: Your Grandpa isn’t going to be around forever.Don’t you want to hear All His Stories before it’s too late?Wouldn’t everyone in your family think you a Hero if…

OK Boomer, We Love You

January 15, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

0 You’re nearer The End than the Beginning. That’s just a fact. At the Farewell Project, the way we see it, You’ve got 2 Choices: Plan nothing, spend all your…

Gen X (Middle Age Sucks)

January 13, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

0 Wow, that happened fast.I feel like it was ten minutes ago that I was eating a burrito hungover while drinking a beer.Now I’ve got a wife, real job, a…

Here’s a Lifelong Project For You Millennials (You’re Welcome)

January 8, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 Yeah, we know. You’re going to Live Forever.You’re Indestructible.You can burn the candle at both ends.You don’t get hangovers.You can eat whatever you want.You may even still smoke (don’t…

Create Your Simple Plan

January 6, 2021

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

1 What is a Simple Plan? OUR SIGNATURE PRODUCTIt’s Free Like picking off a menu, you Choose What You Want and we keep that information safe for you and allow…

The Easiest New Year’s Resolution You Can Complete Jan 1!

January 1, 2021

by Mark Noonan

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0 How about Knocking Out a Resolution Day 1? Wouldn’t that Feel Amazing?! This is real simple. In fact, it’s called a Simple Plan. A What? A Simple Plan is…

Let’s Begin To Talk About The End

December 30, 2020

by Mark Noonan

No Comments

0 Are you alive? Do you care about your friends & family? Will you all die one day? Yup. But Good News! Farewell Project is now LIVE to guide your…

This Is Your End

November 1, 2020

by Mark Noonan

6 You don’t remember your beginning very well, but you will most likely be present & alert for your end. Nobody teaches you about The End. You learn to eat,…

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