News Release for Consumer Media
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For Immediate Release: October 23, 2025
The Cards Are Perfect for Families That Are Preplanning a Funeral, Planning at the Time of Need or Simply Want to Have an Interesting Conversation
Brookfield, Wis. – Remembering A Life, a consumer education initiative that educates people about the importance of remembering loved ones in meaningful ways after they die, has introduced two new decks of conversation cards that will help family and friends get to know each other better and plan meaningful tributes to loved ones.
Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards get the conversation started and help family and friends get to know each other better so when it’s time to plan a funeral or memorial service for a loved one, they are better prepared to make it meaningful with special touches that help attendees learn more about the unique life lived. Each of the 50 questions invites people to share stories about meaningful moments, relationships, objects, adventures, accomplishments and more. Additional prompts invite them to further explore their answers to each question, encouraging them to connect with others, pull out meaningful mementos or do an activity related to their answer.
“Funerals, memorial services and celebrations of life are the most meaningful when they beautifully reflect the life lived,” said Gail Marquardt, vice president of consumer engagement for the National Funeral Directors Association/Remembering A Life. “When we create a service that reflects the individual’s interests, passions, relationships and accomplishments, we share a beautiful and complete story of the person we love with everyone who has gathered to mourn and celebrate the life lived.”
Remembering A Life Funeral Planning Conversation Cards help families and friends create a safe, comfortable environment for having a conversation about a person’s final wishes and guide them in planning a meaningful tribute for themselves or a loved one.
This deck of 52 thought-provoking questions will help get the conversation started and help put family members and friends at ease while talking about a topic that may generate a variety of emotions. Questions cover five key areas.
• Talking About Death
• Your Body
• The Service
• Honoring Your Life
• The Details
“Starting a conversation about death, funerals and grieving can be a bit unfamiliar,” said Marquardt. “Whether you’re doing some advance planning for yourself, planning a tribute for someone else, or simply want to have an interesting conversation with family and friends, the questions in the Remembering A Life Funeral Planning Conversation Cards deck will inspire you to think about how the service can be uniquely meaningful.”
According to research by the National Funeral Directors Association, 41.9% of people who preplan and prepay for their funeral arrangements do so because they don’t want their survivors to worry about making arrangements. (2025 NFDA Consumer Awareness & Preferences Study)
“While prepaying for funeral or memorial services has cost saving advantages, it’s important to note that preplanning doesn’t have to include prepaying,” Marquardt continued. “Simply documenting a person’s wishes can offer significant peace of mind. These conversation cards inspire meaningful conversations that help ensure a service reflects the individual’s wishes and also the wishes of their family and close friends.”
The new decks complete a set of three conversation card decks that also includes Remembering A Life Journey Cards, which features 52 ideas for remembering loved ones in meaningful ways. This deck helps family members and friends as they explore their grief journey, offering simple yet meaningful ways to keep a loved one’s memory close.
All three decks of conversation cards are available at RememberingALife.com/Store for $14.95 each.
Whether a family is preplanning or planning at time of need, meeting with a licensed funeral professional to discuss options and document an individual’s final wishes is a practical next step in ensuring those wishes are fulfilled. Remembering A Life’s Find A Funeral Home search tool makes it easy to find a reputable, NFDA-member funeral home. Visit RememberingALife.com/FindAFuneralHome.
About Remembering A Life
Remembering A Life helps individuals and families remember their loved ones in meaningful ways, helping to keep the memory of loved ones alive and assisting family members and friends in moving forward in their grief. Remembering A Life educates families about the value of a funeral and helps them find an NFDA-member funeral director (RememberingALife.com/FindAFuneralHome) to help them create a meaningful service. The initiative also helps them as they begin the grief journey following the death of a loved one. Resources include the Remembering A Life website (RememberingALife.com), a podcast, book club, blog, conversation cards and thoughtful gifts for grieving family members and friends. Remembering A Life is a consumer education initiative of the National Funeral Directors Association. Follow Remembering A Life on Facebook and Instagram.
About the National Funeral Directors Association
NFDA is the world's leading and largest funeral service association representing 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit NFDA.org.
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Media Contact: Jessica Koth, 262-814-1536, JKoth@NFDA.org
Editor's Note: Members of the media may request complimentary decks of Remembering A Life Conversation Cards from NFDA Director of Public Relations Jessica Koth: 262-814-1536 or JKoth@NFDA.org.