funeral

National

They had 3 suitcases and faced 5 flights of stairs. That's when a stranger appeared

4:40pm April 08, 2024

Alice Claus and her sister were exhausted after a long flight to Budapest. Then a young man on the street offered help right when they needed it.

Archbishop Georg Ganswein kneels by the coffin of late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is brought to St. Peter's Square for a funeral mass at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.

Religion

Thousands mourn Benedict XVI at funeral celebrated by pope

5:28am January 05, 2023

by The Associated Press

Bells tolled Thursday for the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who made history by retiring, as thousands of mourners packed St. Peter's Square.

Crime

Hundreds Mourn, Remember Watauga Deputies At Memorial Service

1:07am May 07, 2021

by Keri Brown

Queue Listen Now

Race
Crime

Calls For Justice At N.C. Funeral Of Andrew Brown Jr.

5:33pm May 03, 2021

by Associated Press

The Rev.

Civil Rights Icon John Lewis Honored At The U.S. Capitol

10:51pm July 27, 2020

by Brakkton Booker

The late Georgia congressman's body lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The public viewing for the "conscience of the Congress" is being held outside through Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When NPR's TV critic Eric Deggans' mother died, the funeral service was streamed online in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines. But the usual comfort and sense of community of sitting shoulder to shoulder with others at his mother's church cou

Health & Safety

When A Beloved Life Ends, Virtual Hugs Can't Replace Human Touch

12:10pm May 03, 2020

by Eric Deggans

How many more might recover, if they had a loved one by their side while fighting for life? An only son aches for the healing power of human touch in his mother's last days, and at her funeral.

Norman J. Williams, the president and funeral director of Unity Funeral Parlors in Chicago.

'Let Us Stay In Touch With Those That We Love.' A Funeral Director's Lessons For Life

2:01pm April 04, 2020

by Martha Ann Overland

Because we can not hug or stand close, the coronavirus has changed how we mourn those we've lost. Funeral director Norman J. Williams of Unity Funeral Parlors offers his thoughts about the living.

Queue Listen Now

Online video conferencing is just one way mourning families are learning to cope and connect at a time when large funeral gatherings are strongly discouraged because of social distancing guidelines.

National

Social Distancing Means Mourners Find New Ways To Cope And Connect

12:57pm April 02, 2020

by Monica Eng

With limits on social gatherings, Americans have to mourn their dead through online memorials and virtual funerals.

Queue Listen Now

Human Interest

Chapter 5: All The Children

6:00am December 07, 2018

by David Ford

On an early morning in May, a kitchen fire swept through a low-income apartment in Greensboro. Inside, a refugee family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—five young siblings and their father—slept.

Queue Listen Now

Mortician Caitlin Doughty has traveled around the world exploring the ways other cultures approach death.

Books
Arts

Mortician Explores Cultures' Many Paths For 'Sacred Transition' Of Death

2:31pm October 15, 2017

Caitlin Doughty, whose Los Angeles funeral home specializes in alternative ceremonies, traveled the world to collect stories about how different peoples send loved ones off to the great beyond.

Queue Listen Now