Bartholomew Funeral Home blends tradition and modernity in personalized memorials

For over a century, Bartholomew Funeral Home in Valparaiso has assisted families in navigating loss and honoring their loved ones. While traditional burials once dominated, the funeral industry is evolving to embrace more diverse and meaningful ways to celebrate life. The funeral home is proud to collaborate with families in designing heartfelt services that honor traditions, values, and memories. 

“Twenty years ago, a funeral home was doing mostly burials, which is what I would call a traditional funeral for 95% of the people it served,” said Kyle Newhard, office manager at Bartholomew Funeral Home. “As time has gone on, public perceptions have changed, and now it is close to a 50-50 split of how people are choosing their disposition, whether it is burial or cremation.”

Bartholomew Funeral Home offers flexibility in creating ceremonies and services that reflect each individual’s story and lasting impact. Burial choices include traditional in-ground graves, mausoleum entombments, or direct burials with minimal services. Families can also select simple graveside prayers, private gatherings, or full traditional funerals with visitations and religious ceremonies. 

Bartholomew Funeral Home is additionally open to offering green burial options, allowing families to lay loved ones to rest naturally without embalming, caskets, or vaults where permitted. The funeral home has even worked to accommodate rare requests, including a funeral service at home.   

“There are really two paths: a cremation service or a burial for the final disposition of the remains,” Newhard said. “We can still do everything for families who want something in between, like a quick, private prayer, or witnessing the casket being placed in its final resting place.”   

Cremation services are equally flexible and personalized. Families can select a simple cremation with remains returned, or integrate visitations, memorial services, or full traditional ceremonies. Options extend to celebrations of life, personalized tributes, and scattering ceremonies to give families meaningful and unique ways to honor their loved ones. 

“Some people think cremation means you don’t have a service, but that’s not true,” Newhard said. “We have everything from a very simple cremation – where we cremate and return the remains to the family – to a full-service with visitation, embalming, or memorial afterward.”

Families choosing cremation or scattering services must navigate certain legal requirements. Cremation requires the consent of the legal next of kin and scattering ashes is only permitted on private property with permission or in designated public areas. Bartholomew Funeral Home works closely with families to ensure all services stay within legal parameters and regulations. 

“With cremation, there are some legal obstacles we have to jump over,” Newhard said. “It is a delicate balance, especially when one family member does not agree to something and a waiver of rights has to be made. It is a delicate balance; sometimes you have to compromise a little, and sometimes you have to give and take and work it out.” 

Bartholomew Funeral Home also works closely with families to honor traditions, religious or secular practices, military services and individual wishes. Collaboration within the community ensures that each service reflects the values and connections important to the family. 

“We have worked with the American Legion, the VFW, or the active duty military will sometimes come and do services for us,” Newhard said. “We work closely with a lot of fraternal organizations, like the Freemasons, Knights of Columbus, Moose Lodge, and Elks Lodge. There are all sorts of unique things we can do to personalize a service for people, including a personalized photo tribute DVD for all of our families.”  

As families consider their options, Bartholomew Funeral Home helps them manage costs with caskets and urns at a range of price points, payment plans, and access to assistance programs. Pre-planning services allow individuals to outline preferences in advance, and even informal conversations or documented wishes can ease decision-making and ensure final arrangements reflect the family’s values.  

“A funeral is not really for the deceased — it’s for the people they leave behind,” Newhard said. “It can be a hard conversation to have with us, but there are all sorts of options and little perks we can add in and special organizations we can work with. The important thing to us is making sure you’re comfortable with the services you purchase and that you feel you are a part of our family when you leave here.” 

For more information on memorial services and options, visit bartholomewnewhard.com or stop by for an in-person consultation.