Cremation is becoming an increasingly popular choice for people planning a funeral.

Tom Martin, an owner of Martin Funeral Home in Butler, estimates that more than 25 percent of funerals in the county are cremation.

“It’s definitely growing in popularity,” Martin said recently. “It’s increased over the years all across the county.”

Martin said what many people don’t realize is funeral homes typically offer complete viewing services for cremation funerals.

While direct cremation, where the body is cremated with no viewing or service, is an option, Martin said families also have the option of having the same services as a traditional burial funeral.

“You can still have the viewing,” Martin said. “The only difference is the deceased is cremated at the end instead of buried.”

And sometimes the cremated remains inside an urn are buried in a cemetery, complete with a headstone.

Other families opt to keep the urn in their home. Some people wish to have their ashes spread in a sentimental place, although most only spread a small portion of the ashes.

There are several reasons why people are leaning more toward cremation.

Perhaps one of the main reasons is price.

“Cremation can be less expensive,” Martin said, adding direct cremation brings the lowest financial burden to families.

Another concern for some individuals is the belief that cemeteries take up too much land. Martin said that isn’t really an issue in relatively rural Butler County.

“Space isn’t really an issue where we live,” he said.

Some people request to have a direct cremation because they don’t want all the work that goes into a traditional funeral service.

It’s a decision Thomas Steighner, owner of Thomas M. Steighner Funeral Home in Chicora, said he advises against.

“There’s very little closure, if any,” Steighner said.

Martin said while funeral homes certainly will offer insight and advice on cremation and burials, he said most people already have their minds made up.

“Typically people have an idea of what they want to do,” he said.

Steighner said he will often tell people deciding what to do for their own funeral to consider what’s best for the family.

“What matters is what they need to get through this,” Steighner said.

Steighner said cremation has changed a lot during his more than four-decade long career.

“Society is changing,” he said. “The younger generation has different thoughts on it.”

He said he can understand why more people are opting for cremation for financial reasons.

“People today don’t have money to put into the ground,” he said.