No Story Left Untold With This Startup in the Funeral World

 In today’s episode, we have a wonderful guest that runs a company that deals with capturing people’s stories, Jeremy Bryant, the Co-Founder at No Story Lost.

No Story Lost conducts interviews people who are starting to reflect on life and while they want to look back and reminisce they are also looking forward to the next few years in their lives. They also ask fun questions about looking back on life and ask for wonderful advice for the next generation and their legacies. Also, this company helps families to capture their loved ones' amazing stories, and keep them around forever through records, CDs, or a beautiful coffee table book. These can all be done to document precious moments together. Jeremy also runs a charity in his spare time (!) named, Meal Share. This charity works with different restaurants across Canada to provide meals to youth in need.

Check out more information - https://nostorylost.com

• hello@nostorylost.com
• https://www.facebook.com/NoStoryLost/
• https://www.instagram.com/nostorylost/

Connect with Jennifer/The Glam Reaper here:

Email us - glamreaperpodcast@gmail.com

Online Legacy Part 1/3 - Death on Facebook

Gone are the days that the attic stored thousands of photos and letters and memories. These are all online now in email accounts, on Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere. People now can live beyond death online as a digital persona. However, much that was appropriate while a person was alive may be less so after their death. These photos, videos, tweets, blogs and emails are digital or online assets that may have significant value for family and friends of the deceased. In addition, most social media platforms, with the presentation of accurate documentation, will de-activate the deceased’s account.

For example, on Facebook, you can permanently remove a loved one’s account after their death through a form called ‘Special Request for Deceased Person's Account’, completely removing their profile and all associated content from Facebook, so no one can view it. The next-of-kin or executor of the deceased's estate needs to send a copy of a death certificate along with the deceased’s account details, and the account will then be investigated and removed by Facebook.  OR if you are prepared for your own demise and wish to delete your profile from Facebook upon your death, simply do the following:

• Go to Settings in your Facebook profile page
• From the left menu, click General
• Click Manage Account
• Click Request account deletion and follow the on-screen instructions”

Alternatively, you can alert Facebook to the fact that someone has passed away via a ‘Memorialization Request’ and their profile will be frozen to act as a memorial page where their friends and family can leave wishes, thoughts and memories. When pages are memorialized, they are removed from sidebars, timelines, friend suggestions and searches and the privacy of the account tightens, with only friends from the ‘pre-death’ account able to view the page and “Remembering” is added to their name on their profile page. You can also nominate a Legacy Contact which is a person chosen to look after your account after it has become a memorial page. The legacy contact can respond to friend requests, change the profile and cover photo, as well as request removal or the account. They canNOT log into your actual account, read your messages, or change or remove posts, photos or other things you have shared in the past.  More info here

2016 - The Year of Celebrating the Dead Celebrity

2016 – wow what a year for celebrity deaths!

We kicked off the year losing David Bowie and Alan Rickman to the devastating disease cancer and the deaths of Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher, her mom Debbie Reynolds and pop star George Michael in December felt like the final gut wrenching twists of the celebrity knife. Are we/Am I being dramatic, or has 2016 actually been a cursed year for the ‘celebrity’ and those who spend time idolizing them? More on that later but seriously...MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people around the world reacted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat etc etc. So I have to ask the question WHY do we mourn people who we have never met, so publicly?

I think that the way that we grieve on social media today has also amplified the perception that 2016 really was the worst year for celebrity deaths and there's proof to that below! In addition to the 24 hour news cycle, most people are using the aforementioned social media outlets to express their personal memories and attachments to celebrities. Before the big world wide web, that conversation and that grief was limited to talking in person and pulling from newspapers. The younger the celebrity, the cause of death, the more sudden the death, the larger the shock, cultural impact and social media outrage there tends to be rather than if they succumbed to a long-standing illness or old age.

Millions attended Whitney Houston’s funeral and listened to “I will always love you” as her body left the local church. After Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros was killed covering a Libyan uprising, thousands attended his memorial service. The majority of the audience at each of these funerals attended them virtually which is one of the few things that is changing the way we mourn and how we do funerals in the 21st Century. EVERYONE can be let in to experience this historically private event.

Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter have also made us much more comfortable with sharing intimate details about ourselves online with strangers on a constant basis and hey I'm not objecting, I just learned Snapchat last year and currently have a love/hate relationship with the App. Many deaths and funerals are reported, commented on, tweeted, snapped, recorded and posted online before even their loved ones have heard of the news.

According to Famous NYC Funeral Home to the Stars, Frank E Campbell Director Schultz:

‘They (the public) Want Closure’. The funeral home stood as a backdrop to those who came to mourn Heath Ledger in NYC in 2008, as his casket was carried from the home, and the media and fans who came to watch. The intense dedication and unity of the mourners, the familial connections felt for people they have never met, the volatility of grief was apparent for all to see and this is not just reserved for Heath Ledger and his fans but to every “celebrity” or person in the publin arena." 

“They need to be a part of that life that they … have never touched personally, individually, privately, and in person — but through the media, through television, through the movies, it was very much a part of their growing up and their life. They want closure, People from every walk of life.”

National University professor/celebrity death expert Jacque Lynn Foltyn says:

“All these reactions can be viewed as ways of managing death in societies where actual death and the corpse are hidden away and seldom experienced firsthand but rather through Game of Thrones and CSI. Funerals are more rare, as memorial services have become popular. For some, social media is the virtual memorial service when they cannot attend, making a death an international event.”

SO - WAS 2016 really the WORST year for celebrity deaths??! Well Apparently not...... there is an interesting and (self admittedly) unscientific analysis of whether 2016 really was the worst year for celebrity deaths….check out CNN for further details. We lost at least 34 celebrities in 2016, which factor in Oscar and Grammy winning celebrities but when it comes to numbers, 2016 is edged out by 2006, during which 36 celebrities died so there ya have it! Dont ask me what you do with it but at least you have it! Feel better?? No, me neither :-( Bring back Alan and George!!

Celebrity deaths and public mourning

Just this week we lost David Bowie and Alan Rickman to that devastating disease called cancer. It was a sad week in Celebrity world and millions of people around the world reacted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to name a few. Why do we mourn people who we have never met so publicly?

Millions attended Whitney Houston's funeral and listened to "I will always love you" as her body left the local church. After Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros was killed covering a Libyan uprising, thousands attended his memorial service. The majority of the audience at each of these funerals attended them virtually which is one of the few things that is changing the way we mourn and how we do funerals in the 21st Century. EVERYONE can be let in to experience this historically private event.

Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter have also made us much more comfortable with sharing intimate details about ourselves online with strangers on a constant basis. Many deaths and funerals are reported, commented on, tweeted, snapped, recorded and posted online before even their loved ones have heard of the news.

According to Famous NYC Funeral Home to the Stars Frank E Campbell 'They (the public) Want Closure'. The funeral home stood as a backdrop to those who came to mourn Heath Ledger in NYC in 2008, as his casket was carried from the home, and the media and fans who came to watch. The intense dedication and unity of the mourners, the familial connections felt for people they have never met, the volatility of grief was apparent for all to see and this is not just reserved for Heath Ledger and his fans but to every "celebrity" or person in the publin arena. "They need to be a part of that life that they ... have never touched personally, individually, privately, and in person — but through the media, through television, through the movies, it was very much a part of their growing up and their life. They want closure," Schultz (director) said. "People from every walk of life."

Facebook Legacy Settings

Social media is everywhere these days and it even stays with us in death. We can create memorial pages for loved ones, document their lives via video and photo and now as of February 12th Facebook have followed Google and announced a new policy – Legacy Pages.

Previously, if a person died without someone else knowing their password, there was no way to make any changes. The most awkward of this was the daily reminders to ‘friends’ of birthdays, friend suggestions etc even though the person would never accept the friend request or see the brithday message as they wre deceased. The only way to delete the account was to know the passowrd or show a death certificate and practivally fight with Facebook to close the account.

Now, however, while you are still alive, you name someone else you know on Facebook to be your legacy contact. That person can make changes to memorialize your account. 

This includes:

• Writing a new post/status to show at the top of the memorialized Timeline – maybe some information about a memorial or service.

• Respond to new friend requests from family and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook .

• Updating the profile picture and cover photo (sometimes this is needed where the updated photo is a bit more approriate).

So how can you use this new ‘Legacy’ Setting’?

Open your Facebook SETTINGS tab, choose SECURITY and then LEGACY CONTACT at the bottom of the page. After choosing your legacy contact, you’ll have the option to send a message to that person letting them know what you’ve done.

Top 10 funeral songs?

As found on several websites online - Here are the top ten funeral songs:

1. “Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt
2. “You Raise Me Up” by Westlife
3. “Time To Say Goodbye” by Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli
4. “Wind Beneath My Wings” by Bette Midler
5. “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion
6. “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John
7. “With or Without You” by U2
8. “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton
9. “Angels” by Robbie Williams
10. ”Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers

What do you think?? Right wrong? I think I might have to compile a list but my this list could be LONG!!!

Weddings and Memorials

So I have often said that weddings and funerals have alot in common logistically but recently I have seen some articles and images that have further developed that idea.

One lady incorporated the loss of her father a year previous into her wedding day. Something that the whole world has now seen as the photograph of the moment she collapsed at his graveside in grief has gone viral. Even so far as the photographer was interviewed on Fox News Radio about the moment.

In posting the photo and seeing the reaction, photographer Kari said "I was very hesitant to share this image due to the privacy of the bride. She was so kind to share this with everyone. It was a sweet moment, and an incredibly difficult one to photograph. I lost my mom when I was young so this image meant a lot to me. And now I see how much it means to SO many others."
Zander & Breck Photography FB page here. This is the photo:

It's interesting to read some of the comments on how this photo is affecting people - One lady said that she had lost her Grandmother, little sister and brother in law with 8 months of each other and so when it came to marrying her now husband, she felt that she "could never get married without them there, so my husband and I got (married) at the cemetery" 

Another lady put her wedding bouquet down on her father's grave after the ceremony. Interesting how all these life events are entwined as our lives are. 

Death of Social Media

What happens online when you die? Do your online friends find out? What happens your FB profile? Your Twitter? Your LinkedIn?

You may not know when or how you will die but you can control what happens to your digital legacy.

You can remove a loved one’s account. This will completely remove the profile and all associated content from Facebook, so no one can view it. OR you can alert FB to the fact that someone has passed away and their profile will be frozen and will act as a memorial page where loved one's and friends can leave wishes and thoughts and memories.https://www.facebook.com/help/contact_us.php?id=305593649477238

Recently WGRZ reported that Facebook will also allow family members to download the account contents of the deceased, if prior authorization or a court order is present.

So.....What should you do?
If you want to have a say in what happens, you should leave instructions in your will. You can grant your heirs the right to a download of your data or leave instructions to close the account entirely.

On the other hand if you want to go a step further and leave a goodbye message for your friends, there’s an app for that. ifidie allows you to leave a text or video message behind, which it will automatically post upon your death, after three friends or “trustees” agree that you’ve passed away. Might spook some people out though.

Remember the passwords, songs you download and communications you write are YOUR property. Like any other property you own, it’s important to consider what will happen to it when you die. Do you want others to see or have your digital property? Would you like it to be deleted? Make sure you state your wishes clearly!

Webcast Funeral

Millions attended Whitney Houston's funeral and listened to "I will always love you" as her body left the local church. After Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros was killed covering a Libyan uprising, thousands attended his memorial service. The majority of the audience at each of these funerals attended them virtually.


While very new to Ireland, streaming funerals live around the globe could become a very important part of our future. Figures show emigration of Irish people is over 40,000 a year and a lot of these people will stay illegally in the countries they migrate to. Australia alone now has 1,075 Irish people living there unlawfully, a 24 percent increase from last year. In doing this, it means they can’t leave to return home for the funeral of a loved one.


Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have also made us much more comfortable with sharing intimate details about ourselves online. Many deaths and funerals are reported, commented on, tweeted, recorded and posted online already.


The advantages of streaming are also a form of family memorial that can be preserved on a DVD as part of a family's oral history. It's an archive for future unborn generations. For sudden deaths, streaming can also foster a communal mourning experience, in digital form.