A website for independent funeral homes
A website that knows what to say.
Rowan is a calm, complete website for an independent funeral home. Families find the first steps, your number and a gentle service planner they can fill in at home and print for the arrangement meeting. Edit one file and it's yours.
- Static files
- No accounts or server
- No tracking
An example of the one-page summary a family prints.
Who it's for first
Most families reach a funeral home within hours of a death. They are tired, often on a phone, often after midnight. They need your number, the next thing to do, and nothing else asking for their attention.
Rowan is written for that visitor first. Your 24-hour number sits at the top of every page and starts a call with one tap. A plain page explains what to do when someone dies at home, in hospital or in a care home, and what can wait. Everything else — services, your building, planning ahead — is there when they're ready.
The service planner
Six gentle steps. One printed page.
Families can fill in the planner at home, at their own pace, before they come in. Nothing is required, steps can be done in any order, and every choice is kept in their browser so they can stop and come back. At the end they print one page and bring it to you.
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About
Two names, both optional: the person being remembered and the person arranging. That's all we ask.
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Service
Five kinds of service, each explained in a sentence: a funeral, a memorial, a graveside service, a celebration of life, or a direct cremation or burial. Then burial, cremation, or not sure yet.
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Music
Up to three pieces from hymns, classical and popular music, kept in the order they were chosen, plus one of their own. When they reach three, the page says so kindly.
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Readings
Up to two readings, religious or not, from Psalm 23 to Christina Rossetti, plus one of their own.
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Flowers
An arrangement and a colour, or "No flowers — donations instead". If they're not sure, they leave it.
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Review
Every choice on one page, with a Change button beside each. Anything left open reads "Not chosen yet — we can decide together". Then Print.
An example of the one-page summary a family prints.
Printed on one page. Gaps are fine.
What's in it
Everything a family looks for, and nothing they don't.
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Your number on every page.
Your 24-hour number is in the header of every page, and on a phone it starts a call with one tap. Nobody has to hunt for it.
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The first questions, answered plainly.
What to do when someone dies, who to call for an expected or unexpected death, and a numbered list for the days after. It says clearly that it's general guidance and that rules vary by place.
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Your services and your building.
Five kinds of service described in plain words, what you take care of for every family, and your chapel, reception room and arrangement rooms with how many they seat, step-free access, hearing loop and parking.
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Planning ahead, without pressure.
A page for people recording their own wishes, with common questions in expandable sections. Prepaid plans are mentioned only as something to ask about in person.
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It remembers where they were.
Every choice saves itself in the family's browser as they go. The planner reopens on the step they left, and the home page offers "Continue your plan". If a browser can't save, the page says so and asks them to print before leaving.
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Calm for everyone.
Works with a keyboard and a screen reader, with large tap targets on phones. It follows the visitor's light or dark setting and keeps still for those who ask for less motion.
See it
This is the real site.
Willow Grove is a made-up funeral home in a made-up town. Everything else is real: click around, start a plan, change your mind, print it.
Make it yours
Change one file. Keep the care.
Your home's name, phone number, email, address and hours live in one small file. Change them there and every page, every phone link and every printed plan follows.
Then rewrite the page copy in your own words: your services, your rooms, how your family works. The words in Willow Grove are a careful starting point, written to be kept or replaced.
The finished site is a folder of plain files. It runs on any ordinary web host, needs no server or database, and asks nothing of your families: no accounts, no sign-ups, no cookies, no tracking.
export const siteDetails = {
name: "Willow Grove Funeral Home",
phoneDisplay: "(555) 014-2300",
phoneHref: "tel:+15550142300",
email: "care@willowgrove.example",
emailHref: "mailto:care@willowgrove.example",
address: "48 Linden Avenue, Millbrook",
hours: "Answering 24 hours a day, every day",
};What it leaves out, on purpose
Some things belong in the room.
- No prices online. Families are asked to call for your general price list, so the conversation starts with a person.
- No contact form. Phone and email links only; nothing to monitor, nothing to lose.
- No payments or prepaid plans online. The pre-planning page invites people to ask in person, with no obligation.
- No accounts, cookies or tracking. A family's plan stays in their own browser until they print it.
- No obituaries or guest books to moderate. It's a site you can leave alone.
Give families somewhere quiet to start.
Open the demo, walk through the planner as a family would, and print the page they'd bring you.