What happens to unclaimed cremated remains, and who ensures those lives are never forgotten? In this powerful episode of Remembering A Life, host Gail Marquardt speaks with Lanae Strovers, licensed funeral director and founder of The Final Salute, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring unclaimed individuals with dignity and care.

Across the country, funeral homes quietly care for unclaimed cremated remains - people of all ages and backgrounds whose stories risk being lost. Lanae felt called to act, creating a way to honor the hundreds of individuals in her funeral home's care, some unclaimed for decades, and ensuring each life is remembered.

Through deeply moving community ceremonies, Lanae and her team restore identity and humanity to those who might otherwise be forgotten. From a Civil War veteran finally receiving military honors to a Gold Star mother honored by families who share her loss, each story reflects the profound impact of remembrance - and the power of showing up for one another.

End-of-Life Doulas and Funeral Directors: Transforming Deathcare and Meaningful End-of-Life Planning

As more families turn to end-of-life doulas for support during the final stages of life, opportunities for collaboration with funeral directors to better serve families continue to grow. End-of-Life Doula Ashley Johnson and Funeral Director Joél Simone explore how these partnerships can create a seamless, meaningful transition after a death, ensuring continuity of care as a loved one moves from the support of a doula to the care of a funeral professional. Together, they highlight how this collaborative approach helps families navigate loss with greater confidence, dignity and compassion.

How do you support someone who is grieving when words feel inadequate? In this episode of the Remembering A Life Podcast, host Gail Marquardt is joined by Camila Crews, founder of Sorry for Your Loss Cards, for an honest conversation about grief support, language, culture, and showing up with presence instead of platitudes.

Camila shares how her personal experiences with loss inspired her to create culturally fluent grief support cards designed for moments long after the funeral—when grief is ongoing and support often fades. Together, Gail and Camila explore why traditional sympathy messages often fall short, how representation matters in grief, and what it truly means to hold space for someone who is grieving.

What happens when you ask the questions that matter most?

In this episode, host Gail Marquardt and guest Skip Weiss use the Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards to share meaningful stories about childhood, legacy, loss, joy, and the moments that shape who we are. Their honest, reflective conversation shows how simple questions can spark deeper connection and help preserve life stories with the people we love.

Perfect for anyone seeking more meaningful conversations about life and legacy.

The holidays can be difficult when we're grieving – or supporting someone who is. Alex Mammadyarov, a writer and psychotherapist specializing in grief, joins us for a conversation about the challenges of grieving during the "happiest time of the year" and how we can continue to move forward in our grief during a time when family and friends are gathering to celebrate.

John Hill didn't start his career planning funerals. He began in ministry, dedicating his life to serving his community from a place of faith. When he felt a calling to step away from his role as a pastor, he found himself with a closet full of suits and a question: "Where could I work wearing all these suits?" The answer that came to him was a funeral home. In this episode, John shares his story.

[CW: Traumatic death, suicide and infant loss]

Amanda King, a funeral director and embalmer specializing in restorative art, has given numerous families the gift of viewing their loved one after a traumatic death. In this episode she shares stories about families she has served and how viewing their loved one helped them move forward on their grief journey. Her work is truly inspiring.

The death of a child is perhaps the most unfathomable loss any of us can imagine. Kristin James and Betsy Hawley, through their work with the Grief Network and the Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition, help ensure families have the resources and support they need to both navigate the complexities of the care a terminally ill child receives and honor the life of that child in meaningful ways.

Let's have a conversation about life, death and how we want to be remembered! Jamie Kramer, founder/CEO of Earthly After, is ready to talk about everything from how our prior experiences with death inform what we want when we die to honoring a loved one in creative ways and how nature can help us move forward on our grief journey. Jamie is on a mission to normalize talking about death – join us!