The
Funeral Consumers Alliance of Princeton (formerly the Princeton Memorial Association) is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization. It is administered by a volunteer board of trustees
elected by the membership at the annual meeting. First incorporated
in 1956 as the Princeton Memorial Association, it is New Jersey's oldest and largest funeral society.
It
was formed by a small group of individuals who had been discussing
the ceremonies of baptism, weddings and funerals. Durinda Putnam
contacted some of the then only 7 funeral societies that existed
around the country. Deciding to form a Princeton association, they
received encouragement from the local ministers with whom they spoke.
A group was formed consisting of both ministers and lay people.
The
PMA was incorporated Sept. 21, 1956, and the first annual meeting,
was held Oct. 4 at the First Presbyterian Church. Although it was
attended by only four members of the fledgling Princeton Memorial
Association and four members of the press, the PMA was launched.
Initially
the founders thought that this was to be a cremation society. From
their discussions with local clergy, they realized that this could
be far more than a society concerned only with economical funerals.
Rather it would be dedicated to planning ahead. Several years before
the publication of Jessica Mitford’s expose of the funeral industry,
the Princeton Memorial Association was disseminating information
and helping to prepare informed consumers.
The
association joined the Continental Association of Funeral and
Memorial Societies, which was founded in 1963. This later became the
Funeral and Memorial Societies of America and more recently the
Funeral Consumers Alliance.
The
name of our Princeton organization was changed at the 2003 Annual Meeting to
Funeral Consumers Alliance of Princeton, to more closely express the
role of the association and to identify its relationship to the Funeral
Consumers Alliance, the federation of nonprofit consumer information
societies, to which we belong.
