Snyder Crissman Funeral Home A Legacy Of Compassionate Endoflife Care In The Heart Of The Community

What Actually Happens When You Contact Snyder Crissman Funeral Home

Most people think they just pick up the phone and a staff member answers. That's partly true. But the reality of working with them is more complicated than a single call, especially if you're doing this for the first time and the death just happened. I spent about four years as a logistics coordinator handling arrangements through multiple funeral homes in central Pennsylvania. Snyder Crissman comes up a lot because they handle a significant volume of cases in the Holmes County area, and their process has some quirks that aren't obvious until you've been through it twice.

Snyder Crissman Funeral Home A Legacy Of Compassionate Endoflife Care In The Heart Of The Community

This is the tagline they use, and it's not entirely marketing speak. The compassion part is real in the sense that their front desk staff genuinely seems to care. The "heart of the community" part is also accurate because they're deeply embedded in a rural area where everyone knows everyone else's business. That can be helpful. It can also be a problem if you want discretion. When the death occurs, you call Snyder Crissman. They ask for the full legal name of the deceased, date of birth, Social Security number, current address, veteran status, and next of kin information. If you don't have the Social Security number, they will not proceed. This isn't optional. They need it to file the death certificate with the county, and their system blocks you from moving forward without it. I learned this the hard way. A client called me at 2 AM because their father had passed at a hospital in Berlitz, and they had the name and DOB but not the SSN. The hospital wouldn't release it to them. Snyder Crissman put them on hold for twenty minutes while they waited for the death certificate to come through the hospital's electronic system. It arrived about forty minutes later. Nothing was broken, but it was stressful.

The workaround? Ask the attending physician or hospital to fax or email the death certificate directly to the funeral home before you even call. Most hospitals will do this if you ask politely. It saves you from the hold-time anxiety.

Pricing and What It Actually Costs

Snyder Crissman operates on a traditional fee schedule, which means there's a basic services fee (non-directional), then add-ons for everything else. The basic services fee in 2024 was around $2,400 to $2,800 depending on whether you want embalming included or not. Embalming is not legally required in Pennsylvania unless there's a public viewing or extended delay, but they will strongly recommend it because they know most families want it. Here's the counter-intuitive part: if you choose direct cremation or immediate burial, the total cost drops to roughly $1,800 to $2,200. That's not a typo. The markup on the "full service" package is where the profit lives. If money is tight, ask for the itemized price list upfront. Federal law requires them to give it to you, and they will, but most people don't know to ask. One pitfall: they sometimes bundle "merchandise" like caskets and urns into packages without clearly separating the costs. Get everything in writing with line items. I've seen families come back to me six months later realizing they paid $3,200 for a casket that was retailing for $800 at a local supply store. Buying your own casket is legal in Pennsylvania. Funeral homes cannot refuse it.

The Arrangement Conference

After the initial call, you'll come in to what they call an "arrangement conference." This is usually scheduled within 24 to 48 hours. Expect to spend about 90 minutes to two hours there. The room is typically small, with maybe three staff members present. Bring a notepad. Write down every option and every price. They will walk you through service options: traditional funeral with viewing, memorial service without the body present, direct cremation, green burial (they don't offer this on-site, but they can coordinate with a partner cemetery in the area), and celebration of life events. The green burial question comes up more often now than it did five years ago, and Snyder Crissman handles it by partnering with Amish-country cemeteries that allow natural burial. It works, but it adds about three to four days to the timeline. Another thing they don't always mention upfront: if the deceased lived in a nursing home or hospice facility, that facility has specific paperwork they need to complete before the body can be released. Snyder Crissman handles most of this, but you should confirm which forms the facility is responsible for. I once dealt with a case where the hospice center forgot to sign the transport release, and the body sat in their refrigeration unit for an extra day. No one called to tell anyone. It was discovered only because I cross-referenced the paperwork afterward.

Cemetery and Grave Services

Snyder Crissman doesn't own a cemetery, but they have longstanding relationships with several in the area: Mt. Olivet in Millersburg, Union Deposit in Lancaster County, and a few Amish-run graveyards that require specific protocols. If you're choosing a cemetery, ask Snyder Crissman which ones they have the easiest relationship with. Some charge higher opening/closing fees through certain partners, and the difference can be $500 to $1,200. A specific edge case: if the deceased is a veteran, Snyder Crissman can arrange for military honors at the graveside, but you need to bring the DD-214 or have them on file before the service. They will help you request it from the VA, but the process takes about two weeks. If you need it sooner, contact the VA directly at 1-800-827-1000 and reference the funeral home's name. That speeds things up noticeably.

Online Memorials and Obituaries

They offer online memorial pages through their website, and they'll help draft the obituary. The drafting service is free, but if you want it published in the newspaper, that's an additional cost. Snyder Crissman handles the submission to local papers like the Intelligencer Journal and the Berlitz Banner. Newspaper publication runs about $150 to $400 depending on length and location. Here's something most people don't know: you can publish the obituary yourself for free on platforms like Legacy.com or even directly through the funeral home's website without paying for their drafting service. Snyder Crissman won't stop you. They just won't mention that option unless you ask.

What Goes Wrong and How to Avoid It

The most common issue I see with Snyder Crissman is timeline confusion. Families expect the service to happen within a week of death, but in rural Holmes County, getting permits, coordinating with cemeteries that have limited opening windows, and dealing with out-of-town family arrivals can push things to 10 to 14 days. This isn't inefficiency. It's geography and bureaucracy. Another problem: payment. They accept cash, check, and most major credit cards, but if you're using life insurance proceeds, those checks are made payable to the estate, not directly to the funeral home. You need to work with the executor to get the funds released. This can take two to three weeks after the service. Plan for it. Don't assume the insurance check arrives before the bill is due. Their biggest weakness, honestly, is communication after the arrangement conference is done. Once the service is set, follow-up updates are sporadic. If something changes — a delay, a paperwork issue, a cemetery scheduling conflict — you might not hear about it for 24 to 48 hours. Call them proactively if you're waiting on news. Don't assume they'll reach out.

Bottom Line

Snyder Crissman is competent, locally rooted, and genuinely caring in the ways that matter most during a funeral. They're not the cheapest option in central Pennsylvania, but they're not overpriced either. The key is to come prepared, ask for itemized costs, handle the SSN and paperwork ahead of time, and keep your own records of every conversation. If you do that, the process runs smoothly. If you don't, you'll spend more time on the phone than you need to.