Making New Hampshire Funeral Information Easy to Find

What to do when someone dies is a mystery to most of us.

​But there is movement to regain the lost skills and self-reliance of previous generations, driven by a vision of creating more affordable, eco-friendly, meaningful and authentic ways of memorializing and caring for our own dead ourselves, in our own homes, in our churches, and in our communities.

​This movement is gaining momentum, guided by ethical and environmentally conscious values, seeking more congruent methods and practices that reflect our vision for the planet and provide a sense of place for those left behind.

Quick Find
For many, that will mean learning how to conduct a home funeral; for others, it will mean searching for a funeral director who will honor their unique ideas; for still others it will mean advocating for change in our municipal cemetery, hospital, and government laws and policies. However this reform in funeral practices and responsibility resonates with you, we are here to educate, to support, and to nurture new ideas that will change the way we do death in the best possible ways.
In New Hampshire, no one is required to purchase the services of a funeral director or funeral home. Families may conduct any or all tasks commonly performed by a funeral home (except embalming which is not required by New Hampshire law), and may bury on their own property if certain provisions are met. Sometimes called "family-led after-death care" or "home funerals" this may include:
  • bathing and dressing the deceased; 
  • sheltering the deceased at home;
  • spending time with the deceased (sometimes called a wake, vigil, or viewing);
  • filing the death certificate and obtaining a burial/transit permit;
  • making arrangements for final disposition (generally burial or cremation);
  • transporting the body home (or to another location) for care and viewing, and to place of final disposition;
  • making arrangements for any ceremony. ​​
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Click on the image to watch the video

Join Me for Online and In-Person Presentations
​Courses and Conversations

PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
Bringing After-Death Care Back Home: an intro to home funerals, natural burials, green cemeteries, and more
TBD
Free and open to the public

This program is being offered twice to accommodate different schedules. It is part of a 3-part series that delves into empowering us to care for our own dead and to understand how family and community-centric after-death choices can be made and facilitated in our area.
CLASSES
Managing After Death Decisions for Caregivers
Aging Resource Center
March 27, 2026
10 am
Online
Free and paid online classes at Redesigning the End.com
Green Burial Masterclass
Green Funeral Services
Doulas and After-Death Care: Bridging Both Worlds
Hospice and Home Funerals In-Service Series
After-Death Care Mini Course for Doulas, Guides, and Individuals

Read teaching testimonials here: https://osher.dartmouth.edu/get_involved/study_leaders/meet_study_leaders/leewebster/

Learn more

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Looking for a presentation for your event? Or seeking assistance with green burial in your town? Contact Lee at  [email protected]

Want to know what's happening in New Hampshire with green burial? Go to Natural Burial New Hampshire!

3 Approaches to Funerals

Meet Lee Webster, Funeral Reform Advocate

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As a writer, researcher, hospice volunteer, home funeral guide, conservationist, web designer, and frequent speaker on the benefits of home funerals and green burial, Lee Webster's career and volunteer service spans years in public relations and development for nonprofits, conservation groups, health agencies, private secondary schools, colleges and universities. She serves as the Executive Director of New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Education & Advocacy, and President of Natural Burial New Hampshire and White Mountain Conservation Burial. She is a former President and Vice Chair of Education of the Green Burial Council, and was President of the National Home Funeral Alliance. She is a founding member of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's End-of-Life Doula Council, and the Conservation Burial Alliance. She was also chair of the Plymouth Conservation Commission, and a board member of the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions.

​Lee is the author of several home funeral and green burial books, including Changing Landscapes: Exploring the growth of ethical, compassionate, environmentally sustainable green funeral practices and The After-Death Care Advocate Handbook and a contributor to The Future of the Corpse, a collaborative book written with Columbia University's DeathLab. Along with co-instructor Holly Blue Hawkins, the Green Burial Masterclass Companion is now available in print. She has published articles and been interviewed for pieces that can be found in various news outlets, magazines, podcasts, and blogs, including Natural Transitions, American Funeral Director, FuneralOne, Funeral Business Advisor, Newsweek, PhillyVoice, the New Yorker, the New York Times, The New Republic, DeathTalk, EOL University, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. 

As an educator, she has developed several cornerstone courses for professionals and lay people seeking to learn more about green funerals and burials, including Green Funeral Service, Doulas and After-Death Care: Bridging Both Worlds, Burial as a Conservation Strategy, and Hospice and Home Funerals In-Service Series. Co-taught with Holly Blue Hawkins through Redesigning the End is the 12-week online Green Burial Masterclass that covers the technical and ethical aspects of natural burial. She also teaches You Shall Surely Bury: Jewish and Green Cemeteries with Jewish scholars Holly Blue Hawkins and David Zinner. She guest lectures and teaches frequently at colleges, universities, and life-long learning programs, including OSHER at Dartmouth College, OLLI at UNH, and Dartmouth's Aging Resource Center.

Webster is the 2024 recipient of the Green Burial Council Leadership Award. The award is presented to an individual, organization, or business that has demonstrated foresight, innovation, and extraordinary commitment to the environment through sustainability and attainability in the area of human death-care practice.
 
She is currently working with groups to open a conservation level burial ground in New Hampshire while writing a book about natural and conservation burial.