Northampton County Burial Allowance, Headstones and Grave Markers

The duties are the State's, under 16 Pa.C.S. Chapter 155; see the Pennsylvania entry on county burial and grave benefits. The Office of Veterans Affairs takes the applications; funeral homes have the forms. What the county pays. $100 toward the funeral and burial of an honorably discharged veteran who served in any war and lived in Northampton County at death; one day of wartime active duty other than training is enough. $100 toward the burial of the widow of such a veteran. Both must be applied for within one year of the death, as sections 15509 and 15510 require. The statutory minimum is $75 each. Headstones. The office arranges a federal flat marble or granite, upright marble or flat bronze headstone. The page says the county "will also pay normal costs not to exceed $100 for installation of a Federal marker or lettering on an existing memorial". Section 15513 makes the county provide the base for a federal headstone, or the lettering on an existing family memorial, at actual cost, approved before the work is done; there is no $100 ceiling, so a family facing a larger setting bill should ask the office to approve it first. Widows only. The page and form speak of widows and of "his death"; section 15510 covers the surviving spouse of either sex who had not remarried. Flags and bronze markers. Veterans organizations can request the county's Memorial Day flags and bronze grave markers on their letterhead, and families can ask for them too.