Preneed Trust Investments (Cost and fair market values associated with preneed cemetery trust investments) (Details) (Preneed Cemetery Trust Investments [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	$ 67,833	$ 68,145
Unrealized Gains	4,761	3,072
Unrealized Losses	(2,117)	(1,693)
Fair Market Value	70,477	69,524
Preneed cemetery trust investments	71,510	70,386
Fair market value as a percentage of cost	103.90%	102.00%
Cash and money market accounts [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	910	1,541
Unrealized Gains	0	0
Unrealized Losses	0	0
Cash and money market accounts [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	910	1,541
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	3,938	3,460
Unrealized Gains	247	146
Unrealized Losses	(5)	(3)
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	4,180	3,603
Corporate Debt [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	30,699	32,958
Unrealized Gains	524	386
Unrealized Losses	(1,385)	(1,150)
Corporate Debt [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	29,838	32,194
Preferred Stock [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	18,475	17,754
Unrealized Gains	612	178
Unrealized Losses	(142)	(273)
Preferred Stock [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	18,945	17,659
Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	1	1
Unrealized Gains	0	0
Unrealized Losses	0	0
Mortgage Backed Securities [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	1	1
Common Stock
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	13,810	12,431
Unrealized Gains	3,378	2,362
Unrealized Losses	(585)	(267)
Common Stock \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	16,603	14,526
Accrued Investment Income [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	1,033	862
Fair Market Value	$ 1,033	$ 862

Preneed Trust Investments (Cost and fair market values associated with preneed cemetery trust investments) (Details) (Preneed Cemetery Trust Investments [Member], USD $)
In Thousands, unless otherwise specified

Mar. 31, 2014

Dec. 31, 2013

Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]

Cost

$ 67,833

$ 68,145

Unrealized Gains

4,761

3,072

Unrealized Losses

(2,117)

(1,693)