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	Jun. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	$ 71,466	$ 68,145
Unrealized Gains	6,806	3,072
Unrealized Losses	(1,260)	(1,693)
Fair Market Value	77,012	69,524
Preneed cemetery trust investments	77,790	70,386
Fair market value as a percentage of cost	107.80%	102.00%
Cash and money market accounts [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	2,342	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	2,342	1,541
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	4,835	3,460
Unrealized Gains	227	146
Unrealized Losses	0	(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	5,062	3,603
Corporate Debt [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	30,451	32,958
Unrealized Gains	906	386
Unrealized Losses	(919)	(1,150)
Corporate Debt [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	30,438	32,194
Preferred Stock [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	18,271	17,754
Unrealized Gains	916	178
Unrealized Losses	(87)	(273)
Preferred Stock [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	19,100	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	15,566	12,431
Unrealized Gains	4,757	2,362
Unrealized Losses	(254)	(267)
Common Stock \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	20,069	14,526
Accrued Investment Income [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	778	862
Fair Market Value	$ 778	$ 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

Jun. 30, 2014

Dec. 31, 2013

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

Cost

$ 71,466

$ 68,145

Unrealized Gains

6,806

3,072

Unrealized Losses

(1,260)

(1,693)