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	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	$ 73,290	$ 68,145
Unrealized Gains	4,202	3,072
Unrealized Losses	(3,237)	(1,693)
Fair Market Value	74,255	69,524
Preneed cemetery trust investments	75,271	70,386
Fair market value as a percentage of cost	101.30%	102.00%
Cash and money market accounts [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	2,428	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	2,428	1,541
Municipal Bonds [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	344
Unrealized Gains	12
Unrealized Losses	0
Municipal Bonds [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	356
Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	4,945	3,460
Unrealized Gains	91	146
Unrealized Losses	(102)	(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	4,934	3,603
Corporate Debt [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	30,384	32,958
Unrealized Gains	433	386
Unrealized Losses	(1,984)	(1,150)
Corporate Debt [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	28,833	32,194
Preferred Stock [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	18,432	17,754
Unrealized Gains	647	178
Unrealized Losses	(203)	(273)
Preferred Stock [Member] \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	18,876	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	16,756	12,431
Unrealized Gains	3,019	2,362
Unrealized Losses	(948)	(267)
Common Stock \| Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Fair Market Value	18,827	14,526
Accrued Investment Income [Member]
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Cost	1,016	862
Fair Market Value	$ 1,016	$ 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

Sep. 30, 2014

Dec. 31, 2013

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

Cost

$ 73,290

$ 68,145

Unrealized Gains

4,202

3,072

Unrealized Losses

(3,237)

(1,693)