Preneed Trust Investments (Purchases and sales of investments in preneed cemetery trusts) (Details) - Preneed Cemetery Trust Investments - USD ($) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Schedule of Trading Securities and Other Trading Assets [Line Items]
Purchases	$ (25,643)	$ (26,757)	$ (53,443)
Sales	$ 25,846	$ 23,141	$ 58,022

The cash outflow to acquire debt and equity securities not classified as either held-to-maturity securities or trading securities which would be classified as available-for-sale securities and reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses excluded from earnings and reported in a separate component of shareholders' equity.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Glossary Investing Activities
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6516133

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 13
-Subparagraph (a),(b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66902209&loc=d3e3213-108585

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 11
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66010992&loc=d3e26853-111562

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration