MOSES LAKE — As businesses start to reopen with Grant County in Phase 2 of the state’s four-step plan to restart the economy, and with additional leeway recently given to religious ceremonies, funeral homes and cemeteries across the region are slowly opening as well.

Up until Memorial Day, there had been no gatherings larger than 10 people including staff since initial restrictions were placed on businesses and non-essential travel in mid-March, said Susan Freeman, funeral director and undertaker at Pioneer Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Moses Lake.

While Gov. Jay Inslee last week loosened restrictions on certain religious ceremonies such as church services, weddings and funerals, the difference is relatively small for small facilities like Pioneer Memorial Gardens, Freeman said.

Like many other industries, end-of-life service providers like Pioneer Memorial Gardens have taken a financial hit during the closures, with grieving loved ones outside of the immediate family barred from attending a memorial service during the early stages of the pandemic.

There have also been logistical issues created by the closures. The overwhelming majority of bodies that Pioneer Memorial Gardens takes in are cremated, Freeman said, and niche products, such as jewelry that can hold some of the ashes, have been difficult to procure.

Burying a loved one has come with its own obstacles. Until recently, the small family-owned business that etches Pioneer Memorial Gardens’ headstones was unable to supply stones for burials, as the business was considered non-essential under early state guidelines, Freeman said.

It has also at times been cumbersome to get reimbursed for services, Freeman added. Some insurance companies have been slow to respond to invoices, and government agencies that help cover burial costs, such as for veterans or tribal benefits, have shuttered their offices or limited staff. With the inability to go into the county coroner’s office in person, it has also taken longer to get death certificates to families.

In addition, closed government offices have meant that it hasn’t been possible for Freeman to arrange for military honors at the funeral of a veteran, a solemn ceremony where uniformed members of the deceased’s branch of the military help lay the dead to rest, including by presenting a folded flag to the next of kin.

But, in many ways, the broader contraction of memorial services has been the hardest for the business, for Freeman and for the families of the deceased, she said, as families are unable to come together to mourn shoulder to shoulder.

Even as Pioneer Memorial Gardens opened back up to outdoor services with no more than 10 people present at the funeral, the atmosphere was markedly different. Chairs have been dispersed to maintain social distancing, with family members that might normally whisper supportive messages into each other’s ear instead shouting their “I love you’s” from across the cemetery, Freeman said.

While state guidelines would currently allow for no more than about 15 people to attend a service in their small chapel, Freeman said that Pioneer Memorial Gardens has experimented with allowing more loved ones to attend, so long as they stay in their cars.

“But they can’t hear the prayers, they can’t really participate in the service,” Freeman said. “And you can’t really stop them from getting out and hugging.”

Often the ceremonies affected the most by the restrictions are traditional religious funerals, such as the rites practiced by the Catholic Church, Freeman said.

“They have very specific and definite rituals; it’s not really a funeral if you don’t have that,” Freeman said. “And just to have a committal service at the gravesite has been very difficult for a lot of families. The body won’t be there to be blessed by the priest and the baptism, the prayers and the smoke — they did some of that at the gravesite, but it’s not the same.”

“It’s a very reverent service that they do for their faithful, and I know that those families in particular are feeling incomplete,” Freeman added.

For Freeman, a full resumption of these services can’t come soon enough.

“I’m talking with a family and planning a service right now for two weeks from now,” Freeman said with a sigh. “They don’t want to wait two weeks. I don’t want to wait two weeks.”