Cemetery Perpetual Care Trusts Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) (Cemetery Perpetual Care [Member], USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	$ 1,015,613	$ 980,272
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	82,074	88,694
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(17,069)	(23,398)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,080,618	1,045,568
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | US Treasury Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	731	820
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	16	45
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(5)	(1)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	742	864
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Foreign Government Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	30,329	30,159
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	217	709
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(561)	(140)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	29,985	30,728
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Corporate Debt Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	23,038	22,877
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	250	537
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(222)	(51)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	23,066	23,363
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Residential Mortgage Backed Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	1,322	1,498
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	16	41
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(11)	(2)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,327	1,537
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Asset-backed Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	160	161
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	2	10
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	2	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	160	171
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 [Member] | Preferred Stock securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	3,359	5,637
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	174	61
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(40)	(938)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	3,493	4,760
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | US Common Stock Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	179,225	163,173
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	37,782	19,609
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(3,398)	(3,389)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	213,609	179,393
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Canada Common Stock Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	8,409	8,954
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	1,722	1,568
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(726)	(731)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	9,405	9,791
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Other International Common Stock Securities [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	6,885	14,693
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	704	1,392
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(363)	(447)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	7,226	15,638
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Equity Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	15,071	16,999
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	4,435	2,102
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(59)	(211)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	19,447	18,890
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 [Member] | Fixed Income Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	708,858	680,921
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	35,127	61,172
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(2,829)	(441)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	741,156	741,652
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Private Equity Funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	28,215	24,727
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	475	338
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	(8,853)	(13,943)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	19,837	11,122
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 [Member] | Other Investments [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	10,011	9,653
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gains	1,154	1,110
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Losses	0	(3,104)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 11,165	$ 7,659