Divestiture Related Activities Divestitiure Related Activities Level 4 (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Revenue	$ 1,613,000	$ 5,907,000	$ 6,051,000
Proceeds from Divestiture of Businesses	6,900,000
Current assets held for sale	45,000	4,569,000
Current assets of discontinued operations	0	4,750,000
Asset Impairment Charges	3,000,000
(Losses) gains on divestitures	122,535,000	(3,350,000)	639,000
Impairment losses	(5,922,000)	(2,913,000)	(2,150,000)
Gains (losses) on divestitures and impairment charges, net	116,613,000	(6,263,000)	(1,511,000)
Preneed funeral and cemetery receivables and trust investments	5,048,000	356,064,000
Cemetery property	165,000	89,060,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Property, Plant and Equipment	43,000	71,618,000
Goodwill	88,000	190,976,000
Deferred charges and other assets, held for sale	74,000	27,440,000
Cemetery perpetual care trust investments	1,284,000	88,169,000
Total assets	6,747,000	827,896,000
Current liabilities held for sale	14,000	4,390,000
Deferred preneed funeral and cemetery revenues and deferred receipts held in trusts	5,677,000	424,780,000
Care trusts' corpus	1,284,000	88,262,000
Other long term liabilities	27,000	4,209,000
Total liabilities	7,002,000	521,641,000
Net assets held for sale	(255,000)	306,255,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Property, Plant and Equipment, Noncurrent		116,000
Deferred charges and other assets, discontinued operations		2,375,000
Assets, disposal group, at carrying value		7,241,000
Current liabilities of discontinued operations	0	4,728,000
Deferred preneed funeral revenues, discontinued operations		938,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Other Liabilities		30,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Liabilities		5,696,000
Net assets of discontinued operations		1,545,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Costs and Expenses	(1,471,000)	(5,393,000)	(5,609,000)
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Business	2,136,000	0	0
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Other Expense	(2,000)	(1,000)	(42,000)
Discontinued Operation, Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operation, before Income Tax	2,276,000	513,000	400,000
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Provision for Income Tax	(90,000)	(107,000)	(138,000)
Income from discontinued operations, net	$ 2,186,000	$ 406,000	$ 262,000