Preneed Cemetery Activities Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) - Cemetery - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	$ 1,398,891	$ 1,411,166
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	42,099	38,316
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	123,972	45,184
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,317,018	1,404,298
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | US Treasury Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	67,552	63,447
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	41	257
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	1,258	605
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	66,335	63,099
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Foreign Government Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	25,546	21,687
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	306	261
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	86	134
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	25,766	21,814
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Corporate Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	5,293	8,725
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	31	122
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	112	116
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	5,212	8,731
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Residential Mortgage Backed Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	135	111
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3	3
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	2	1
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	136	113
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Asset-backed Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	170	170
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	18	16
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	188	186
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Preferred Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis		10
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax		1
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax		0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value		11
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | US Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	546,840	557,955
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	27,293	22,746
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	47,051	11,706
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	527,082	568,995
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Canada Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	9,077	10,962
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3,737	5,011
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	1,191	841
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	11,623	15,132
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Other International Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	56,256	55,632
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	2,102	1,605
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	9,341	2,395
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	49,017	54,842
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	352,117	344,443
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	1,525	4,244
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	48,602	18,430
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	305,040	330,257
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Fixed Income Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	302,920	314,600
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	322	679
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	13,353	4,702
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	289,889	310,577
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 | Private Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	30,896	32,342
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	6,462	3,185
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	2,976	6,183
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	34,382	29,344
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 | Other Investments
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis	2,089	1,082
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	259	186
Available-for-sale Securities, Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	71
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 2,348	$ 1,197