Preneed Cemetery Activities Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) - Cemetery - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	$ 1,374,818	$ 1,397,324
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	66,468	60,286
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(108,010)	(113,694)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,333,276	1,343,916
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | US Treasury Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	62,763	69,746
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	1,584	25
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(1,437)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	64,347	68,334
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Foreign Government Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	29,144	24,648
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	229	183
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(49)	(169)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	29,324	24,662
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Corporate Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	5,036	5,112
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	21	26
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(168)	(118)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	4,889	5,020
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Residential Mortgage Backed Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis		129
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax		3
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax		(3)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value		129
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Asset-backed Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	169	170
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	21	15
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	190	185
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | US Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	544,212	532,026
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	45,619	44,181
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(37,705)	(32,037)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	552,126	544,170
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Canada Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	8,487	8,984
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3,958	3,858
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(295)	(891)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	12,150	11,951
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Other International Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	45,771	50,053
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3,516	4,207
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(5,834)	(5,799)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	43,453	48,461
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	353,128	356,798
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3,010	1,620
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(44,406)	(49,642)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	311,732	308,776
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Fixed Income Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	188,990	203,983
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	407	92
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(14,775)	(18,526)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	174,622	185,549
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 | Other Investments
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	1,476	1,381
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	0	122
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(179)	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,297	1,503
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	1,239,176	1,253,030
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	58,365	54,332
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(103,411)	(108,622)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,194,130	1,198,740
Reported at net asset value
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	135,642	144,294
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	8,103	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(4,599)	(5,072)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	139,146	145,176
Reported at net asset value | Private Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	34,460	35,411
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	5,829	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(4,599)	(4,502)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	35,690	36,863
Reported at net asset value | Fixed Income Commingled funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	101,182	108,883
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	2,274	0
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(570)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 103,456	$ 108,313