Preneed Cemetery Activities Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) - Cemetery - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	$ 1,382,171	$ 1,397,324
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	82,434	60,286
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(92,075)	(113,694)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,372,530	1,343,916
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | US Treasury Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	66,289	69,746
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	2,106	25
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(1,437)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	68,395	68,334
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Foreign Government Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	32,674	24,648
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	292	183
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(49)	(169)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	32,917	24,662
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Corporate Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	3,359	5,112
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	21	26
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(57)	(118)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	3,323	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	170	170
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	24	15
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	194	185
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | US Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	535,084	532,026
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	53,161	44,181
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(35,147)	(32,037)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	553,098	544,170
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Canada Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	8,014	8,984
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	4,675	3,858
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(133)	(891)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	12,556	11,951
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Other International Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	48,225	50,053
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	3,537	4,207
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(4,614)	(5,799)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	47,148	48,461
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	355,599	356,798
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	4,172	1,620
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(40,497)	(49,642)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	319,274	308,776
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Fixed Income Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	83,983	203,983
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	977	92
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(7,654)	(18,526)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	77,306	185,549
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 | Other Investments
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	1,479	1,381
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	0	122
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(160)	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,319	1,503
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	1,134,876	1,253,030
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	68,965	54,332
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(88,311)	(108,622)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,115,530	1,198,740
Reported at net asset value
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	247,295	144,294
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	13,469	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(3,764)	(5,072)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	257,000	145,176
Reported at net asset value | Private Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	33,345	35,411
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	5,700	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(3,764)	(4,502)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	35,281	36,863
Reported at net asset value | Fixed Income Commingled funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	213,950	108,883
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	7,769	0
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(570)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 221,719	$ 108,313