Preneed Cemetery Activities Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities (Details) - Cemetery - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Sep. 30, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	$ 1,397,386	$ 1,397,324
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	113,920	60,286
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(61,423)	(113,694)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,449,883	1,343,916
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | US Treasury Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	69,841	69,746
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	2,301	25
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(1,437)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	72,142	68,334
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Foreign Government Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	33,751	24,648
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	511	183
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(54)	(169)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	34,208	24,662
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 2 | Corporate Debt Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	2,547	5,112
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	20	26
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(40)	(118)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	2,527	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	21	15
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	191	185
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | US Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	540,836	532,026
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	72,329	44,181
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(22,978)	(32,037)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	590,187	544,170
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Canada Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	8,662	8,984
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	4,800	3,858
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(145)	(891)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	13,317	11,951
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Other International Common Stock Securities
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	44,166	50,053
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	4,443	4,207
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(4,128)	(5,799)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	44,481	48,461
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	353,122	356,798
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	12,682	1,620
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(21,193)	(49,642)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	344,611	308,776
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 1 | Fixed Income Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	97,339	203,983
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	2,107	92
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(10,677)	(18,526)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	88,769	185,549
Fair Value, Inputs, Level 3 | Other Investments
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	160	1,381
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	0	122
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(126)	0
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	34	1,503
Estimate of Fair Value Measurement [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	1,150,594	1,253,030
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	99,214	54,332
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(59,341)	(108,622)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	1,190,467	1,198,740
Reported at net asset value
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	246,792	144,294
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	14,706	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(2,082)	(5,072)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	259,416	145,176
Reported at net asset value | Private Equity Funds
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	32,074	35,411
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	4,622	5,954
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	(2,082)	(4,502)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	34,614	36,863
Reported at net asset value | Fixed Income Commingled funds [Member]
Schedule of Available-for-sale Securities [Line Items]
Amortized Cost Basis	214,718	108,883
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Gain, before Tax	10,084	0
Accumulated Gross Unrealized Loss, before Tax	0	(570)
Available-for-sale Securities, Fair Value	$ 224,802	$ 108,313