Much has changed in the past 100 years.

It is no surprise, then, that the funeral business also has evolved with the times in its efforts to preserve memories and celebrate lives.

So says James F. Burns, a third-generation director and owner of Burns Funeral Home and Crematory, which has numerous locations in Lake County. This year is century mark of the business founded by James Edward Burns.

"Our funeral home was started in 1908 by my grandfather, James Edward Burns. He founded it in Hammond and this location still remains on Hohman Avenue. The second generation was Edward Burns, my father. The third generation is Terrence P. Burns and James F. Burns, that's me and my brother. And the fourth generation is Patrick A. Burns and James Edward Burns," he says.

Since 1908, the business has had many locations, some of which have come and gone. Today it operates in Crown Point, and Hobart. Cousins of the family have separate locations in Hammond and Munster.

But more than location, the business itself has changed in the last century, says Burns.

"Back when the funeral home began, our funeral home was one of the largest separate facilities. Back in those days, a lot of visitations were in the home and funeral homes were really storefronts. Having a large funeral home was unique," says Burns.

He also says that funeral home transportation services are different today.

"In 1908, we had horse-drawn hearses. My father started riding on the horses with his father," Burns says.

And the business once had an additional revenue stream that no longer exists today.

"My father had an ambulance, to pick up the bodies from the hospital, and so it was customary for funeral homes to provide ambulance service to the community.

"We had one of the largest ambulance businesses. We provided emergency service to U.S. Steel, the Indiana Toll Road, and several locations of industry in the area. At one point, we averaged 35 ambulance calls a day," he says of that function of the business, which continued until the early 1980s.

Other changes include more female funeral directors, and in increase in cremations.

"There used to be only about 2 percent of our business that was cremation in 1908, but now it's up to 40 percent in some parts of the country. But the majority of the people who choose cremation also choose to memorialize in some way, so it's really just an alternative to burial," he says.

The business has added another component to cremation.

"Last April, we started a pet crematory to expand our business ... because of the requests from the public. Until then, pets had to be taken away to be cremated, so we built a separate facility for pet cremation," Burns says.

In addition, Burns says they do more video tributes, memorial services and personalize services to celebrate the individual's life. They have displayed golf bags and even motorcycles.

"Even though it's a difficult time, we want people to leave the funeral home with an uplifting feeling that the person's life was celebrated," he says.