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Frank Fitzpatrick liked independent films, birds in his backyard and Chunky Monkey ice cream.

He had a melodious voice and a pet cat named Honey.

By all accounts, Fitzpatrick was much more than two dates: 1943-2004. Patricia Fitzpatrick, holding a photo of her and her husband, bought a bench with a Memory Medallion at Yarmouthport's Woodside Cemetery.

''My husband always said, 'You live your whole life in that dash,' '' his wife, Patricia, recalled recently.

So after Frank died of lung cancer, the West Yarmouth woman set out to find a special way of remembering her husband. And she stumbled across something called a Memory Medallion.

These half-dollar-sized metal discs placed in a headstone or similar memorial contain a description and photo of the deceased that can be downloaded onto a laptop or PDA.

''For me,'' Patricia said, ''it was a way of honoring my husband - more than just putting his name in concrete.''

Memory Medallions are just one example of how technology is changing the way families remember their loved ones. Death - or at least grieving - is going high-tech.

Some examples are more of a stretch than others.

A Miami company called Vidstone, for example, offers a solar-powered video screen that can be embedded in a tombstone. The tiny screen then allows those special moments to play over and over for eternity - or until the year that the company guarantees its product.

However, perhaps the most prevalent example is online guest books, where people can go on the Internet to write their memories of the deceased or offer condolences to the family.

Nickerson-Bourne Funeral Home has offered these virtual guest books for about a year, said manager Don Brown. They're gaining in popularity in part because of logistics.

''It really works well for younger people - the grandchildren, for example, who may not be able to come to the visitation,'' Brown said. ''It gives them a way to do something, even if they can't be there.''

Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Homes began offering their online guest book about five years ago, said Christopher Berg, a funeral director at Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Wareham. ''A lot of times, we have people who post messages who aren't able to attend the funeral,'' he said. ''But in some cases, we've had immediate family members post messages as a way of saying goodbye.''

The funeral home reviews the messages before they're posted. But of more than 10,000 sympathy messages, Berg said only about three have been censored for inappropriate content.

Memory Medallions Rock of Ages, a Vermont company, sells Memory Medallions for $600. Half-dollar-sized metal discs (above) placed in a headstone

Digitally stores text and photos, which can be downloaded via an electronic wand placed on the button

Does not need a power source And online guest books can help seniors who find it difficult to travel by allowing them to share their condolences without leaving home, said Kevin Morris, co-owner of Morris & O'Connor Funeral Home in South Yarmouth.

But despite the advantages of online guest books, some see potential shortcomings, too. ''It can be slightly impersonal, so I don't know how it will develop,'' Morris said. ''The best thing that can happen for a family is having personal contact.''

The Morris & O'Connor Funeral Home's Web site and online guest book are hosted at Legacy.com, an Illinois-based company that claims to have half the nation's obituaries indexed and searchable by surname.

Legacy.com's obituaries are gleaned from 200 newspapers across the country, including the Cape Cod Times. And the site also draws more than 4 million viewers a month, according to Legacy.com.

But much more than convenience, families are using technology to bring personality into the grieving process, funeral home directors said.

''Families are looking for more personalization,'' Berg said. ''I'm excited to see what's next.''

Some funeral homes offer increasingly popular photo slideshows.

For an extra fee, some Cape and Islands funeral homes will set a string of photos to music. The resulting DVD or video montage can be played at memorial services. Chapman, Cole & Gleason also posts the slideshow on its Web site.

And Frank Fitzpatrick's Memory Medallion?

It arrived in mid-December - the first one in Massachusetts, said Caryn Crump, a spokeswoman for Vermont-based Rock of Ages.

The $600 medallion digitally stores text and photos, which can then be downloaded via an electronic wand placed on the button, she said. It does not need a power source, and the technology is under perpetual warranty by Rock of Ages.

''What's important here is not the technology,'' Crump said. ''It's about capturing a life.''

Patricia chose a bench to hold the medallion and mark Frank's final resting place in Yarmouthport's Woodside Cemetery.

''I think life is more than 600 words,'' Patricia said. ''But that's more than that dash between when you're born and when you died.''

Copyright © 2006. Cape Cod Times.