Monday morning I received a call from a lady I know who works tirelessly with the community’s Junior Achievement organization.  She mentioned that they were looking for some new board members and she wondered if I would be interested in serving.

My first thought was, “I don’t need more board positions”.  I’ve served on a lot in my small community over the years and now serve as the Chairman of a non-profit Home Care and Hospice Company, serve on the board of our community foundation, serve on the foundation board of a large senior health organization, as well as serve on the foundation board and the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota.  And, over the years, I’ve chaired everything from my church board to the community Little League Board.

About the time I was going to say I just don’t have the time, I realized how much the freedom to operate my own business and make decisions that can change lives, has meant to me over the years.  Operating your own business is not always easy, but it does give a person a chance to be in charge of his own destiny.  Taking out a loan, working hard and having the faith that you can pay the money back is the cornerstone of America’s economy.

I can use my own family and our experience with the American way of life as an example of business and controlled risk as a way of moving up the economic ladder.  My great grandfather came to America in 1872, settled in the small community I still live in, and borrowed $500 to set up a cabinet shop where he could build furniture and, with some luck and hard work, move up that ladder.

So, yesterday I thought, somebody taught me about entrepreneurship, risk, hard work, and possible reward.  There is no way that I will turn down the chance to teach others to do the same.  So, yes — I accepted the board position.

That thought process also made me think about the funeral profession.  Is there another profession where entrepreneurship, belief in self, hard work, and stick to it-iveness is so visible in American society?  Virtually every small and large community in America had someone who thought they could build a business in that trade. . . .and a very, very large percentage succeeded.  The early funeral entrepreneurs didn’t rake in a bunch of cash, but they believed in what they were doing for the good of society, provided a living for themselves and their families, and built a platform for a very large profession.

And, I also took stock of what I write here on Funeral Director Daily.  It seems like the “big guys” – Service Corporation, StoneMor, Carriage Services — get all the ink.  Probably because they are large and at times, for good or bad, many of us smaller firms believe it is smart to emulate them.

However, the fact of the matter is – according to this statistic from NFDA – that in 2019 over 89.2% of the 19,136 funeral homes in the United States are privately owned by families or individuals.  That is an incredibly high number for a profession in today’s world. . . .where do you think that number is for hotels? Or new automobile dealerships? Or doctors?

There is no doubt that American entrepreneurship has helped build the business enterprise of this country. . . and those in our profession can certainly be proud of the part that we have played.

Here is some recent information on a couple of these families moving the American way of life along:

Bennett Funeral Services — The Bennett family is opening a new funeral home in the Catawba Valley of North Carolina.  You can see an article on the funeral home here.

Here is a link to the Bennett Funeral Services web-site.

Durst Funeral Home — Durst Funeral Home of Frostburg, Maryland, is welcoming daughter Stephanie Durst-McAteer as a new funeral director to their business which already includes her father and brother as licensed funeral directors.  You can read about it here.

Here is a link to the Durst Funeral Home web-site.

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