There is no doubt that when one thinks of the idea of an embalmer around the time of the Civil War (1860’s in the U.S.) or one known as an “undertaker” in the same time period that the profession has changed greatly.  And, the business of what a funeral director does or what a funeral home charges for has also changed drastically.

 

My great-grandfather arrived in America and Minnesota in 1872 with the skill-set of building cabinets and furniture.  Our entry at that time into the funeral business that still bears his name was that craftsman ability — families came to him to build coffins.  My guess is that he never embalmed a body or conducted funeral services  —  it was simply about the art of building the receptacle for the buried body.

 

And, certainly there was no thought of cremation.  Successive generations of our family moved into roles where embalming, funeral homes, and, eventually, cremation became the norm of the business.

 

I began full-time at the funeral home in 1980 when cremation was about a 1% choice among our community’s population.  Funeral service was all about traditional burial funerals.  The popularity of cremation kept growing and we eventually installed our our crematory in 2006 as our cremation rate continued that growth  — to the approximately 70% level of today.

 

From 1872 to 2026 — 154 years of service — what we do has really changed in the method, but I many times think that what we do has not changed in how we help people pay their last respects to their loved one.

 

In the last week I noticed a couple of things that really made me believe that our methods of Death Care have really continued to change.  The first was on a website of a funeral home that had been in the news and I was looking at the website to learn more about the company.  What struck me was that all of their viewable “Package Pricing” entailed cremation and you had to click to the 2nd page of pricing to find any pricing on what I just termed “traditional earth burial”.

 

I contrast that from when I started 46 years ago.  I distinctly remember what turned out to be my first cremation family.  They met me at the death scene and when arrangements were discussed they mentioned, “By the way, mom wants to be cremated“.  When I returned to the funeral home and before they came in for arrangements, I had to figure out pricing for someone that wanted cremation and not embalming and burial.

 

That is certainly different from today.  By the time I left daily funeral home work I was actually surprised when families told me that they didn’t want cremation and wanted a traditional earth burial including the embalming of the deceased.

 

The second thing I noticed last week was an article from the “State of Mexico Business News“.  That article, that you can access here, begins with an explanation about why the State would like to establish Green Cemeteries when it says this:

 

“Lawmakers in the State of Mexico are reviewing a proposal from Gov. Delfina Gómez Álvarez to establish green cemeteries and restrict non-biodegradable burial materials as part of reforms to the state’s environmental and municipal legal framework. The initiative aims to reduce emissions and soil contamination linked to traditional burial and cremation practices — each cremation emits about 400kg of CO₂— and to address cemetery saturation in the metropolitan area surrounding Mexico City. The proposal could reshape regulations affecting Mexico’s funeral services industry, municipal land-use planning and environmental policy by promoting biodegradable burial systems and ecological preservation zones.”

 

Most of that explanation is similar to the pleas of those in society who are in the process of moving Death Care into what they believe can be a “greener” state.  In further reading, however, the article talks about “restricting” the use of traditional burial products such as caskets and vaults.  Here’s what the article goes on to say (bolded empahsis by Funeral Director Daily):

 

“Lawmakers in the State of Mexico have begun reviewing a proposal by Gov. Delfina Gómez Álvarez (Morena) to establish “green cemeteries” and restrict the use of materials such as metal coffins and concrete burial vaults in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of traditional funeral practices. The initiative, now under discussion in the state Congress, seeks to replace conventional burial and cremation methods with ecological systems that allow bodies to decompose naturally and return to the soil.” 

 

So, that is how I get to the point of realizing that Death Care has “Truly turned the Corner” in our methods of serving families.  We are now in a position where it is truly about cremation over burial and certainly not about the undertaker who simply provided the receptacle for burial.

 

The good news is that it is still about the Funeral Director who “serves” the family. . . . . .But I’m not so sure that the corner will not eventually be turned on that situation as well.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Ontario’s strict burial rules clash with nature lovers’ desire to rest in peace.  The Narwhal  (Canada)
• Notts funeral director urges caution when using AI in funeral planning.  Newsby Wire (Great Britain)
• ITVX picks up New Zealand dark comedy “Good Grief” starring Eve and Grace Palmer.  GeekTown (Great Britain)
• NFDA members to elect new leaders of the profession:  2026 Board candidates announced.  NFDA

 

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