Business
Edward Leon, an owner of two other mortuaries in the Sonoma Valley has purchased the Duggan Mission Chapel in Sonoma Valley according to an article in the Index Tribune. The Duggan family is well known in funeral home circles in Northern California where relatives still own mortuaries in San Francisco and Daly City. According to…
News OK has a nice article on Matthews Funeral Home in Edmond, Oklahoma. The firm is owned by Randy and Barbara Matthews. Their sons Kyle and Kris Matthews are also involved in the business. The company was started in 2000. Matthews states that cremations now account for 45% of his cases.
SFgate has an article on the impact of rising opioid overdoth deaths on the funeral business. Opioid overdoses have been rising especially for people ages 25 and up. This chart says it all. The number of overdose deaths is rising rapidly due to heroin overdoses and illicit opioids
It is no secret that the American political system has pitted all kinds of people against each other. Repubicans vs. Democrats, Black vs. White, Men vs. Women, Lutherans vs. Catholics, and Muslims vs. Jewish. While we believe that this is a sad state of affairs, sometimes in the worst of events, the best of the…
Your Clifton Park & Halfmoon has done a nice feature about Kathleen Lowes Sanvidge, the owner of Townley and Wheeler funeral home in Ballston Lake, New York. Sandvidge has been certified as a Women Business Enterprise in New York. Her firm is the only certified women-owned funeral home in New York State. Funeral Director’s take: Interesting…
We noticed a number of items in the litigation section of the Service Corporation International 2016 Annual Report. Our purpose in listing the claims is not to point fingers. SCI has had several of the claims dismissed and we are in no position to evaluate the validity of the claims. We’ve decided to…
Ever wonder what the future of the small-town 30 call firm is. When I started in the funeral business in 1980 in a regional center type of community – 30,000 population – we served an area about 15 miles around us. Outside of that 15 mile radius there were several small communities that each had…
The Huffington Post has an outstanding post by funeral director Shannon Burberry titled “What Working With Death Can Teach You About Living.” Burberry is a Funeral Home Manager at Arbor Memorial in Ontario, Canada. Simple lessons but true: Our goodbyes are just as important as hellos. One size doesn’t fit all. Technology connects the disconnected.…
After operating the Brenneman Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Liberal, Kansas, for 17 years, Rick and Mellissa Brenneman sold the business to employee Mike Hornung and his wife Kelly effective January 31. Mike, who formerly worked with the Archdiocese of Denver Mortuary, graduated from Arapahoe Community College Mortuary Arts program and has worked at…
The US Census surveys the funeral industry every five years. The next census will take place later this year. Here is the data on US revenues and employment in the Cemetary, Crematory and Funeral Home industries for 1997-2012. Funeral Director Daily take: The drop in cemetery and crematory staff of almost 46% in fifteen years…
