Revisiting Clive

When I was just getting going on writing an occasional blog article back in May 2017 – about three years to the day from today – I was fascinated with a young man from County Cork Ireland who grew up wanting to be a funeral director.  As it turned out, circumstances worked out so that at age 31 Clive Anderson became owner of a funeral home in Pelham, New York, that catered to those of Irish descent.  You can read that article from Funeral Director Daily here.

Yesterday, I came across this article on Mr. Anderson and how things have changed for him because of the coronavirus situation in New York.  Anderson is now a 37-year old, experienced funeral director and owner, who says, “We are a small boutique funeral home that pays attention to every detail, all the small things, and now we’ve gone from that to getting about 40 calls a day.  We just can’t take them all.  And it’s not just our home.  It’s all of them.”

It is heartbreaking to hear Mr. Anderson tell of some of his clientele families.  He continues in the article, published by Irish Central, by saying, “It is just horrible.  They have been robbed of their loved ones, and in many cases, they’ve been suddenly robbed of their jobs as well.”

He also says, “They’ve been robbed of their spiritual advisors because they can’t provide services like Masses.  And they’ve been robbed of having friends and family support them because wakes are restricted to no more than 10 people.  These people have been robbed of so much right now.  It is shocking.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’ve never met Mr. Clive Anderson.  However, sometimes when people asked me if I was in the funeral business, I would reply, “Yes. . . and the compassion business.”  You cannot read the above article about how the high number of deaths are hitting Mr. Anderson’s funeral home without measuring his response in the disappointment that he is not able to serve each family as he would like to . . . . that is compassion. . . . and that is a great funeral director.

My heart goes out to these families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and it goes out to the great funeral directors and others in our industry who are trying to serve with as much compassion as they can muster — even when they don’t have the time nor energy to do so.

I’ve always felt blessed and privileged because I was able to serve my community as a funeral director.  This weekend, I’m thinking more than ever of those of you, in the compassion business,  serving your community on the front lines.

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