It was 85 years ago this past March when “funeral directors from across East Texas showed up. Dallas dispatched 25 doctors, 100 nurses, and 25 embalmers” to the small Texas oil boom community of New London. After the tragedy and according to this article , “morticians embalmed more than 200 bodies in the Overton American Legion Hall over the next 18 hours”. I learned of the tragedy of the New London School quite by accident when I was researching the […]
On May 24, twenty-one people lost their lives to the latest American school shooting. Those twenty-one have been, or will be, laid to rest as their families choose and desire. A lot of people help out in the grief process and they are all appreciated. I couldn’t help but think when I read this article from Baptist News Global, entitled “When you’re tempted to forget the latest school shooting, remember the embalmers” about the role funeral professionals play in that […]
In the last few weeks I have heard and seen a lot about about staffing issues in the death care world. For instance, I recently had a discussion with Ryan Thogmartin of Connecting Directors and he told me that their surveys from owners and managers indicate that staffing, employee issues, and just simply getting enough people to do the jobs that need to be done in funeral homes is the number one concern of these management people at this time. […]
During my mortuary college years I read a book entitled, “Who takes care of the Caretaker“. I don’t remember all of the details of the book because it’s been over 40 years since I read it. However, what I do remember is that it drilled into me loud and clear that “I could not be a caretaker to others if I didn’t first “take care” of myself.” I thought of that book when I received this informational press release about […]
Today is Good Friday and Sunday is Easter in the Christian world. And, I’m a sinner saved by grace. Wednesday at my weekly Men’s early morning Bible Study the comment was made that this weekend, when we commemorate or celebrate Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, those of the Christian faith recognize the greatest event of the past 2,000 plus years on earth. While Christ’s death and resurrection over the power of death is the ultimate victory in the Christian faith, […]
Worcester, Massachusetts, funeral director Peter Stefan, age 85 died this week. Stefan made a name for himself, not as a businessman, but as a man and funeral director, of compassion. Even in a profession which exudes compassion among its workers, Stefan stood out to his peers. Stephen Teasdale, the Executive Director of Worcester’s Main South Community Development Corporation had this to say about Stefan, “Money is not everything. At the end of the day, that’s going to be Peter’s legacy. […]
Over the weekend I conflated two situations and tried to make the argument that one situation could actually help the other. What happened is that I have noticed that almost all funeral homes of a larger case volume seem to be short professional staff. And, it’s not just in the United States — InvoCare in Australia has publicly said that they are short-staffed also. That knowledge was coupled with an article put out by The Hustle on Sunday. That article […]
Once again I’ve had some things pile up on my desk that I feel are important for readers to have available to them, but I just cannot fit them into feature articles. Included in this batch of linked features are information on the NFDA’s Emerging Leaders program, NFDA podcasts, information on the Cremation Association of North America’s Peer Support Network, information on learning how to use social media to your advantage, and information on how to “Navigate the Inflation Tax”. […]
Australia’s largest provider of death care services, InvoCare, issued a statement on their 2021 Year End results last week. In that statement they announced that they had returned to profitability with an after-tax profit of AUS $ 80.2 million (US$ 57.2 million) after going through the drastic Australian lock-down year of 2020 with a loss of AUS $11.5 million (US$ 8.42 million). The company also announced that revenue grew 11% in 2021 to AUS $532.5 million (US $ 389.9 million). […]
If you have been on the front lines of funeral service for any time period you probably have some of the same thoughts that I do. When I would serve a family there was period of about 7 days from my first connection to the family after the death through a few days after the funeral where we spent a lot of time together and could not help but get to know one another pretty well. Then, services were over, […]
