Funeral Words

Life and Loss: The Impact of Six Feet Under

Just saw the documentary piece described by Bob Biggins in the post below. It runs about 25 minutes long and might work as a tool with the public from time to time, if you had at least an hour for viewing and discussion or as a resource for a classroom setting where you have time to work through the ideas presented.

This video defintely belongs at our professional education facilities and schools. Funeral service students ought to see and discuss the material. They do a great job opening up the realism (particularly emotional realism) of the show and students could use that exposure.

Well done. Check it out. To make it easy, you will find a link below which will take you directly to Amazon.com for purchase.

Special Note about Six Feet Under DVDs

I received an email today from Bob Biggins the current President of the National Funeral Directors Association. He talks about the Special Feature section of the latest Six Feet Under DVD set, the critically acclaimed HBO series set in and around a funeral home. Sounds one of the segments really captures the essence of funeral service and the value it brings to families.

I provide the text of the letter below AND I head out shortly to pick up a copy of the DVD set!! I have also provided an Amazon link below which you can use to purchase the set for yourself. More to follow:

Good Morning,

I had the pleasure of viewing the Special Feature addition to the release of the HBO Season Five that became available yesterday. As you may know the producers of Six Feet Under attended our Chicago convention to interview several members for feedback and opinion of this award winning production and the thoughts of our profession on its impact on the discussion of death, dying and funerals.

THIS PRODUCTION IS A MUST SEE!!!!! It is in my opinion, the highest profile, positive piece that has been produced to date on the value of the funeral and funeral service as a whole in the grieving process.

Many thanks are in ourder for NFDA's role in this production. The public relations staff that worked tirelessly in bringing the parties together and our distinguished spokespersons, Deborah Kellom, Melanie Bryant, Dan Biggins, Kurt Soffe and John Carmon who each spoke so eloquently with passion and direct opinions on this entire subject.

We need to find a way to get this piece into wide circulation, Schools of Mortuary Science, State Associations, Allied Associations  and many others need to see and hear this message.

Don't hesitate to find a way to see this for yourself, I think you will be "blown away!"

Robert J. Biggins, CFSP
President
National Funeral Director's Assoc.

More on NJ Body Parts Scandal

The New Jersy illicit body parts scandle continues to grow in scope. One distributor reports that over 8000 "pieces" have been implanted. In all ,over $5 MILLION dollars worth of harvested tissue and bones have been quarantined or destroyed.

Read more on MSNBC:  Plundered body parts implanted in thousands

Quote of the Day

Oliver Wendell Holms

“Happiness consists in activity. It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool.”

Demographics Matter--And All That Jazz

A recent headline from the Eagle-Tribune Newspaper which covers the Andover area of Massachusetts (Northwest of Boston) reads like this:

Lower Death Rate Killing Funeral Homes

In short, with people moving out of the area to retire in lower cost regions of the country, the death rate (according to this article) has dropped 26% in Andover between 1989 and 2003. Other towns in the area have seen drops in the 15-20% range.

I would not consider these numbers to be truly scientific. I imagine that a professional statistician would have to qualify and modify those numbers to some degree. Nevertheless, we in the old north have even more to think about than just the transition to cremation.

Have you checked your local demographics lately????

[Note: I do not have permission as of this moment to reprint the article on this site and you must be a paid subscriber to read the article online. However, if you email me a request or leave your email address in the comments section, I will forward the text to you directly. BT]

Celebrity Death Tracking

One last thing from my reading of the new book "The Dead Beat" mentioned below. If you have a fascination with celebrity deaths and want to know the minute something happens, go to DeathBeeper.com where they you can sign up for an email notice anytime a major polititian, sports figure, artist, etc. dies. You can find the most recent notifications listed on their site along with recent obituaries of the deceased.

DeathBeeper.com

Obituary Writers Conference

I had not heard of the International Association of Obituarists until I dove into the new book "The Dead Beat" (listed below). Anyway, they have a website which includes a variety of obituary resources including a "Why Obituaries" page, a page of recent "Great Obits", along with other links and resources. You can find the home page at:

ObitPage.com

Apparently started on a dare, the association holds a convention which anually gathers some of the best obituary writers and editors for discussion and debate. You can find information on that event here:

Eighth Great Obituary Writers Conference

Seems like we as funeral professionals should get a dialog going with this group. Some of these editors and writers have great stories to tell. We should invite these folks to speak at our local, state and national meetings once in a while. Everyone might learn a thing or two and in this crazy day and age we all need to get much better at helping families tell their story.

Obits Are Big!!

Until this weekend I had no idea how "hot" obituaries have become in some circles. HarperCollins has even published a new book under an intriguing title: "The Dead Beat: lost souls, lucky stiffs, and the perverse pleasures of obituaries" by Marilyn Johnson.

Not a bad read for those of us in the business, though the London obits seem to get the highest praises. Nevertheless, we live in a time when obituary writing and editing operates as a high art among the leading newspapers of the world as well as at some quality dailies and weeklies around the country.

Worth a look.

Body Snatching Gets Higher Profile

If so far you have missed the news from New York about illegal tissue harvesting from human remains, time to catch up. Newsweek has picked up the story and ran an article in this week's issue.

For those funeral service practitioners that rely upon third party businesses to provide embalming or cremation services, this should act as ANOTHER wake up call to check your accountability and oversight procedures. We have many very legitimate businesses providing these services to our profession. At the same time, fast money can quickly lead to cut corners and illegitimate practices. Make sure you check up on your third party providers, particularly if they do their work off site.

Newsweek Article: A Grim Trade in Stolen Tissue

Quote of the Day

From Benjamin Franklin:

"He that lives upon hope, will die fasting."

Worried about cremation??? Don't hope that some miracle will come along. It won't!! No amount of advertising or wishful thinking will turn this tide. We need new ideas, new business models, new possibilities, and LOTS of new innovations--game changing innovations.

It will take Thomas Edison like persistence (1000 "failures" to learn the secret of the light bulb but how many millions, billions, perhaps trillions of lightbulbs have come out of those relative few lessons way back then?) to learn all we need to learn to find our way into the future.

Have you tried ANYTHING new today!!! How about this week!!! If not, you are not "failing" fast enough to learn the lessons you really need to learn.

BT