If you have been a funeral director for any length of time like I was for 33 years you have probably thought that telling of the experiences you went through would make a good book.  There is probably all kinds of death scenes you’ve been at, interesting family dynamics of those you’ve served, and all sorts of incidents that just seem to happen at the services we conduct. . . . . .Lots of times when I look back at my career I simply shake my head and smile about the experiences that I’ve had.

Well, last week I concluded another one of those incidents that could be a chapter in the book. . . . .It all started late this past summer when we (my brother and I) decided it was time to sell a 1960’s era warehouse we had inherited.  We lost our almost 40-year furniture company tenant in the summer of 2024 and decided it would be just best to sell rather than look for a new tenant and continue to operate the building that was soon to need some repair.

I talked to a realtor/golf friend and gave him the key to take a look at the warehouse and offer his thoughts on a potential sale price.  And, because we had such a good triple net tenant for decades I could not remember the last time I was inside the building.

The realtor called me, suggested a price, and then said, “You’ll have to get those two caskets out of there before you sell though”.  I shook the cobwebs out of my head and remembered that, before my time at the funeral home, the warehouse had been used in part to store extra caskets.

I started at the funeral home in 1980 but I can remember as a younger person helping to unload truckloads of caskets out at the warehouse.  My guess is that in the days before 24-hour delivery we bought caskets in much larger quantities and stored extra units at this warehouse.

At the end of the day when I went to the warehouse I found the two caskets, sitting on the concrete floor, both slightly damaged which explains why they were left there and, obviously,  forgotten about.  Interestingly, one was a 20 gauge steel casket and the other had a label on the foot end that read, “Solid Bronze – National Casket Company”.   And you could really tell the construction difference if you just tried to nudge the bronze.

My guess is that those caskets had sat in that position on the concrete floor of that warehouse for over 50 years.

To make a long story short, last week a couple of friends helped me out and we gutted and threw away the interior of the caskets, got two vans, loaded up the caskets and brought them to a large metal recycling plant.  The people at the plant checked the metals for type and determined that the lighter casket was steel, and determined that the heavier casket was “Yellow Brass”.  Fellow funeral directors would call it “painted bronze”.

Here’s how the episode worked out financially for me:

1. Steel Casket — 40 total pounds at $0.045 cents per pound equaled a total of $1.80
2. Painted Bronze — 201 total pounds (less approximately 20 lbs. of steel — handles, corners, lugs, interior, etc) for a NET weight of 181 lbs. of Yellow Brass at a rate of $ 2.50 per pound which equaled a total of $452.50

I got the money, divided up the cash among my friends who helped and we were on our way!!  And, we also closed the real estate transaction on the warehouse for a little higher total value than the contents we had discovered in it!!!

Another couple commercial transactions done. . . . another chapter to the book — that will probably never get written!!

More to the Story — The whole episode resulted in getting me curious about the National Casket Company.  From this article in Wikipedia you can discover that the National Casket Company was formed in 1880 by the combination of three different casket companies.  The article mentions that the company had an initial capital value of $3 million in that year.  Just for comparison sake, $3 million in 1880 has the purchasing power of $953 million 145 years later in 2025. . . . .So, it was not a small company.

As a matter of fact, the Wikipedia article states that by 1951 National Casket Company was the largest casket company in the world.

John Hillenbrand who started the company that eventually became Batesville did not do so until 1884 and, if the Wikipedia article is correct, surpassed National Casket Company sometime after 1951 to become the world’s largest casket company.

According to the article, the National Casket Company went through a series of transactions that resulted in the company closing “during or after the 1980’s”. . . . .Quite frankly, the Wikipedia page describes a very interesting history of National Casket Company which includes business sales, some original corporate raiders, and even some purported hijinks by a major shareholder who also happened to be a member of the United States Congress and ended up being convicted on fraud charges.

Like I said. . . . .another chapter for the book!!!

Related — This article titled “Famed casket company in Oneido recalled” tells more of the National Casket Company story including that the company produced the Mahogany casket for President William McKinley’s visitation in 1901.

Related—  Metal Comparisons from Sequoia Brass and Bronze

Related — Current spot prices for scrap metal from Rockaway Recycling

More news from the world of Death Care:

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Dr. Seuss Funeral Book? | FFFW 203

DISCLAIMER: None of the F’s in FFFW stand for “facts.” Enjoy the jokes and satire.

Welcome to issue 203 of the FFFW! I can’t believe we’ve reached the beginning of September! Just like that- we’ve entered the final month of Q3. Let’s make it the best one yet!

Better live streaming for your families

Used by over 2000 funeral homes across the country, MemoryShare makes it easy for you to livestream funerals and help families stay connected.

All you have to do is schedule a stream, share links with friends and family, and go live using your mobile phone! The best part? Your stream and recording are hosted directly on your obituary.

However, livestreaming your funerals doesn’t just impact your families; it helps your funeral home beat local competition with 10% more calls per year, more traffic to your website, and improved SEO.

Want to learn more about how livestreaming can impact your business?

Click the link below for a free demo.

Book a Demo

Dr. Seuss Funeral Book

Here at the FFFW we’ve created a wide range of funeral director-themed children’s literature. BUT- what if Dr. Seuss had been commissioned to create a fun story about a quirky funeral director? What would that look like? We think it would look something like this…

In a town by the sea, lived Jeb the Fun-rector,
With a jiggly, wiggly hat, he was the best director!
When folks felt blue, and someone had passed,
Jeb’s hat would flippity-flop to help them fast.

His hat could grow tall, or shrink down small,
It’d sing silly songs and comfort them all.
With a wiggle and a waggle, it’d lighten the mood,
Turning sadness to smiles, that was Jeb’s good!

He’d plan the farewells with care and cheer,
Jeb and his hat were always near.
So when you’re in need, and life feels flat,
Look for Jeb and his jiggly hat!

Trivia

Which U.S. state is home to the largest number of funeral homes per capita?

Click on the right answer, and you’ll see a penguin. Get it wrong, and you’ll see someone hurting themselves.

Answer Choices:
A) New York
B) Ohio
C) Louisiana

You Otter Be Proud

Here’s some good news going on in the profession.

1. Father-son teamwork helps Aiken funeral home thrive
2. Old Lick Cemetery in Roanoke cleaned, repaired with help of national expert
3. Fifth-generation funeral director Jeff Monreal helps families grieve, celebrate loved ones

Tom Crean is an expert on the funeral business, having spent almost 50 years working in funeral service. Now he’s written a book, It’$ Your Funeral: How Grieving Families Are Being Exploited, and How We Can Stop It.

The book provides an insider’s view of the funeral industry and is an extension of his consumer advocacy and public education that he’s known for.

In the late 1990s he led a movement to save Vancouver’s only public cemetery—Mountain View—from privatization. He also helped organize 4,000 independent funeral firms to defeat Houston-based funeral giant Service Corporation International’s attempt to trademark the phrase “family funeral care.”

Today he is both president of the Family Funeral Home Association and the Surrey  Hospice Society , and his latest project has been developing a radically new cemetery concept —a cooperative —while creating the first new cemetery in fifty years in the Metro Vancouver area of British Columbia.

Called Heritage Gardens Cemetery, it is an approved green burial provider, certified by the Green Burial Society of Canada.

You can meet Crean at the book launch on Monday Nov. 25th, noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Anvil Centre, located at 777 Columbia Street in New Westminster.

More information on Crean and his new book can be found here.

Below is an article published in the latest issue of Common Ground:

Thomas P. J. Crean certainly has an end-of-life story to tell.
In November 2019, he published It’s Your Funeral: How Grieving Families Are Being Exploited, and How We Can Stop It.

It is a timely piece of nonfiction intended to educate people about the funeral business.

Crean is the grandson of Thomas James Kearney, who founded Kearney Funeral Services in Vancouver, in 1908. Crean became president of the company 70 years later. At the time, in the late 1970s, funeral-and-cemetery service was loosely regulated in BC, and the two largest North American funeral conglomerates were buying out nearly all the family-owned funeral homes. Profitability was their sole objective, and the exploitation of grieving families became part of the playbook.

Crean, disturbed by the conglomerates’ tactics, became involved in con-
sumer advocacy and public education.

He has testified before funeral industry regulators in Ottawa, New York and Washington, DC. He has also addressed numerous funeral associations and sustainable-business groups, including the American Sustainable Business Council and the American Independent Business Alliance.

By 1996, the chains were handling more than 80 percent of funeral arrangements in Greater Vancouver. That year, Crean led a successful movement to save the management of Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver’s only cemetery, from privatization. He then organized 4,000 independent funeral firms to prevent Service Corporation International – in Canada and the US – from trademarking the phrase “family funeral care.” In 2004, Crean joined the Surrey Hospice Society Board. Working with the dying and their caregivers helped him further understand the ways in which the corporate funeral chains
manipulated people when at their most vulnerable, especially by garnering all the influence possible with the “end-of-life” caregiver community.

In April of 2012 the BC Funeral Service Association celebrated its 100th Anniversary.
The Kearney-Crean family was honored as being the only founding member still in business. A few years later, Crean left the family business to devote himself to fighting the predatory and monopolistic practices of the funeral conglomerates.

Crean has served on the boards of many civic and professional organi-
zations. A past-president of the Rotary Club of Vancouver, he is now president of the Surrey Hospice Society board and the Family Funeral Home Association. He also serves on the boards of the Partners In Care Alliance Society and Cooperative, the BC Association for Media Education, the Family Association for Media Education, and the Canadian Institute for Information and Privacy Studies.

In 2016, Crean acquired land in South Surrey, BC, rezoning it into the first new cemetery in BC’s Lower Mainland in 50 years. In 2018, along with family members and other investors, he opened Heritage Gardens Cemetery. It offers compassionate guidance and sustainable, reasonably priced alternatives to traditional burial and cremation.