Tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 16, Death Care professionals will come together with another of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) sponsored virtual Funeral Professionals Peer Support Meetings. . . . .A press release from CANA makes this comment, “Between family obligations, work commitments, and winter weather, the holiday season can herald a uniquely stressful experience. Take some time for yourself . . ”

The press release goes on to say this about tomorrow’s virtual event:

 

“Amidst the gatherings and celebrations are long nights,many obligations, and the unique grief this month can bring.That’s why we need to take a moment to offer ourselves and our colleagues the same grace that we give our grieving families. We can acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers, especially when we’re facing our own personal and professional stressors.

 

(Tomorrow night) Kelly Manion facilitates the monthly peer support meeting for us all to take some time to unwind with people who “get it.”  With over 25 years dedicated to purpose-driven work in grief and over a decade of experience in the funeral service profession, Kelly understands the unique hardships and joys of this time of year.  By providing space to talk about our grief, Kelly will help us understand the unique ways we all grieve and how to maintain our care for ourselves and our colleagues in the midst of it.”

To learn more about the Peer Support Network and register for tomorrow’s free virtual meeting of funeral professionals click here.

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

For going on seven years now I’ve enjoyed writing Funeral Director Daily.  It keeps my mind working and trying to improve the business I enjoyed working in — a business that I was allowed the privilige to serve families that needed guidance and care at a difficult time of their lives.

I feel the same about Funeral Director Daily. . . .if my thoughts and ideas and perspectives on business operations can make some small improvement in the way you serve families or realize profits I feel like I’m continuing to contribute to the profession.

I do this because I love doing it and hope I’m helping.  It’s not about being recognized for doing so.

However, like everybody else — it’s always a good feeling to be recognized.  I was humbled by being asked to be interviewed by Tyler Yamasaki, CEO of Parting Pro on his podcast, The Direct Cremation Podcast, last month.  Tyler was able to navigate a conversation with me that I think will give you a realistic representation of who I am, where I’ve been, and what I do.  If you want to know more about me and how I operated my funeral home this podcast is for you.

Here’s part of Tyler’s tease for listening. . .

Few in death care can match the experience and perspective of Thomas J. Anderson—fourth-generation funeral director, community leader, University of Minnesota Regent, and the voice behind the widely read Funeral Director Daily blog. In this episode of The Direct Cremation Podcast, host Tyler Yamasaki, CEO of Parting Pro, dives into Anderson’s story of legacy, innovation, and gratitude.

From stepping up at 19 to keep the family business alive, to modernizing operations and navigating a successful sale, Anderson’s journey is a playbook for today’s funeral home owners facing an evolving market.

 

and, here is his summation of the podcast. . .

For funeral home owners, Anderson’s story offers a roadmap:

Lead with service. Compassion and transparency never go out of style.

Adapt to change. From pre-need to online cremation services, innovation is survival.

Price for value, not fear. Families appreciate honesty and fairness.

Protect your people. Whether selling, scaling, or starting out, success is shared.

As the funeral profession moves toward digital tools like funeral planning software, online funeral arrangements, and best online cremation software, Anderson’s journey reminds us that technology enhances great service—it doesn’t replace it.

For more information on the podcast and to listen to it, click here.

To learn more about Parting Pro, the #1 Cremation Arrangement software for funeral homes click here.

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

News from Suppliers and Practitioners that you can use:

“Tribute Technology has announced a new partnership with Family Shield Credit, the first fintech platform designed by funeral professionals to offer flexible, budget-friendly payment options for funeral homes and their client families. This collaboration integrates Family Shield’s proven financing platform into Tribute Technology’s ecosystem, making it easier than ever for funeral homes to provide families with the services they need without the burden of immediate financial constraints.”

For more complete information on this announcement click here. 

Tukios has introduced the New Horizon Obituary Template, the newest addition to the Tukios obituary lineup. This thoughtfully designed template brings a fresh, contemporary look to online memorials while staying true to what matters most, celebrating a life well lived.

According to a Tukios release, New Horizon pairs beautifully with their new video obituary cover art, giving families and funeral homes a cohesive visual experience across both video and web. Multiple stock video options are available, making it easy to customize each obituary to fit the tone, personality, and style of every service.

For more complete information on this announcement click here.

According to a press release from CANA, a growing membership and an emphasis on aligning content strategy with CANA’s mission and values has resulted in new and reorganized staff responsibilities. CANA Board President Lindsey Ballard praises these appointments and invites you to offer “Congratulations to Brie Bingham and Sara Corkery in their new roles and welcome Kenjuana Hall to CANA! Brie and Sara have brought decades of experience to CANA, increasing our reputation and shaping CANA’s voice. Kenjuana will bring fresh eyes to membership initiatives in the newly created role of Membership and Operations Manager.”

With these moves CANA continues to widen its focus to help member businesses recruit and retain a vibrant, diverse, and well-trained workforce and educate and best serve their families.  CANA continues to promote best practices in cremation through education, innovation, and collaboration.

For more information from CANA click here.

According to a release from PR Newswire,  Fortitude Research and Marketing announced the launch of Guidant, a technology company pioneering digital commerce solutions for cemeteries and funeral homes. The patented platform enables families to purchase cemetery property and related services directly from cemeteries, completely online — what they say is a “first for the deathcare profession”.

To learn more about Guidant you can click here.

A press release from PR Newswire that ended up being picked up by Yahoo Finance announced “that DFS Memorials, a network for connecting families with local, licensed funeral homes offering low-cost direct cremation services throughout North America, and Canadian Funerals Online, a family-run Canadian funeral planning platform, announced a formal partnership to enhance access to affordable, transparent direct cremation providers for families across Canada.

To learn more about this relationship you can click here.  

In an article from Insurance Edge we learned that Golden Leaves Funeral Plans, one of the United Kingdom’s most trusted and established pre-paid funeral plan providers,  announced the landmark acquisition of Avalon Funeral Plans. This transformative deal represents a major milestone for the sector, positioning Golden Leaves as one of the leading funeral plan providers across the UK and Europe, and the only FCA-regulated (Financial Conduct Authority) company dedicated to serving customers in both domestic and international markets.

To learn more about this acquisition click here.

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

Service Corporation International Chairman and CEO Thomas Ryan made some interesting comments in his opening statements in last week’s SCI Earnings Call.  And, I wonder when looking at the long-range perspective if these comments portend an increasingly successful future for cemeteries and less of that future for traditional funeral homes.

Here’s some of Ryan’s comments based on the 3rd Quarter 2025 results of SCI:

• “Funeral gross profit decreased by $9.5 million, while the gross profit percentage declined by 170 basis points to about 18%.”

• “This (Funeral) gross profit decrease was attributable to the slight decline in revenues for the quarter, coupled with higher selling costs and a moderate fixed cost increase.”

• “Comparable cemetery revenue increased by $31 million or almost 7%”

• “Large (Cemetery) sales grew by an impressive $8 million or 19% over the prior year quarter. Maybe more impressively, core sales accounted for $22 million of the sales production increase as solid velocity growth was complemented by higher sales averages.”

The emphasis on those quotes came from Funeral Director Daily simply to point out the somewhat negative aspects of SCI’s funeral financials and the positive aspects of SCI’s cemetery financials.

Here’s a couple of more quotes from SCI CEO Ryan that indicate how they see the value of their cemeteries going forward:

” . . .the cremation consumer continues to be a high-growth opportunity in our cemeteries. We’re seeing more cremation consumers pick either cremation gardens, cremation niches.

We have a lot of products that I’d tell you, consumers really don’t have familiarity with. I think a lot of cremation consumers come in and don’t really understand what we have available. So we’re really focused this year with some consumer research that we’ve done about trying to tie that consumer in a better way to educate them about what we have because we found in the focus groups that almost 0 out of 10 knew what we had and about 8 out of 10 once they saw it said, I’m interested in looking.” . . . . . . 

 

“Our revenue team has helped construct some really nice inventory across our cemeteries. We spend about $160 million a year injecting new inventory into the system, and we do a real good job of converting that pretty quickly into sales. So we feel very good about next year right now based on everything we know at the high end, at the core level, and like I said, I just want to identify some of these productivity gains or velocity gains. If we can get more cremation consumers in there, it’s going to drive more sales, not as high an average, obviously, but drive more velocity, more familiarity. And the nice thing about cemeteries is it’s really a family tree component to this, right?

Because people are going to visit the cemeteries, people are going to want to buy adjacent properties for the family. So this is really good in educating and providing future leads and opportunities to our sales force.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  People visit cemeteries and cemeteries are ever-evolving into places that do more than house the dead.  My deceased mother would have celebrated her 99th birthday last week so I took some time on her birthday and visited the cemetery.  Even on a cool Minnesota autumn morning the cemetery proved a good place of solemn reflection “on life” for me. . . . . and I think that is becoming a more common occurence among many of my friends.

During my time as a funeral director so many families struggled with the choice between traditional burial and cremation with memorial services.  In my opinion, that was the decision that spurred the Death Care choices for these families.  That decision, on shifting from generational burial families to first-time cremation consumers, was so “heavy” on people that not much was thought about eventual “Memorialization”.

Today, cremation is on its way to an 85% useage rate in the next two decades according to research by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA).  Instead of that difficult decision between burial and cremation, I think cremation is a foregone conclusion for most of these people at this time.  At the same time I think these consumers have lived through the world of bringing the cremated remains of their parents home and wondering what to do with them. . . .and, they don’t want that situation to happen to their children.

In an anecdotal setting of Baby Boomers like me, most of my friends today no longer ask me about the pros and cons of burial vs. cremation, the questions come about concerning “What to do with my ashes?”

Quite frankly, just yesterday morning I was listening to a national syndicated sports radio show on the radio while driving.  I don’t know how the discussion turned this way but I heard one of the commentators say, “I’m fine with cremation, but I’m really concerned with what my family might do with my ashes.”  I believe that thought is more common today than most of us believe it to be.

Partly because of that, “Memorialization” is at the top of mind for Death Care consumers today.  SCI understands that and has all kinds of options available for those consumers at their cemeteries.  Funeral Director Daily recently published an article, that you can access here, that shows that Los Angeles’ Hollywood Forever Cemetery is creating inventory on that premise also.

What I believe that this consumer change leads to is an opening for cemeteries, especially those that are combination cemetery/funeral home/crematories to increase their market share by introducing the options for memorialization to consumers.  If you read the linked Hollywood Forever Cemetery article they actually offer “Free cremations” to consumers who purchase a certain level of cemetery memorialization.

From reading SCI CEO Ryan’s comments it appears that SCI sees this shift as well as they are investing $160 million per year in cemetery inventory that he says is “convert(ed) pretty quickly into sales”.

It’s my opinion that cemeteries that don’t have these premium cremation memorialization opportunities for today’s (and tomorrow’s) Death Care consumers should look into the idea of creating some.

Related — You can access the full transcript of the Service Corporation International’s 3rd Quarter 2025 Earnings Call here.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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

About ten days ago Funeral Director Daily wrote our first column titled “The World Around Us“.  The column, which will appear on a periodic basis, was created with the thought process that people in the funeral business stay pretty busy and don’t always find time to find out what is happening outside of the “Headline News”.   Yet the more we understand of what is happening in the “World Around Us” the better we will be at our decision making for our own businesses.

“The World Around Us” is our periodic attempt to keep funeral home owners and managers updated on what is happening and how it might affect their business.  Our first episode was very well received so here we go with Episode #2.

Funeral Director Daily take  —  For the past couple of years the Federal Reserve has moved interest rates higher to keep inflation in check.  The higher rates have caused the “Cost of Money” to increase for funeral homes on everything from mortgage rates on buildings to loans for livery vehicles to the cost of lines of credit for purchases.  Now, just as we are looking for the Federal Reserve to ease some of those loan rates we find that “Bad Loans” may be increasing in number and keep the “Cost of Money” advanced by smaller banks at elevated levels.

Funeral Director Daily take —  Somewhat in line with the previous statement and article, here are some more indications that many American consumers have reached their limit on stretching their financial resources.  While I am not sure as to how this plays out for Death Care businesses, I would guess that the more resources one has available to pay for funeral or cremation services the better funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries will do financially. . . . Now, it appears that we may be moving in the opposite direction on that front.  I think it is just good, sound, business philosophy that funeral directors understand some of the reasons that clients choose limited services has to do with available current resources and not always their preferred Death Care wishes.  And, extending credit using credit cards and other means to them is good and will probably help average call sales revenue, but be careful not to over-extend your firm’s accounts receivables in situations where you may never get paid.

Funeral Director Daily take —  I remember my first day on the job as a licensed funeral director like it was yesterday — June 9, 1980.  That’s now over 45 years ago.  And, in looking back, moving through the days of buying my first house, getting married, raising a family and all other events I realized that I had to balance current living expenses with saving expenses of college educations, whole life insurance, and, of course, retirement savings.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

I think sometimes we, and our team members, get caught up in the moment of current expenses.  I was lucky in those early working years that I had a local banker and fellow church member who always told me “pay yourself first”.  What he meant by that was “the first part of your paycheck should be put away for a later date”.  It turned out to be great advice.

I think it is important, especially for owners of funeral homes, that we keep our retirement goals on track.  I recently came across this article that has some guidelines for doing just that. . . I think it is a good little reminder, that like it did for me, retirement will come sooner than you think. . . . Share this article with your team members as I think it is pretty well proven that financially secure team members will be better team members.

Funeral Director Daily take —  Just last week Funeral Director Daily wrote some articles that dealt with transactions in the Death Care profession/industry and all of those transactions involved private equity as investors in one way or another.  We also wrote this article back in June about why private equity seems to be a good fit for Death Care operations.

One of the points brought up in that June article was that of all the businesses in America 91% are private and only 9% are public companies where the average American can buy stock for ownership.  The article also points out that “Private” companies have returned a 14.9% annual return to investors over the past 20 years while “Public” companies have returned only a 7.9% annually over that same period.

However, because of the ability to lose your investment, potential investors in almost all “Private Equity”  funds need to prove that they are “Qualified” investors with net worth of $1 million or more.  Many people feel that is one reason the American economy is now thought to be “K-shaped” where those with “private” assets are gaining more net worth while those without the ability to invest in those “private” assets are falling behind.

I think you are going to be hearing more and more about the pros and cons of who and how one can invest in private fund companies.  I think the discussion is beginning and this article will give you some insight on what the issues will be in that discussion.

Funeral Director Daily take —  Finally, we present a press release from Matthews International.  Matthews International is a large, multi-faceted supplier to Death Care.  They are also, however, a consolidated company that has other “irons in the fire” including development of parts of the future in the electrode battery industry.  Here’s a recent press release from Matthews pertaining to that industry.

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

In this press release issued last week you can read that PlotBox has acquired MIS (sometimes referred to as HMIS).  The PlotBox website brings about this statement about the integration of the companies, “ (this transaction) bring(s) one of the industry’s most comprehensive capabilities – from PlotBox’s cloud-native mapping, operations, records, and financial management to MIS’s longstanding experience serving funeral homes.”

The press release also states this about MIS, “MIS is a management platform serving funeral and cemetery operators across North America, streamlining operations from first call through aftercare. The software unifies case management, scheduling, arrangements, billing, and reporting, with integrations for accounting, payments, and partner tools.”

PlotBox CEO Sean McAllister made this prepared comment in the press release,  “At PlotBox, we believe funeral and cemetery professionals deserve technology that meets the complexity of their work and supports their commitment to service.  We are excited to welcome MIS customers and provide them with the innovation, reliability, and partnership they need to operate with confidence.”

MIS had been owned by Batesville since 2012.

Here is the website for PlotBox

Here is what PlotBox investor Serent Capital says about the company

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  There has been a lot of shifting of ownership of Death Care companies lately.  Every week we see notices of different companies moving in different directions, sometimes like in today’s article, via acquisition.

In my opinion, the one common denominator in the transactions is the movement to “more and more” technology.  I think those who own and manage funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries should take heed of what the supplier companies are doing.  I think these transactions and the vendor companies getting more and more technology oriented is showing a roadmap of what the consumers of Death Care are going to want down the road.

My take on all of this technology is that even if you consider yourself “technology challenged” like me, it will pay to learn about the capabilities that these technology companies can bring to your operation and to have some semblance of how you may want that technology available to work for you in your specific situation.

Death Care is fast transforming in the services that we provide for consumers and fast transforming in the options that consumers have to select their Death Care choices from outside the traditional funeral home provider network.  If traditional funeral homes want to keep and expand their market share in the future they need the technology tools to do so.  Putting your head in the sand and hoping these technologies will go away will, more than likely, not bring a positive outcome for your business.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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

Since they sold Batesville in February 2023, Hillenbrand Industries has been out of the Death Care business.  But, if you are a long-time member of the Death Care community the name Hillenbrand has been synonymous with the funeral profession since 1906 when John A. Hillenbrand purchased the Batesville Casket Company and founded “Hillenbrand” where the casket business became the foundation.

However, Batesville was off-loaded from Hillenbrand in February 2023 and just this week it was announced in this press release that the balance of Hillenbrand Industries was being sold to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds or $32 per share which will equal an enterprise value of about $3.8 billion.

In the press release Helen Cornell, Chairperson of the Hillenbrand Board of Directors makes this comment, “We are pleased to reach this agreement with Lone Star, which delivers immediate and certain cash value to our shareholders at a substantial premium to recent trading, and positions Hillenbrand to continue meeting and exceeding customers’ needs for highly-engineered, mission-critical processing equipment and solutions.”

And, Hillenbrand President and CEO Kim Ryan makes this comment, “Over the past several years, Hillenbrand has made tremendous progress transforming into a pure-play industrial company, reshaping our portfolio, and making strategic investments in the business.”

Here is the website of Lone Star Funds.

Here is Funeral Director Daily’s article on the 2023 sale of Batesville

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I grew up being the “funeral director’s kid” in our small community.  And, that designation had responsibilities that went with it that we learned a a very young age —  be nice to everybody, follow the rules, be polite, respect adults, and on and on. . . .

We were never the “cool kids” and the funeral business didn’t seem very exciting to our friends who liked the automobile dealerships and other exciting consumer products more.  But my dad always told us that owning the funeral home was “an honorable” profession and one could build a good life and business value “a nickel at a time”.

I can’t help have those thoughts when I look at Hillenbrand first selling Batesville and now selling the rest of the company to private equity buyers.  I’m no expert on the management of the company but when I look at the last couple of years for Hillenbrand it appears to me that they sold Batesville, which in my book was the “nickel at a time” honorable and boring cash-machine, and then as President and CEO Ryan stated, transformed the company into a “pure play industrial company”.

When I look back at the stock price of Hillenbrand, it appears that it was hovering at about $47-48 per share (according to Yahoo Finance) at the time of the Batesville sale and Hillenbrand just accepted an offer of $32 per share as a “pure-play industrial company”.  To shareholders that’s about a 33% loss in shareholder stock value in just the past 2-3 years.

I wonder if they ever think that they sold the wrong company when they sold Batesville back in 2023?

Another company that may be in the same boat?:  I look at Matthews International as another public company with somewhat the same dilemma.  They do about 40-60% of their revenue in their Memorial division which includes Aurora Caskets, Dodge Company, and Matthews cremation among other products.  In the company’s 3Q 2025 Report,the company actually reports $203 million in Memorialization sales with total company sales for the quarter at $349 million, making Memorialization about 58% of incoming revenues.

They also have a promising and potential fast-growing division that deals with electrode batteries and other indsutrial products.

One can envision a future where Matthews liquidates the perceived “dull” Memorial division to concentrate on the exciting and potential growth of what they call their Industrial Technologies segment.

Maybe I’m not your typical investor, but in many situations I have no problem saying “Boring is good”.

Here is information on Matthews Memorialization segment.

Here is information on Matthews Industrial Technology segment.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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

News from Suppliers and Practitioners that you can use. . . .

From a Press Release from Foveo :

Foveo Memorial Services Inc. (“Foveo) and Tukios, one of the profession’s leading funeral home website platforms,
today (October 8) announced a first-of-its-kind integration that lets funeral homes book and embed live stream broadcasts directly into Tukios obituary pages with a single click.

The collaboration delivers the simplest way yet for funeral directors to live stream services for families.

Foveo CEO Trajan Schulzke made these comments in the press release, ““When you think of easy-to-use technology for funeral directors, Tukios leads the way.  We were excited to bring our streaming platform directly into the Tukios obituary workflow. Together, we’ve made professional live streaming effortless and 100% integrated within a platform funeral directors already know and trust.”

You can learn more about this product at the Foveo website here.

From a recent article in TechCrunch:

Nine-time NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook is now an investor in an “end-of-life” planning start-up.

According to this article from TechCrunch, company founder Donnell Beverly, Jr. approached his friend Russell Westbrook about becoming an investor in Eazewell.  The article then says, “Westbrook was in. Four-time NBA All-Star Kemba Walker also joined, and the trio launched Eazewell.”  

Again according to the article, “Eazewell is an AI-driven platform that helps families navigate and automate the administrative aspects of end-of-life and funeral planning. The startup’s AI agent gives people a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week resource and helps users with everything from finding and booking a funeral home to canceling credit card accounts for a deceased person.  

The company partners with different service providers, like hospice care, funeral homes, and various insurance companies, which allows the platform to be free to use with the option of paying for more premium features.”  

To access Eazewell’s website click here. 

From a press release from Anthem Partners:

Anthem Partners. . . has announced a new partnership with Chptr, a cutting-edge digital platform dedicated to honoring and celebrating lives through personalized storytelling. This collaboration will introduce Chptr’s suite of digital memorial tools—including custom video tributes, service listings, and digital death notices—across select Anthem locations, offering families new ways to share memories and preserve legacies online.

Chptr’s platform empowers funeral professionals to deliver beautifully branded memorial videos and digital death notices that can be shared across social media and local news outlets. By blending storytelling, video, and community engagement, Chptr helps extend the reach of each service and brings people together in remembrance.  The platform also reduces the time and cost historically associated with obituary writing and slideshow creation.

“We’re launching this exclusive partnership with a phased, market-by-market rollout,” said Chad Jackson, Executive VP of Operations at Anthem Partners, in a prepared statement in the press release.  “Our initial focus will be on three strategic markets where we anticipate a strong reception from the families we serve. This initiative not only enhances our service offerings but also strengthens our brand presence in communities.”

According to the press release, Anthem Partners is a privately held operator of funeral homes and cemeteries across North America. Founded by industry professionals and backed by long-term investors, Anthem is committed to honoring legacy, respecting community traditions, and supporting funeral professionals through sustainable growth.

To learn more about Anthem Partners click here.

From the Pinnacle Funeral Service Website:

Rollings Funeral Service and Pinnacle Funeral Service have formed a strategic partnership with Precoa and National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL).

According to the Pinnacle Funeral Service website, “Rollings Funeral Service and Pinnacle Funeral Service, two of the nation’s leading private funeral home operators, have formed a strategic partnership with Precoa and National Guardian Life Insurance Company  (NGL).

In a prepared remark on the website, Pinnacle VP of Operations Chris Hamiel made this comment, “This is a natural next step as we continue to invest in our operations and strengthen our ability to serve communities nationwide. Precoa’s model and NGL’s focus are exactly what we were looking for to support long-term preneed growth.”

Again, according to the website, “Rollings and Pinnacle are two of the fastest growing private funeral home operators in the nation. Combined they serve approximately 15,000 families annually from 95 locations throughout the United States and continue to grow through both operational initiatives and acquisitions.” 

To learn more about this strategic partnership click here.

From an e-mail bringing us new updates and features from Tukios:

We received an e-mail from Tukios recently telling us how they have updated their product in several ways to give more value to funeral home clients. . . .

• To learn how Tukios websites are leading the way with Generative Engine Optimization (the new SEO) click here.
• To learn how Tukios is partnering with Foveo and OneRoom to make livestreaming easier click here.
• To learn about Gift Snap, Tukios new way to showcase Gifts and Flowers on obituaries click here.
• To learn what is new in the Tukios Photo Gallery Option click here.
• To learn more about Tukios new Video Backgrounds for Obituaries click here.

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

I’ ve realized that over my lifetime I’ve had a never-ending compulsion to know what is happening in the world around me.  In my elementary school days our family subscribed to both the morning edition and the afternoon edition of the Minneapolis newspapers.  I can remember reading the sports section — that’s all that mattered to me at the time — of the Morning Tribune before I left for school and as soon as I walked home from school spreading the sports section of the Afternoon Star out on the living room floor to read while I watched cartoons or other shows.

I continue to have that unsatiable appetite for news . . . .and I’ve always had it.  During my working years I got up early to read the morning paper cover to cover before going to work.   Retirement has been great because I now have more time and the internet has been great because I’ve got all kinds of sources never before available to me.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

One of the things that I’ve come to learn is that decisions are best made when you have all the available information to make the decision.  And, news and what is going on around us is important information.  I don’t always get decisions correct, however I believe that I’ve made better decisions, even in the business of the funeral home, over time because I was aware of trends and topics happening in the secular world outside of the business of funerals.  While many people stubbornly believe Death Care work occurs in a bubble, I’m convinced that if you drew Venn diagrams you would actually realize the secular world and your funeral home world overlap.

I also know that owners and managers of funeral homes are very busy and don’t always have the time to search out news that may affect them in some way.  For that reason, I’m going to periodically put out an Afternoon Edition of what I will call “The World Around Us“.  Hopefully, it will be an easily scanned opportunity for Death Care professionals to scan the news and read what interests them. . . .And, I’ll try to show how the news may be pertinent to some of the decisions you might need to make.   Here’s today’s try at it  —  Let me know if you like it:

Funeral Director Daily take — At least in my Midwest area, farm families are some of the best backers of “The Traditional Funeral”.  “Will the lack of soybean sales and resulting poor financial year have an effect on how families in the Midwest spend on necessities, including funerals?”

Funeral Director Daily take —  Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi takes a look at concerns over tariffs and the U.S. Government shutdown.

Funeral Director Daily take —  Ford Motor Company has 6,000 dealer service bays without a mechanical technician at this moment in time.  What’s at play here and is there a movement about technical skills vs. college educations?  If so, will that “educational friction” affect the future educational requirements of morticians, funeral directors, embalmers, etc?

Funeral Director Daily take —  The installation of the new bishop of the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA) last Sunday shows that tradition is rapidly changing in our nation’s religious institutions.  What will this continuing lack of tradition and heritage mean for funeral and cremation providers moving forward?

Funeral Director Daily take —  This article just reinforces the thought that “Nothing lasts forever”.  The recent bankruptcy of Publisher’s Clearing House means that many former winners of monthly or annual prizes for life will now have those payments stop.  To me it is a stark reminder that “Nothing lasts forever” and when you make that decision to sell your funeral business   —  make sure that the company that buys you can afford any payments that are set-up over time.  I’m guessing that there are very few things in life that would be more difficult to take than building a business for generations and then selling to a company that could not fulfill its obligations to pay you.  . . . .Remember the Loewen Group???

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

It always seems to me that when the calendar turns to October I’m in for reacquainting with many of my friends in funeral service and meeting many new ones.  I’m guessing that is because the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) annual convention rolls around in that time period and I also look for opportunities to catch up with my continuing education credits before the end of the year.

If you can’t be at the NFDA gathering in Chicago in late October, and even if you can, Tribute Technology is hosting what they call Summit ’25 in early November in Longboat Key, Florida.  The event to take place over the dates of November 10-12, 2025, will offer many topics led by industry leaders.

For more information about the event click here.

From the Milestone Funeral Partners website:

Click here to learn about this headline “Inspiration meets UrnSpiration:  A Maine funeral collaboration.”

The article is about how Milestone Funeral Partners teams with Mainely Urns to transform the funeral arrangement experience.

To get more information about Mainely Urns click here.

More and more funeral directors, funeral home owners, and retired Death Care executives are interested in learning about how philanthropy and the idea of helping others with donations and gifts can become a bigger part of their lives.

“Join Community Giving for a conversation on the 2025 tax law changes and what the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) means for your charitable giving, estate planning, and corporate philanthropy strategies. This session will equip you with insights on how planning techniques—such as donating appreciated assets—can help you reduce tax burdens while maximizing impact. We’ll also discuss forward-looking approaches, including bunching gifts and utilizing donor-advised funds, to help you in navigating upcoming deduction limits.”

This event will take place on Thursday, October 30, 2025 via Zoom.  To learn more and to register click here.  

From a press release in OpenPR:

“Funeral home owners and directors now have access to actionable insights for modernizing their businesses. In Episode 10 of the 6 Feet Ahead Podcast, host Oscar Guerrero sits down with Jonathan Kepner, Co‐Owner and Licensed Funeral Director at Raymer‐Kepner Funeral Home & Cremation Services, to discuss family legacy, operational innovation, and community engagement.”

To access this podcast click here

From an e-mail about the latest “2 Guys and a Question” podcast:

“In this episode of “Two Guys and a Question”, Alan Creedy and Danny Jefferson confront a hard truth: mediocrity is quietly shaping funeral service. Through decades of research and firsthand experience, they reveal how passive cultures, fear of change, and outdated habits keep funeral directors from achieving their true potential.”

To access this podcast click here 

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