I graduated from high school in 1976.  The that time period around the 200th anniversary of our nation brought about profound thought change of women in the workplace.

It was about that time, as you can see by the graphic below, that females caught and eventually passed males in college enrollment.  Up until that time young females were counseled to be nurses not doctors, legal secretaries not attorneys, and teachers — certainly not college presidents.  I mention that last occupation because during my tenure on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents I was part of the Board that hired the first female President in the university’s storied 168 year history.  (An interesting side note is that the University of Minnesota was founded in 1851 by immigrants to provide education for their children a full seven years before Minnesota was granted statehood).

Females have pass Males in college attendance and continue to widen the gap

Some different professions and the demographics of women that led and worked in them changed faster than others.  When I graduated from mortuary school in 1980 with about 40 fellow graduates I don’t believe we had any female graduates in the class.  Today, however, we hear that over 70% of mortuary students in training are female.

And, there is no doubt that women seem to be much more interested in “Business occupations” than ever before.  Part of my research for this article was to find the demographic make-up of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business — for decades the domain of enterprising male students.  Last year’s demographic profile indicated that today about 46% of the students enrolled there are female.  You can see the demographics here.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

There is also no doubt that the consumer facing side of funeral service has changed to a profession where a grieving family is as likely to work with a female funeral director as they are a male funeral director.  But that is not all — females are now becoming the executive leaders of many Death Care operations.   Of what I believe are the four largest consumer funeral home and cemetery operators in the United States — Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, Everstory Partners, and Park Lawn Corporation — two of them are led by female Chief Executive Officers.  Everstory Partners is led by Lilly Donohue and Park Lawn Corporation is led by Jennifer Hays.

That brings me to the story of “Funeral Women Lead“.  An organization for the women in funeral service has been established and will, in my opinion, pave the way for more women to take leadership roles in the profession.  Funeral directing and the business of funeral homes was not so long ago the complete domain of males.  That is changing and it will be interesting to see how the increasing role of women in management in the profession might change some directions.

Funeral Women Lead has recruited some of the most prominent women in the profession to their management team and board.  This group makes me more excited than ever that funeral service has room for everybody and as a profession we will be better off for getting our leadership from a varied group of individuals.

To access the Funeral Women Lead website click here.

The paradigm shift to female funeral directors has happened right in front of my eyes.  The funeral home I used to own and manage has went from a 100% male licensed funeral director staff when I started to a licensed staff that is now 60% female.  Anecdotally, over my time as the owner of the funeral home I mentored three young people who wanted to, and eventually did, become licensed funeral directors —- all three were female.

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

If there was a doubt that how Death Care is changing is of interest to practitioners in the business, one would only have to look at article readership of Funeral Director Daily over the past thirty days to prove the point to the doubter.  Every 30 days, on the 15th of each month, Funeral Director Daily recaps our “Top Read” articles over that 30 days.

As of Sunday, September 15, our “Top Read” article of the month was an article on how some funeral establishments are changing.  That article was titled “Death Done Differently“.

What is interesting about that article is that it was not only the “Top Read” article of the month, but it produced the “Top Pageviews” for one day in the history of Funeral Director Daily.  And, it broke the old pageview record by a whopping 63%.

So, in my mind, there is an enormous interest by funeral service practitioners on how our businesses will be evolving over the next decade and beyond.  And, it is apparent that practitioners are searching for what roads to take in that equation.

Here’s Funeral Director Daily’s “Top Read” articles from August 15 to September 15 in case you missed them when published.

1. Death Done Differently
2. Mobility, remote locations may may cause lack of services for consumers
3. 60 years ago today. . .and the story of the “Kennedy casket”
4. Where was SCI?
5. Is private equity “hunting” Carriage Services?

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

A Heartfelt Word of Thanks  —  It kind of feels like that feeling when you learn to ride a bike or solve a difficult math problem.  I’ve been trying to put a pulse on the business of Death Care, and where it is trending, for almost the past seven years. . . . Wondering if my messages are appreciated. . .and in a world where you just type on a computer and put the stories out there, readership data becomes the main feedback source.

The numbers for Funeral Director Daily are continuing to increase and I can only thank you readers who read what I write  —  maybe some good articles, maybe some bad articles, and maybe some indifferent articles but the numbers increasing and feeling like I am offering some good news and suggestions keeps me going.  So, thanks again for taking the time to read what I put the effort into writing. . . . I have a passion for serving families and mentoring young funeral directors and business people and this blog is my way of keeping that effort up. . .

Here’s how Funeral Director Daily has grown this summer illustrated by the page views of our website as documented by Monster Insights:

• May 2024 –                         14,783 page views
• June 2024-                          15,585 page views
• July 2024-                           16,271 page views
• August 2024-                     20,409 page views

And, as we sit on September 15, 2024, the latest 30-day rolling number of page views is at 22,236.  So, thanks for reading and keeping me motivated!!!

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

Kansas United States Senator Jerry Moran recently testified at a United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee meeting that “When mourning a death the last thing a grieving family needs is some bureaucratic hurdle or some substandard support.”

That comment came in response to the information provided, according to this article,  that “there is a backlog of facility upgrade requests submitted by 128 state, territorial and tribal veterans’ cemeteries in the United States”.  The article further states that it would cost an estimated $220 million to address two dozen projects that have been on the national waiting list for more than five years.

While it was noted that State Veteran Cemeteries take some of the demand off the National Cemeteries they also require upkeep and improvements.  Kansas has a National Cemetery at Fort Leavenworth and four State Military Cemeteries located at Fort Dodge, WaKeeney, Fort Riley, and Winfield.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs Grants Program was began in 1978 to complement the VA’s national cemeteries.  According to information found here, the program has expended over $922 million in grants to establish and/or expand these complimentary cemeteries owned and operated by states, territories, and tribal governments since its inception.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  According to this information, the Department of Veterans Affairs operates 155 national cemeteries through the National Cemetery Administration.

It’s a little like a doubled-edged sword. . . . the National Cemetery Administration, with its national cemetery system, served the purpose of honoring our veterans for a long time on its own.  From my point of view — and I’ll use my home state of Minnesota as an example — it eventually became necessary to expand the locations available for deceased veterans and their families over time and for a couple of reasons.

In Minnesota we had one Veterans Cemetery — the Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  While I don’t know for certain, I believe it was the increase in the population’s veteran numbers with the World War II generation coupled with the fact that many wanted to be buried closer to their home city that resulted in the State of Minnesota establishing a State Veterans Cemetery in northern Minnesota at Camp Ripley in 1994.

Since that time, the State of Minnesota has opened three more state veterans cemeteries to complete the mission of allowing our veterans and their eligible dependents to be memorialized closer to home.  However, if other states are like Minnesota, that increasing number has put a stress on the amounts that our national government, through the Veteran’s Affairs grant program, can offer these complimentary cemeteries annually for upkeep and improvements.

And, while that is probably reality, it is also disappointing because, in my opinion, being remembered and memorialized for sacrifice and call to duty above self, is as American as America itself.  I’m of the opinion that if America took the time to find the appropriations necessary for this from other areas of our government’s spending. . . and also to teach the high ideals of this sacrifice. . . our nation would be a lot better off.

Related Topic —  While the article mentions that since 1978 $922 million has been granted by the federal authorities for these cemeteries and there is a backlog of $220 million in improvements waiting for funding for over five years, it appears that is a drop in the bucket for what is needed — or at least requested — for cemetery improvements.  Here you can find the U.S. Government 2024 Fiscal Year List of State and Tribal Government Pre-Grant applications. . . . it appears that the total dollars requested for 2024 alone is over $295 million.  Somebody will have to make some tough decisions on what makes the cut and what doesn’t.

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