A few days ago I came across this article from  Great Britain’s newspaper, The Telegraph.  The headline was intriguing to a person like me who worked in Death Care, so I continued to read the article.

Turns out that the article was an obituary news article of sorts dealing with the life and death of Julian Litten.  And, if you are in North America like I am, I’m guessing that you have no idea who Julian Litten was.

Here’s what the headline said, “Julian Litten, historian who traced changing death and burial practices and loved a good funeral”.  As I delved into the article and went further it turns out that Litten wrote a book in 1991 that could probably be equated with the Jessica Mitford book, “The American Way of Death”, in the USA.    Litten’s book was titled, “The English Way of Death:  The Common Funeral Since 1450”.  

I have not read it, but from what I have tried to learn about Litten’s book is that, for the most part, he was an advocate of funerals and his book was not as critical of death and burial customs as was Mitford’s.  According to the article from The Telegraph,  Litten’s book was a “deft and amusing guide to the consumerism of death, in which Litten charted the history of the changing etiquette surrounding burial over the centuries”. 

Again, from reading the article, it appears that Litten was no fan of the British modern cremation ritual of which he is quoted as saying, “an unaccompanied funeral car glides noiselessly under the porte cochère, the coffin is transferred to a stainless steel ‘hors-d’oeuvre’ trolley and wheeled into the chapel, which looks more like a waiting room in a … hospital than a dignified setting for the disposal of the dead”. 

In any regard, my curiosity took me to reading the article and learning about somebody that I didn’t know had existed.  I think that any funeral home or cemetery practitioner would enjoy the newspaper article on his life and death which you can find here.

More from Europe —  I thought today might be an appropriate time to offer readers links to a couple of articles written about November 1 from foreign press sources and pertaining to All Saint’s Day and the ever-moving customs of cremation and burial in certain countries.  Here are those articles:

Finally, it is November 22 —  Today marks the 61st anniversary of the assasination and death of United States President John F. Kennedy.  One of the all-time most read articles of Funeral Director Daily deals with that situation, the funeral director that was called to prepare the President for the flight back to Washington, DC from his death in Dallas, Texas, and the history of the casket that was used for that transportation.

Here’s that article entitled “The Story of the Kennedy Casket”.

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

Julian Navarro-Jimenez passed away on March 28, 2024 at the age of ninety four.

He was the son of Adela Jimenez-Fuentes and Julian Navarro-Romo in Villaldama Nuevo León, Mexico on February 1, 1930.

Julian first came to the US by himself as a migrant field worker at age 14, he later worked as a  Vaquero,Brasero until he decided to work in the tannery and settled down in the Milwaukee area.  He worked on the assembly line at American Motors/Chrysler for 30 years until retirement as a Die Setter and active member of the UAW. Volunteering at United Migrant Opportunities Services(UMOS) in Milwaukee.  He became a Naturalized Citizen 1985.  He had several successful Entrepreneurial ventures, a merchant, a Theater and Video store owner.  He established a successful business Navarro Mexican Products Distributor, which he operated with his wife and family in Southeastern Wisconsin.  After retirement he became a well known and respected vendor at the 7 mile fair for 25years.

He was a volunteer leader and mentor for the Girl Scouts of Racine.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 64yrs Maria(Mary)Louise Tovar-Salas.(87) his father (102) mother, stepmother and half brother Eduardo Navarro-Reyna. He is survived by his half-brothers Francisco,Victor,Jaime and half-sisters Juana,  Hortencia, Eulalia, Elena and Guadalupe in Mexico. He is survived by his children Lola Delgado (Manuel)of Florida, Gloria  Mata (Javier) of Racine, Josefina Suarez (Gaudencio) of Racine, Julian Navarro III of Racine, Alfredo Navarro (Brenda)of Colorado, and Francisca Range (Kurt) of Wyoming.

He is survived by 21 grandchildren and 41 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren.

He led an adventurous life as he worked his way across America.

Julian and Maria were both lovingly cared for till their deaths by their son Julian Navarro III.  His children, grandchildren,  nieces and nephews loved hearing him recount his many stories. He would take the kids on hikes to the river but it was never just a hike,  it was an adventure!

He will be remembered fondly. He would always say,

“We got a lotta work to do!”