Here’s what a press release from Warner Brothers/Discovery says about the new series titled “The Mortician” that is scheduled to be premiered on Sunday on HBO:

“THE MORTICIAN chronicles a trusted family-owned funeral home that hid behind a façade of decency and propriety to take advantage of loved ones at their most vulnerable moments. In the early 1980s, David Sconce, scion of the Lamb family, took over the family business and sought to exploit the deceased in numerous ways to expand their earnings. Driven by profit, the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California engaged in years of morally questionable and inhumane practices.”

Even though I was in business in Minnesota at the time I do not remember this case that happened in Southern California.  I guess you could chalk that up to the actions occuring in the pre-internet days and news, if chronicled on the network television stations did not last there long as news broadcasters had to make room for the next news of the day.  It makes one realize what a different world we live in today when events can be archived for immediate access online.

In any regard, according to the Warner Brothers/Discovery press release that you can read here, the three-part series will be broadcast on three consecutive Sundays — June 1, June 8, and June 15.

Here’s another exerpt from the press release, “The scandal shook Southern California and as members of the Lamb family stood trial, the funeral industry took heed, bringing about tighter regulations and allowing for greater transparency into the business of death.”

David Sconce was originally sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the dealings of the Lamb Funeral Home.

One of the articles that I read about the Lamb Funeral Home is that it documented 194 death calls and only a couple of years later it documented 8,173 death calls.

Related Article — A Mortuary tangled in the macabre.  Los Angeles Times – publish date – 1988

Related Article — Convicted mortician David Sconce defends his criminal mass cremations, “doesn’t put any value” in the deceased.  People Magazine publish date – May 19, 2025

Related — Book about the case.  “A Family Business” available from Amazon.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  In one of the articles I read a lady makes this comment, “Trust is foundational for funeral directors.  The unfortunate reality is, like any other occupation, there are some bad apples.”

That comment is true. . . and unfortunate.  I know hundreds, maybe thousands, of great compassionate funeral directors who do everything they can to make a family’s circumstances easier.  They give of themselves, take time away from their own families, make financial sacrifices for those they serve and yet. . . the bad apples make giving the profession a great name difficult.

There is no doubt, as hard as we work to uplift the profession. . .the “hits” just keep on coming to us by those we originally know as colleagues.  I’m guessing that if this series gets any traction at all we will once again hear negative things about our chosen profession.

On watching the series:  Angie and I are in the process of weaning ourselves from cable tv to full streaming options.  However, because of the bandwidth issues that sometimes occur in rural America we continue to have Spectrum cable tv at our Minnesota home, along with some streaming options.

We don’t purchase HBO streaming but in a search found out the series will run concurrently on Max.  As a perk of our Spectrum cable Max is one of the free streaming channels that we receive.  I’m not sure what other streaming services will carry the programming, but you can click here to see the information and a trailer from the Max website.

More news from the world of Death Care:

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

It’s pretty commonplace in our culture to have an athlete say something like this after a record-breaking performance, “It’s great, but I don’t want this championship to define me.”

I agree with that because, like a lot of you, even though I was a funeral director, I didn’t want that to be my identity or define me either.  You see, I have had plenty of other identities in my life  — son, husband, father, friend, classmate, runner, golfer, Little League coach, blogger, and on and on.  And, while I relish each of those roles I don’t want any of them to define me. . . because my life is much more than each single role.

However, and I write this column aimed at the Christian readers of Funeral Director Daily, today is what we refer to as “Good Friday”.  It is the day, that for Christian believers, Jesus Christ went to the cross to die for all of our sins.  And come Sunday, He rose from the dead making good on his promise to literally re-build the temple in three days.

Jesus Christ also had a lot of identities — he was a friend, a son, a brother, a preacher, and a leader among other things.  And, he led with a group of great traits.  The apostle Paul tells us of some of those traits in his letter to the Colossians (Chapter 3, Verse 12).  Those traits being compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Those are traits that I would love to be defined by.   Matter of fact, I pray every day for help to get better at those ideals.

The person who rose from the dead on Easter Sunday had those traits. . . .If you can let those traits “define” you, you will be better for it.  I think that is a goal worth working towards.

Happy Easter — He is Risen!  Alleluia!!

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

Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

As Sunday School classes make their way into the main church building, teachers and volunteers will hand them a palm frond or two. Excitedly, they will line up, wearing little pressed shirts and blouses and bright, happy smiles, thrilled to be doing something that the adults are doing.

In preparing for this event, we explain to Rowen that this is the week where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He knew what this week would mean as the end of His life here on this Earth. Then, we tell him that this week we celebrate each year as “Holy Week,” the week in which it would mean that God would take his Son, Jesus, to be with Him in Heaven. When we do that, it means that, at least to our little man at age 2, we will all be together again in Heaven.

This fact of reassurance is extremely important to both Chelsea and me, because it was the very afternoon of the morning that we had a memorial service for my grandmother, Dian Jones, that I went to the hospital so the doctor could deliver Rowen that same day. In this most poignant example of the precious circle of life, the celebration of a new life ahead of us—our life with Owen—was made possible on the very same day that we had to acknowledge the passing of my dear grandmother.

As adults it is easy to forget when and how we first begin to understand and look forward to the hope of everlasting life beyond this Earth. Yet, in fact, it is when, as children, we begin to greet the beginning of Holy Week and the onset of Easter and life together again with God in Heaven that we have hope for every day of our lives ahead on this Earth.

So, as you have a chance to see the faces of the little cherubs holding their oversized palm fronds, waving them and smiling at you, keep in mind that you are seeing one of the very first steps toward their being Christians.

With your help, prayers, and encouragement, they will become amazing adults of faith in years to come. Help them shout and sing, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!”

Now that our son Rowen is two years old, Chelsea and I are beginning to introduce him to the elements of a regular church worship service that occur with regularity each year. True, one can only make a preliminary impression on a youngster with respect to helping him or her understand the rituals we as adults have grown up with, all of our lives. The occasion of Palm Sunday gives us a chance to help Rowen know that on Palm Sunday, we are going to be seeing everyone we know waving a large palm frond as we come into the church.

As Sunday School classes make their way into the main church building, teachers and volunteers will hand them a palm frond or two. Excitedly, they will line up, wearing little pressed shirts and blouses and bright, happy smiles, thrilled to be doing something that the adults are doing.

In preparing for this event, we explain to Rowen that this is the week where Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He knew what this week would mean as the end of His life here on this Earth. Then, we tell him that this week we celebrate each year as “Holy Week,” the week in which it would mean that God would take his Son, Jesus, to be with Him in Heaven. When we do that, it means that, at least to our little man at age 2, we will all be together again in Heaven.

This fact of reassurance is extremely important to both Chelsea and me, because it was the very afternoon of the morning that we had a memorial service for my grandmother, Dian Jones, that I went to the hospital so the doctor could deliver Rowen that same day. In this most poignant example of the precious circle of life, the celebration of a new life ahead of us—our life with Owen—was made possible on the very same day that we had to acknowledge the passing of my dear grandmother.

As adults it is easy to forget when and how we first begin to understand and look forward to the hope of everlasting life beyond this Earth. Yet, in fact, it is when, as children, we begin to greet the beginning of Holy Week and the onset of Easter and life together again with God in Heaven that we have hope for every day of our lives ahead on this Earth.

So, as you have a chance to see the faces of the little cherubs holding their oversized palm fronds, waving them and smiling at you, keep in mind that you are seeing one of the very first steps toward their being Christians.

With your help, prayers, and encouragement, they will become amazing adults of faith in years to come. Help them shout and sing, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!”