Journal of the Funeral Profession
Issue 33 Available Now
It’s already September, the leaves will be changing soon, and the next issue of Southern Calls will be arriving in your mailbox! There’s a lot to look forward to… first, we have chief of the Air Force’s Casualty Headquarters, S. Todd Rose, with a thoughtful story of service and family values; followed by an amazing history of Cremation in America compiled by Jason Engler; and we wrap up our...
People, Places, Passions
Anna Wilbert Breaux
Fifth-generation Funeral Director Anna Wilbert Breaux has spent her life learning the funeral profession. As a youngster, her first classes were held around the dinner table when relatives came for Sunday dinner. The building previously housing the funeral home...
The Heritage of Hart’s
Just prior to the dawn of the 20th century and nearly two decades following Reconstruction, Jesse B. Hart founded his modest mortuary in a small, single-room structure on Mulberry Street in Macon, Georgia. Originally operated as Keating’s Funeral Parlour, the local...
Lisa Scott-Coleman
It was 1990 and Lisa Scott-Coleman was in the kitchen busy making dinner, unaware that her life was about to take an entirely different trajectory. She had a good job, a management role for a medical company, and was about to get married. Scott-Coleman’s fiancé,...
Thomas Lynch | Bringing the Living & the Dead Closer
Thomas Lynch is a man who needs no introduction. He’s well known—even famous, though he’d certainly argue that—in undertaking, poetic, and literary circles. Lynch won the American Book Award in 1998 for his breakout collection of essays, The Undertaking: Life Studies...
Funetorium | All Things Funereal
Attila Bethlenfalvy stands out in a crowd of funeral directors. With his gauged ears, shaven head and bushy, peppered beard, Bethlenfalvy doesn’t look the part, and he’s not a funeral director, though he arguably knows more about funerary antiques and ephemera than...
Author-Undertaker | Todd Harra
“It’s such an honor to be able to walk with people during their time of need,” said Todd Harra, vice president of McCrery & Harra Funeral Homes and Crematory in Wilmington, Delaware. “But I never pictured myself doing this.” Harra has deep roots in the profession,...
Don't be left out on June 1st, and subscribe today!
Unlimited Access to All of Our Stories, Right At Your Fingertips.
Not only will Subscribers receive their 4 print magazines a year, but will also have exclusive access to additional online articles, as well as the ability to read all Southern Calls magazine articles as they become available only.
The Magazine
Never miss an issue.
Subscribers receive all of our quarterly magazines by mail, as well as all exclusive content on the website.
Sign Up to be an Advertiser
Won't You Become a Southern Calls Patron?
Includes Directory Listing + Banner Ad
Bailey Funeral Home | Vienna, Illinois
Our Family Serving Your Family
618.658.2311 | www.BaileyFH.com
“Southern Calls is the absolute finest publication in funeral service. I like to run with the best and embolden the rest!”
- Brian Bailey
Funereal Fridays
The Charleston Nine
Southern Mourning | from Southern Calls Issue 16, September 2017 (Opening Image: June 22, 2007 – Charleston 9 Firefighters ServicePresident, Mike McDaniel,1999-00 (head), President Thomas E. Baker II, 2007-08 (foot) Photographer – We are very appreciative to SCFDA...
Man O’ War’s Funeral
Southern Mourning | from Southern Calls Issue 9, September 2015 (Opening Image: As visitors look on, legendary thoroughbred Man O’ War lies in state in a casket lined with his racing colors at owner Samuel Riddle’s Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, Nov. 3, 1947....
The Art of Undertaking
Here are three powerful images that I believe capture the essence of our beloved Profession - Mike Squires ABOVE: The Recessional | Mac Brown, Photography “Red clay fills the hole left in our hearts. Only flowers remain as guardians of the grave, until they too wither...
Check back frequently for new Funereal Fridays!
Recent Stories
COVID-19 in Rural Alabama
Everything’s changed. We’re now living in a world we didn’t expect a month ago, a week ago, or even yesterday. It’s a world of constant flux with changing mandates and directives coming from the state and federal level. And yes, it’s a world of fear. Masks and gloves...
Kobe Bean Bryant | Obsequies
AUGUST 23, 1978 – JANUARY 26, 2020 Only two months ago the news shocked the world, Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash… those headlines, the outpouring of grief and the images from memorials have now been thickly veiled by the coronavirus that has taken...
Billy Graham | Funeral & Eulogies
Leading up to the day of the funeral, feelings of anxiety and uncertainty abounded. Although receiving media passes for the visitation had been fairly streamlined and straightforward, obtaining credentials to attend the private funeral service was a highly-...
Remembering Jacquelyn Taylor
In a career that came full-circle, the enduring and steadfast funeral service advocate was excited about the opportunity to continue her life’s work. But on August 10, 2018 Jacquelyn Taylor was diagnosed with breast cancer and on September 4, 2019 the cancer returned...
Additional Recent Stories articles can be found in our archives.
Sign Up to be an Advertiser
Events
Learn more about some of the top upcoming events in the funeral profession, or book Mike Squires, Editor/Publisher of Southern Calls, for an upcoming speaking engagement.
From the Past
A Florida Undertaker’s Family Museum | Volume 11, March 2016
Take a step back in the life of an undertaker when you walk into Tommy Begg’s Funeral Museum in Madison, Florida. Visit the original coffin shop with boxes of original ornaments and hardware, his restored 1918 Dodge hearse, the first motorized hearse in Florida, and...
Presidential Passings | Eisenhower
The Solemn Journey to AbileneA Look Back at the Eisenhower Funeral Train By Bob Boetticher, Sr. Chairman, National Museum of Funeral History The first of an 8-Part Series focused on the History of Presidential Funeral Trains On March 28, 1969, the world learned that...
Sunnyside Magazine, January 1900
This is "The Sunnyside," a magazine for the funeral industry, dated January 1st, 1900. It contains fabulous old ads for hearses, caskets, embalming fluid, etc. from advertisers such as National Casket, John Marsellus Mfg. Co., Champion Chemical Co. and many others....
NFDA State Association Officers from 1900
Here's an interesting look back at the 1900 National Funeral Directors' Association roster of officers from the state associations. This comes from a point in history when there were only 45 states in the United States, and we were just 35 years removed from the Civil...
An industry with rich history, see more relics and stories from the past here.
Sign Up to be an Advertiser
Introductory Pricing on Digital Banner Advertising
Discounts up to 25%
Become an Advertiser
There is only one funeral journal without parallel in our profession - Southern Calls. Perfected through 6 years, with an expanded readership and increased advertising, we invite you to associate your good name with ours.
Instagram Feed
