Southern Calls Issue 28

Journal of the Funeral Profession

Issue 30 Available Now

It’s been a year unlike any other, and we’re here to wrap it up with another blockbuster issue highlighted by three very uniquely different features, lots of history and, as always, the best photography and writers representing the funeral profession. Enjoy our December Issue from cover to cover, we wish each and every one a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! PEOPLE | Kristin Tips...

People, Places, Passions

Kristin Tips | San Antonio, Texas

Kristin Tips | San Antonio, Texas

People, Pillars, SC30

“Can you imagine a day when the world’s first drive-in funeral theater would be in the headlines? Or imagine a time when thousands of people at home would choose to watch a televised life tribute instead of attending a funeral service. That day is today and those...

The NFDA Story

The NFDA Story

Pillars, Places, SC29

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NFDA SPANNING THREE CENTURIES Come, gather, come, gather, ye knights of the grave,A welcome awaits you right royally brave;Our fields they look fresh and our brooklets they smile,And the sweet-scented zephyrs, the senses beguile;The birds of the air...

A Man of Many Skills

A Man of Many Skills

Passions, Pillars, SC29

Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming SkillsSpringfield, Missouri The call came in from another state: an innocent bystander had been caught in the middle of a shootout. There would be reconstruction involved if there was to be a viewing. The funeral...

The Pillars Articles

Each issue of Southern Calls has three main stories: People, Places, and Passions.

View All Pillars Articles

The CEO | Christine Pepper

The CEO | Christine Pepper

People, Pillars, SC29

At first glance, you might recognize Christine Reichelt Pepper from photos in The Director magazine, where she has been featured alongside an abundance of funeral directors past and present. Others may have become familiar with the longtime chief executive officer of...

A Legacy of Family and Community | Vines Funeral Home

A Legacy of Family and Community | Vines Funeral Home

Pillars, Places, SC28

On a sunny, early autumn day in LaFayette, Alabama, a sleepy little town of fewer than 3,000 people, professional vehicles were displayed on the front lawn of what was once a modest brick bungalow. There was a stage encircled with a wreath of balloons woven into an...

Marty Mitchell | Iowa Funeral Museum

Marty Mitchell | Iowa Funeral Museum

Passions, Pillars, SC28

Some people collect stamps or baseball cards – or maybe dolls or trophies. Marty Mitchell is into all things funereal. “When we opened Mitchell Family Funeral Home in 2005, I already had a garage full of caskets and funeral memorabilia, so we took an extra room in the...

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Funereal Fridays

The COVID-19 Pandemic is Overwhelming

The COVID-19 Pandemic is Overwhelming

Southern Calls Vol. 29, September 2020 Funeral Home Director In Residency begins career as Coronavirus Pandemic overwhelms the Industry After picking up remains of a victim of COVID-19, Lily Sage Weinrieb calls relatives for a virtual viewing before cremation on May...

The “Bear”

The “Bear”

Southern Calls Vol. 3, March 2014 After the 1982 season, Paul William “Bear” Bryant, 69, announced his decision to retire, stating, "This is my school, my alma mater. I love it and I love my players. But in my opinion, they deserved better coaching than they have been...

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Southern Calls Vol. 6, December 2014 Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin was an actor, comedian, composer and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent movie era. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1913, his boss initially expressed concern that the 24-year-old looked too young....

Funereal Fridays are posted weekly

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Recent Stories

COVID-19 in Rural Alabama

COVID-19 in Rural Alabama

Online Exclusive, The Present

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

Kobe Bean Bryant | Obsequies

Obsequies, SC27, The Present

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

Billy Graham | Funeral & Eulogies

SC20, The Present

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

Remembering Jacquelyn Taylor

SC23, The Present

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.

More Present Articles

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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

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

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

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

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.

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Southern Calls Magazine, Vol 29, Sept/2020 Funeral

Southern Calls Magazine, Vol 29, Sept/2020
Funeral Director, in residency, begins career as Coronavirus Pandemic overwhelms the profession.

After picking up remains of a victim of Covid-19, Lily Sage Weinrieb calls relatives for a virtual viewing before cremation on May 4, 2020 in NYC.

Lily Sage Weinrieb, 25, from Philadelphia, PA started her residency as a funeral director at International Hamilton Heights Funeral Home in Harlem. Before the pandemic, the funeral home served an average of 30-40 families per month. Now, that number has quadrupled.

Lily works from 8am to midnight and often sleeps on a couch in the funeral home. She is completely overwhelmed scheduling funeral for a month in advance and not able to do many aspects of her job like being able to console grieving relatives with a hug nor a touch and limiting numbers at viewing and burial.

Photo by Misha Friedman/Getty Images (with permission) RMS

Bigger than Life Southern Calls December 2014 It

Bigger than Life
Southern Calls December 2014

It was July 30, 2013, -- just days before the Trinity Trojans took to the practice field to prepare for the coming season -- the entire community was rocked to its core by the news: Two former Trojan players -- Polo Manukainiu, 19, a redshirt freshman at Texas A&M University and Gaius Vaenuku, 18, a freshman at the University of Utah as well as a third teen Andrew Uhatafe, 13, a freshman on Trinity’s team -- had been killed in a one-car rollover in New Mexico. They had been on their way home from Utah.

In order for family members to have time to travel from Tonga, the contingent explained the body needed to be placed on a dressing table in a stateroom or chapel for a period of 10 days. During this period, women in the family visit each day, changing the decedent’s clothing several times before dressing them in their white burial clothing.

The small Kingdom of Tonga, located near Fiji and Samoa in the Pacific Ocean, was virtually unknown to residents of the United States until around a decade ago when Pacific Islanders began making it big in theNational Football League, and I mean “big!”

Ten Pacific Islanders -- sometimes called “Polynesians”-- played in Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. University of Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham reported 45 Tongans and Samoans on his roster that year. Tongans and Samoans also made up half the Brigham Young University’s gridders that year with only the University of Hawaii having more. Who wouldn’t want a strong and fast 6-ft. 5-in., 341-lb. guard, or similar strong, fast “wide bodies” on their front line?

Read complete story at https://southerncalls.com/article/bigger-than-life/

#FunerealFriday by Southern Calls Southern Calls V

#FunerealFriday by Southern Calls
Southern Calls Vol. 22 December/2018
1950s NSM Model Casket Display
A fascinating educational innovation in the 1950s was National Selected Morticians (NSM) creation of model casket displays. More than forty miniature caskets were hand-crafted from wood, finished to resemble actual merchandise and used to simulate various display set-ups. Each miniature measured about six inches in length.
Photo courtesy Selected Independent Funeral Homes
R.M.S.

#FunerealFriday by Southern Calls The Papal Displa

#FunerealFriday by Southern Calls
The Papal Display - Pope John Paul II

Southern Calls’ photographer Bobby Carlsen, was given closeup access to a replica of Pope John Paul II coffin in the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas.
The story appeared in Vol 8, June/2015 issue of Southern Calls, which you can order on our website!

CASKET FOR THREE In the 1930s, a couple’s small

CASKET FOR THREE
In the 1930s, a couple’s small child died. The parents of the child were so depressed at the loss of the child, that they planned for the husband to murder the wife and then commit suicide.

The couple came into a mortuary in one of the Western states and explained their plans to the owner of the funeral home. They asked that a special casket be ordered, large enough to hold the husband, wife and child. Their plans called for the casket to be built, the murder and suicide committed and their remains placed in the specially constructed casket. The casket was to be shipped to their previous residence, where the child was to be disinterred and placed between the parents for final burial.

Later the couple changed their minds and moved to another state. Twenty years later, the wife sent a letter to the owner of the mortuary. In the letter she stated that her husband had died, and she asked for her money to be refunded for the triple casket.

The owner of the funeral home replied that the establishment had twice undergone a change in ownership since she and her husband had purchased the special casket. The funeral director stated that he was unable to comply with her request for a refund, and the casket would have to be moved.

No further word has been received regarding the disposition of the casket since the 1950s.

The casket is on display at the National Museum Funeral History in Houston, Texas. Photo taken in 2015 for Southern Calls Vol. 8, June/2015 article.

R.M.S.

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 Workers load

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919

Workers load a San Francisco Casket Company truck with caskets for influenza victims.
Christopher Helin, Photographer, 1918

By October 9, 1918 San Francisco had at least 169 cases of influenza. Only a week later that number had jumped to over 2,000. San Francisco’s epidemic had started.

The epidemic brought nearly 45,000 cases of influenza to San Francisco and killed over 3,000 of its residents in the fall of 1918 and the winter of 1919.
University of Michigan Library

R.M.S.

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Starting June 1st, 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.

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