Article Category: SC27
The New Tradition

Issue 27 Available Now

Posted Friday, Apr 03

It’s all about the B’s for our latest issue… from the small Southern town of Bremen, Georgia, to urban downtown Baltimore, Maryland and out to a cattle pasture in Brewton, Alabama we cover a broad range of People, Places, and Passions – and there’s even real Bees (see Passions article). The photos are compelling, the stories are moving, and they’re all told from a Funeral Director’s Perspective. There’s only one place you can find inspiration like this, Southern Calls – The Journal of the Funeral Profession.

PEOPLE  By Luke Teague
The definition of professional success is subjective. For a funeral director, it might be determined by job security, salary or seniority. An owner, perhaps, could measure triumph by consecutive years in business, call volume or gross revenue. Patty Hutcheson, CFSP, executive director of the Academy of Funeral Service Practice, would credit her career accomplishments to the love and support of family, especially Danny, her devoted husband of 40 years. Since 1983, the couple has owned and operated Hutcheson’s Memorial Chapel and Crematory as she simultaneously served as a longtime instructor at Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service, subsequently becoming the institution’s first female president. However, the last two years have been challenging, a direct impact of the massive stroke Danny suffered at the funeral home. 

“Live each day as if it were your last,” said Hutcheson, who celebrates continued blessings and praises and is forever thankful for God’s faithful presence during their journey of life and love.

PLACES  By Todd Harra
When Joe Brown couldn’t secure financing during the recession to build a crematory, he leaned a ladder against the side of his funeral home and climbed onto the roof. Setting the choke on his chainsaw, he pulled the cord and plunged the blade into the roofing membrane to cut out the stack hole. Then, Joe rallied members of his community to help him finish installing a 15 ton newly purchased—and self-financed—B&L Phoenix II. That was 10 years ago, and just the beginning.

Completed in 2019, Joseph H. Brown, Jr. Funeral Home’s new $2 million dollar “Cremation Plaza” is changing the disposition paradigm in an urban area. The funeral home has served the community of Baltimore for four generations, and Joe Brown, the current steward of the business, is aggressively marketing cremation to the African American community with amazing results.

“I’ve taken cremation out of the garage,” Joe says. Read about Joe Brown’s 5,000 square foot crematorium in March’s issue of Southern Calls.

PASSIONS  By Alice Adams
Passion is a deeply, overwhelming human emotion — so overwhelming, in fact, one must wait years before experiencing it for the first time. For Heath Wilson, owner and director at Craver’s Funeral Home in Brewton, Alabama, that overwhelming emotion — called passion — came earlier to him than most kids.

Growing up around grandparents who added emphasis to his DNA, Heath as a youngster cultivated a passion for the outdoors. Raised on the family farm, like the two generations before him, his developed a passion for growing gardens and living off the land. He was driving his first vehicles around the farm before he was 10 and learning cattle before he graduated from Brewton High School.

But his overarching passion for caring for his community and for funeral service came to him when, at a much younger age, as he held services and buried pets who died and dead animals he found. He pronounced eulogies, directed mourners. “It was a calling from God. I never questioned it. “I just knew.”

Little did the youngster realize his life’s path was already being planned for him at that early age. However, there also were surprises in store, some sweet as honey, others involving cattle auctions, rearing a family and becoming an important pillar of the community he has loved all his life.

Order this issue

Southern Calls Issue 27

In stock

Articles Relating to Issue 27

Patty Hutcheson, CFSP | A Journey of Love & Life

Patty Hutcheson, CFSP | A Journey of Love & Life

The definition of professional success is subjective. For a funeral director, it might be determined by job security, salary or seniority. An owner, perhaps, could measure triumph by consecutive years in business, call volume or gross revenue. Patty Hutcheson, CFSP,…

Jarrod Heath Wilson | A Man of Many Layers

Jarrod Heath Wilson | A Man of Many Layers

If you’ve never been to Brewton, Alabama, you may not know this city of 5,100 is on the border of Central Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. You also might not know that Alabama’s Blueberry Festival is held here annually or that Kevin Sumlin, former coach of the…

The New Tradition | Joseph H. Brown, Jr. Funeral Home

The New Tradition | Joseph H. Brown, Jr. Funeral Home

“The impediment of action becomes action. What stands in the way becomes the way,” says Joseph H. Brown, III, quoting Marcus Aurelius. Joe laughs ironically because he doesn’t allow anything to stand in the way of his vision.  When Joe couldn’t secure financing…

Other Recent Articles

Issue 43 Available Now!

Issue 43 Available Now!

Daylight Savings Time is here but the Big News is the Spring issue of Southern Calls is now shipping! If you have received a complimentary issue in the past or if you have never been a reader, we encourage you to subscribe today so you won’t miss stories like our...

read more
Issue 42 Available Now!

Issue 42 Available Now!

Professional automobile enthusiasts rejoice, Southern Calls Issue 42 has a wonderful article about the Professional Car Society filled with page after page of great photos. Our People feature, Michelle Johnston, gives insight into what drives her career and specialty...

read more
Issue 41 Is Selling Fast

Issue 41 Is Selling Fast

Hot off the press...Southern Calls 41 - This special issue covers the Obsequies of Todd Van Beck as told by Jack Lechner and Todd Harra. Well known and respected, TVB's wishes are honored by close friends and shared with us in an intimate story with firsthand writing...

read more
Issue 39 Available Now!

Issue 39 Available Now!

Southern Calls Issue 39 brings you stories from across the country with a brilliant, young Tennessee professional navigating career changes with ease; an historic and classically beautiful California funeral home and gardens that serves the Asian and Hispanic...

read more
After Life Mortuary Services

After Life Mortuary Services

The year is 1961. The Soviet Union has just successfully put Yuri Gagarin into space—and brought him home again. The Soviets are winning the space race. President John F. Kennedy immediately begins exploring ideas to re-take the lead, settling on reaching the moon....

read more

Join Our Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter to periodically receive article updates, industry news, and details about new issues before they are released.

The Magazine

Never miss an issue.

Subscribers receive all of our quarterly magazines by mail, as well as all exclusive content on the website.