Article Category
The CEO | Christine Pepper
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...
Marty Mitchell | Iowa Funeral Museum
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...
A Legacy of Family and Community | Vines Funeral Home
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....
Following Family Footsteps | James A. Lowe II
Like his grandfather and father before him, third-generation Funeral Director/Embalmer James A. “Jim” Lowe II is passionate about helping others. The owner and president of Lowe (rhymes with wow) Funeral Home in Burlington, North Carolina, has been a willing...
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
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 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...
Duane Hills | President of Joseph Gawler’s Sons
As a student at Williamson Junior and Senior High School in Tioga Junction, Pennsylvania, Duane Hills, now 61, discovered a passion for American history that was nurtured by his grandfather. “He would load my brothers and I into the car, and we would spend weekends...
Joseph Gawler’s Sons | Funeral Home of the Presidents
It’s difficult to know what 5-year-old Joseph Gawler was thinking as the ship bringing his family from Bristol, England, steamed into Alexandria, Virginia, that day in 1832. One can only imagine the wonder – and possibly the fear – he felt coming to this new land, a...
Funereal Fridays
Martha Was Right!
Undertakings Southern Calls, Vol. 23, March 2019 Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell gained worldwide recognition for her outspokenness during the Watergate scandal – a scandal that forced President...
Samuel Taliaferro “Sam” Rayburn | 1882-1961
Once inside the church, Kennedy bore witness to the end of a domestic Cold War when he and Johnson took their seats beside Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman. Ike and Harry had been openly feuding...
Unalaska | 1923-1931
Southern Calls, Vol. 13, September 2016 Southern Mourning by Lora D. Peppers | Monroe, Louisiana Tucked away in the flowerbeds of the old Georgia Tucker schoolhouse, is a large tombstone, which...
Present Articles
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...
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...
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...
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...
Fallen Heroes
Mississippi Funeral Directors Escort Fallen Heroes Late on the night of July 11, I received an unexpected call from Carson Sprow, president of International Mortuary Shipping. His company had been contacted to coordinate and oversee the transfer of the bodies of 15...
Remembering Mary Hagan
Though you may never been introduced, if you've attended NFDA's annual conventions over the last seven decades, her face will be familiar. And if you've had the privilege of meeting Mary Hagan, you'll never forget her charming smile, her keen wit and her unabashed...
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Past Articles
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...
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...
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...
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...
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