ConnectingDirectors.com - Funeral Industry News, Information, and Trends

Sometimes, we forget that we cannot leave our profession at the door. When the day ends, and we are ready to go out and have a good time, we must always remember that people from our home towns are always going to view us as the town mortician.

I have heard stories about how horrible some funeral directors have acted. I went to get my hair cut the other day and the lady cutting it was telling me that she cut another funeral professional’s hair and that he treated the entire staff like dirt. That is certainly not the reputation that I would want. Set aside the fact that it is just rude, but he was employed at a firm and those young ladies are going to have death in their families. Do you think they will be using the firm that has an employee that treats them like that? And the hair dressers will talk to others.

Read more: You Are ALWAYS a Funeral Director - Toby Sutton

An Austin family says they were scammed by a man posing as a funeral home director who misrepresented who he was and also botched the services for a deceased infant relative.

The family of Messiah Steven Wynn, who died on Jan. 21 at only 2 months old, says a relative recommended LaVell Johnson, who claims to be the owner of Johnson Funeral Home at 5838 W. Division, to conduct the funeral service and burial.

Sharmine Sykes, the infant's aunt, recalled that Johnson told the family to meet him at his place of business on Jan. 22 to discuss the services. The infant's grandmother, Frederica Williams, initially talked with Johnson. But when the family went to the funeral home, Johnson wasn't there.

Read more: Funeral Scammer Loose in Austin?

Death, state Rep. Carolyn Laine, said Tuesday is frightening.

"We are always afraid of the unknown," she told fellow lawmakers. But the fear -- and the law -- should not prevent families from "reclaiming" the care of their dead loved ones, she said.

Laine, DFL-Columbia Heights, is sponsoring a bill that would allow families to wash, dress and transport their dead, keep them on dry ice for several days and to host larger viewings than permitted by current law.

The measure, which has a bipartisan group of 22 co-sponsors, passed the House Health Care and Human Services Policy Tuesday on a voice vote. It next moves on to the full House.

The law now requires bodies to be quickly embalmed or cremated after death and limits who can view unembalmed bodies.

Read more: Bill: Allow Families to Care For Their Own Dead?

A year ago, most public “death care” companies were reporting mysterious drops in the number of funerals they were performing, but now things have improved and some are seeing growth close to long-term trends.

And all of the companies in the funeral industry are looking forward to the next few decades, when business should be brisk as baby boomers come to the end of their run.

The hardest-hit company last year was Service Corporation International, (SCI-N8.550.080.94%) the biggest death care company on the continent, with more than 1,600 funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States and Canada. In the first quarter of 2009 it experienced an 11-per-cent downturn in the number of funerals it performed. While the quarter-to-quarter decline was only 3.6 per cent by the fourth quarter, the company conducted 6.7 per cent fewer funerals in all of 2009 than it did in 2008.

Read more: SCI Hires Outside Company To Figureout Why Death Numbers Are Down