Episode 48: Hitting the Runway: When Funerals Get Creative
Remembering A Life
Lanae Strovers just might be one of the most creative funeral directors out there. From transforming a visitation room into a baseball field to honor a Little League coach, to creating a runway featuring clothing designed by a glamorous 1940s model, Lanae's personal touches help family and friends begin their grief journeys in beautifully meaningful ways.
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Episode 47: From the Classroom to the Prep Room: A New Generation of Funeral Directors Is Ready to Lead
Remembering A Life
Think you know what a typical funeral director looks like? Get ready for a new generation that challenges your perceptions! In fact, the funeral directors of tomorrow are mostly women, many are people of color - and they’re ready to lead the profession into the future. Leili McMurrough, president of Worsham College of Mortuary Science, and student Sioux Westby join us to dispel the myths!
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Episode 46: I'd Rather Be Compost
Remembering A Life
Katey Houston from Return Home in Auburn, Washington, joins us as we dig into the topic of natural organic reduction, commonly referred to as human composting. This relatively new form of disposition offers a unique option for people who want to return their bodies to the earth after they die and offers meaningful opportunities for family and friends to say goodbye to a loved one.
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Episode 45: Funerals 101: Why Funerals Still Matter in Today's World
Remembering A Life
Nicholas Welzenbach grew up in funeral service but as a young person he pursued his passions of surfing and skateboarding, convinced being a funeral director was not for him. But the profession kept drawing him back in. Now, as managing partner of Darling Fischer Funeral Homes in California, he joins us to talk about his experiences as a funeral director and why funerals are as relevant as ever.
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Episode 44: Dying With Dignity: Compassionate End-of-Life Care in America's Prisons
Remembering A Life
Every year, people who are incarcerated die in prison, often without the compassionate hospice care that would be expected in other environments. Laura Musselman, Fernando Murillo, and the rest of the team from the Humane Prison Hospice Project are working to change that through an innovative program that trains incarcerated individuals to provide end-of-life care to their peers who are dying.
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Episode 43: Beyond the Grave: One Person's Journey from Undertaker to Medium
Remembering A Life
Richard Schoeller has served grieving families and individuals throughout his professional life, initially as a funeral director and now, since the late 1990s, as a certified medium. Learn how he realized he had this special gift and how he shares information that has helped people move forward following a loss.
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Episode 42: The UK's Most Eligible Funeral Director: A Conversation With Freddie Powell
Remembering A Life
Freddie Powell, a funeral director in Salford, England, doesn't fit the stereotype of a funeral director. As a participant on the #1 reality show Love Is Blind UK, he challenged the notion that funeral professionals are grim and depressing. Listen for the inside scoop on how the women on the show reacted to Freddie's profession and how the show made him the UK's most eligible funeral director.
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Episode 41: Pull Up a Headstone and Stay Awhile: Storytelling in the Cemetery
Remembering A Life
Cemeteries are bursting with history and, as we found out on a recent visit to Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, also a fair amount of drama! Join cemetery docent Cyndi Kramer on a walkabout of this 175-year-old cemetery that is the final resting place of the famous and not so famous, including beer barons, ship builders and flappers.
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Episode 40: Funerals Unplugged
Remembering A Life
Benny Capaul doesn’t fit the mold of what most people think of when they think of a funeral director. He feels equally at home in the embalming room or on stage doing vocals with his ska-punk rock band. He’s also a death doula, podcaster and death/grief consultant. In this episode we talk about the societal shifts that have changed how we honor the dead and why ceremony is still important.
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Episode 39: No One Dies Alone
Remembering A Life
What happens when someone is near the end of their life but they don't have family or friends to sit with them in their final days? For Tannis Dorscht, the answer is simple. She will, as a volunteer with the No One Dies Alone program, sit with someone she has never met, sometimes in complete silence, as a source of comfort and companionship as they approach the end of life.
info_outlinePut away your hiking boots and canoe paddles and get ready for a new kind of summer camp! After Life Mortuary Services in Memphis offers a camp that packs plenty of fun while teaching campers about cremation, restoration, serving families, and more. Funeral directors Madeline Lyles and Dana Taylor hope the experience opens up a world of possibilities for the young people who participate.