Vocational Tour Takes Club to Steven's Funeral Home
Posted by John Borst
on Nov 07, 2011
Steven's Funeral Home was the unusual location of our November 2nd, lunch meeting.
Rotarians Bob Stevens and Kathy Rothlisberger, played host and hostess, while the Dryden Legion auxillary caterered our meal.
Bob discussed some of the history of death and burial. He described how almost all societies had certain rituals when dealing with the dead. Embalming and mummification of pharoahs, he explained was not the way that most people were buried, otherwise, we would likely have millions of pyramids today.
The foundation of the present day funeral home business was embalming, a practice that gained legitimacy during the Civil War years in the USA where families wanted to have a last look at a deceased loved one who had been killed on the battlefield.
By the early decades of the twentieth century, embalming had become a standard practice in much of the country. Undertakers, many of whom had connections with the furniture industry and had a growing interest in the production of coffins, began to focus on the transformed appearance of the body.
Bob explained that funeral parlours evolved after people no longer wished to have the body on display at their home in their parlour so funeral homes gradually took over that responsibility.
One interesting cultural and linguistic difference Steven's share was that in Canada, we have "funeral directors", in the USA they have "morticians," while in the UK they are called "undertakers."
The present day funeral director not only sells caskets or urns , but also provides a service to the family to look after the body of the loved oneand to help them through their griefing process.
The foundation of the present day funeral home business was embalming, a practice that gained legitimacy during the Civil War years in the USA where families wanted to have a last look at a deceased loved one who had been killed on the battlefield.
By the early decades of the twentieth century, embalming had become a standard practice in much of the country. Undertakers, many of whom had connections with the furniture industry and had a growing interest in the production of coffins, began to focus on the transformed appearance of the body.
Bob explained that funeral parlours evolved after people no longer wished to have the body on display at their home in their parlour so funeral homes gradually took over that responsibility.
One interesting cultural and linguistic difference Steven's share was that in Canada, we have "funeral directors", in the USA they have "morticians," while in the UK they are called "undertakers."
The present day funeral director not only sells caskets or urns , but also provides a service to the family to look after the body of the loved oneand to help them through their griefing process.