This photo was grabbed from the nationally televised funeral of past first lady Nancy Reagan. The uprise has been around how the casket isn’t anywhere near being center – look at it, it’s not even close. So, the question we want to ask is does it really matter?
Judging by some of the comments we have read many of you think it does matter and others say it is a minor detail and as long as the rest of the service went well then it doesn’t matter.
We are asking: does it matter? Please share you opinion in the comments below.
OMG. Do not know what funeral home was responsible for assisting the family, but they sure do not pay attention to the details if this is any example.
I saw Dignity Memorial on the Hearses ???
If it was Dignity Memorial Im surprised thats all that wasnt right
Sadly an example of what happens when you don’t inspect what you expect. Apparently, the director in charge didn’t care. Just think, what if it was just a few inches more and for whatever reason if fell off. Wouldn’t the news media have a hay day with this. We need to routinely have meeting with staff and review how our funerals went. What we did right and what we did wrong. While it might get a little uncomfortable, it will make for the high level of service that we should provide to every family we serve.
It was the responsibility of the honor guard, not the funeral home. The same honor guard was flown there from Ft. Myer, VA, that serves Arlington National Cemetery.
When I seen that on the news that was the first thing that caught my eye was the casket isn’t centered. I’ll wager is that when they where taking the casket out of the hearse they didn’t pause have a assistant or funeral director there to double check if they were centered. The funeral home that did the services was Gates, Kingsley & Gates Moeller Murphy Funeral Home out of Santa Monica, CA and yes it is an SCI funeral home. I remember seeing a similar error on the news at a marine’s service where the folding church trucks weren’t extended to the full length of the casket and was terribly off center.
I am a funeral director.mits all about attention to detail. Looks lije nobody cared enough to make sure it was perfect. It only takes a minute
Mark, state licensing requires funeral homes add names of new owners or partners….we are not not permitted to change the name. Nightmare.
What are you smoking bud. There is no state state law requiring funeral homes names to remain the same or that it has to include a owners name.
I’m willing to bet that the secret service was involved amongst other agencies that probably got in the directors way. I wish it had been centered but I’ve had services for military personnel and dignitaries where other agencies took over. Unfortunate but I’m sure there’s more to the story..
The world was watching…it had to be perfect. And, usually in a case like this, the military takes over so it doesn’t matter who the funeral director was. The pallbearers should have practiced till they got it perfect.
Still…the FUNERAL DIRECTOR should have made CERTAIN the casket was CENTERED!! GEESH!!!
I think the casket is centered. The camera is off centered and the bier is an open “C” bier that is being viewed from slightly left of center.
Harley, I agree with your thoughts on the shot. It is taken from slightly left of centre and would naturally show the casket to be apparently off centre. If taken from directly in front, I am sure it would have been perfectly centred.
That’s Bull. It’s what can be expected when an SCI funeral home is in charge.
Although the FDIC would be responsible for “weighting” the casket, the military honor guard was responsible for removing the casket from the coach to the bier, and positioning the casket. If you watched the full service, you would have seen that a longer bier was used at the grave site, and should have been here. Also, the honor guard (pall bearers) DID have to reposition the casket on the catafalque at the grave site.
Personally, i think the casket (a gorgeous Marsellus Masterpiece model of solid mahogany) while not dead centre, is pretty close
it’s play of light & shadow + that crazy depth-perception thingie that cameras do focusing + the angle = skewing it all
here are 3 still images (not altered by me in any way) from the service..2 are screencaps..1 is the only view i could get from the camera across the room
i haven’t looked for the raw feed of the funeral or any other foreign press yet
With the amount of money that was spent for the funeral services the least they could do is to make sure that the casket is centered.
The woman was 5’4″ and caskets are usually 7 feet. If they wanted her in it with her head toward the top so her family could view her, even though the public couldn’t, she wouldn’t be at the bottom of the casket making that end heavier. Maybe someone wanted to make sure the weight would balance well and she wouldn’t fall off. Just saying.
I see where you are coming from on that note. But if that were the case, maybe they could have added weights to the foot of the casket. I know that seemed like 1 extra step (outside of the norm). But if someone was intentional enough to have have it centered due to weight, they should have been intentional in knowing that the world was watching this high-profile service.
Her height is of no issue. Her weight is inconsequential to the weight of the casket – especially in this case where it appears to be mahogany or cherry which is heavy. Of the hundreds of caskets I’ve placed on a bier, never ever has the height or positioning caused an imbalance. Interesting thinking process though – I gotta respect that you considered why this may have happened instead of just slamming the military personnel or funeral home 🙂
Of course it matters. It’s attention to detail. If you don’t take the time to center on the bier in front of the entire nation – what do you do when no one is watching. As a funeral director, I could never let that happen. To me it’s a matter of respect and taking pride in all that we do. A person has one funeral – we should do it perfectly where possible. Period.