Excerpt from: Frank Stewart Jr. Talks About The Merger With SCI And The Secret To Success In The Funeral Business
This is one if the best explanations of what ‘death care’ is.
In the interview Funeralwise.com did with Frank Stewart Jr. the below question was asked. The answer was great.
You’ve been in the funeral business for 54 years, in a nutshell what’s the secret to success in your industry?
Let me give you the definition of death care, there are three things. The first step is a funeral, the celebration of life. Number two is disposition, or burial, that’s the cemetery or cremation, the third step is memorialization or remembrance. Why is that important? Because you have an ego and you have pride. You have a purpose and you are trying to fulfill your purpose. You’re earning a living, doing something you believe in, and that’s what memorial is. All these millions of dollars people spend on monuments in cemeteries are nothing more than footprints. Everyone alive wants to leave a footprint that says what they were here. If I built this building I want my name on the corner, if I write that story I want my name at the top, if I paint that painting I want to sign my name on the bottom. That’s the normal psychology of life, and that’s the business we are in, fulfilling our role to celebrate a life, dispose and memorialize. The cemetery business is nothing more than a person’s desire to be remembered as having been significant. Not wealthy, not powerful, but significant.
