![]() A lot of the vehicles are familiar - Caleb knows nearly all his customers, and their families, sometimes going back generations. The service gets underway downstairs, so we slip out the back of the funeral home, and move through the rows of cars and pickups that crowded into the driveway. Ok.some people have to work.Īnd for Caleb, it can be hard, being, as he describes himself on Twitter: “The last person to let you down in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania.” And my dad, the older generation-yeah, he don’t care even to look at it. He both ribs and appreciates his son for the attention he’s getting.īut I do read it. Sometimes, those identities clash.Įverything’s going good with the movie star here? So Caleb is both the heir to a somber family business and a child of the Internet. He’s done a local TED talk and appeared on national news shows like 20/20. The blog - called Confessions of a Funeral Director - has gotten Caleb some attention. I’m also a blogger, and I write about my experiences in the crossroads of death and life. He has two sisters, but he’s the only one working full-time in the family business. Or my dad comes in and checks.Ĭaleb is 33. ![]() It’s rare that I’ll embalm a body without being proctored by my grandfather likes to look over my shoulder and make sure I’m doing everything right. So Caleb shuttles those bodies to the local crematorium.īut the delicate work of embalming - the removal of bodily fluids before a viewing or burial - Caleb usually doesn’t do that alone. Oh, we’ll probably sell about one or two a year.Ībout a third of their services are cremations. How many of these will you sell in a year? The caskets range from around $800 for a coffin made of particle board up to solid cherry for 6,000 dollars. He helps customers plan their funerals, too. If it’s a death call they’ll call us directly, and then we’ll call the family right back. Picking up the deceased in the middle of the night.Ĭaleb also mans the phones, or responds to a 24-hour answering service. I’m more the behind the scenes person.Ī lot happens behind the scenes in a family funeral home. This is something I can’t do-people don’t feel that comfortable with me. But for my grandfather, people are very willing-so he’ll come up behind maybe the widow, and pull them in around their waist and give them a hug. For me, when I go up and I touch somebody, it can be weird. Or more willingness for you to be tactile with them. The other nice thing about being older is that people have more freedom. In my grandfather’s case, he’s burying a lot of his friends and family. The funny thing is, is in the funeral industry, you reach your prime state when you’re older, because you know the people that you’re serving. Caleb’s grandfather is 83 - and running this funeral downstairs. The family made cabinets before the Civil War.which led to making coffins.and the rest is history. It’s hymns.Ĭaleb’s family has been doing this for six generations in Parkesburg, going back to his great-great-GREAT-grandfather. It’s an instrumental we bought from Walmart. That’d be nice-sometimes it is live, this is a recording. Is the music something that’s being played live, or is it a recording. The connection is, my dad knew him from church. He’s a younger gentleman who died of cancer. Just below us, at the foot of the front stairs, a crowd is beginning to gather in the foyer. When you are around death, you talk about these things, and it’s not morbid. My grandfather was born in this very room and that chair is where he takes his nap and he often says he will probably die in that chair. As we make our way to the second floor, I notice the place has the feel of an old home.because it is. ![]() The building sits at a corner of main street in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania.a community of just over 3,600 people. My mom might be at the top of these steps. I have never entered a funeral home through the back door.so first thing, I asked Caleb to show me around. So, sneak on upstairs, and we’ll go from there.Ĭaleb Wilde leads me into the Wilde Funeral Home through the back… This is Death, Sex & Money.the show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot.and need to talk about more.Īt the top of the steps we’ll be right in the funeral home itself. Death has this incredible void as well as some type of sacred presence.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |