The Columbus Dispatch did a nice multimedia piece on death in Central Ohio, including an interview with Michael Schoedinger, of Schoedinger Funeral Service. It focuses on the people who deal with death as a way of life, like funeral directors, organ procurement teams, and first responders.

The first articles are here, and the multimedia stuff is here.

One thing I learned when I was active in the funeral industry is that there aren’t many stereotypical undertakers any more. There seems to have been a sort of generational shift, where the tall, older, quiet white male has given way to the younger, active, and outgoing person. I’d venture to guess that in Columbus, you’d find about 15% of the licensed funeral directors to be female, and most of those are under 35 (I think. If I goofed, sorry ladies!)

Jacquelyn Taylor admits that she doesn’t look like the stereotypical undertaker, “I’m white and female, and I used to be young,” the fiftysomething mortician says with a laugh.

The Boston Globe has a nice piece on Jacquelyn Taylor, executive director at the New England Institute at Mount Ida College. She talks a bit about the industry, and how she became interested in becoming a funeral director.

The Associated Press has a piece about how the aging baby boomer generation will affect the funeral industry. Experts say the average funeral home could see over a 30 percent increase in their call volume over the next two to three decades, until the death rate settles again in about 2040.

Though dipping slightly over the last several years, and expected to be stagnant for several more, the death rate of about 8.1 per 1,000 people is expected to inch significantly upward sometime in the next decade and eventually go as high as 10.9. The exact dates are tough to pinpoint because of the size of the generation and medical advances.

Source

I found the “event planner” comment interesting. I know funeral directors have occasionally crossed over from the hospitality industry; one director I used to work with was a Red Lobster manager. How about it? Are funeral homes finding more employees with event planning or hospitality backgrounds?