After the Warren Funeral Home fiasco of last summer, African-American residents of Columbia, Missouri felt they had no place to go. Now Tom May, owner of H.T. May & Son Funeral Home, has had a property re-zoned to allow him to fill that void.

He’s purchased a former Jehovah’s Witnesses building, and Columbia City Council approved the rezoning. There were some objections, but the application was single-use, and May agreed to work with the neighbors to address concerns.

Previously, Warren Funeral Chapel was facing a pair of lawsuits over unsanitary conditions at the funeral home, including issues with unembalmed and improperly stored bodies.

Since the last hearing on August 25, director Harold Warren Jr. has been arrested for non-payment of child support.

Perhaps more importantly, over 40 more complaints have been filed against the business, including some questioning the status of prepaid funds for funeral services. Assistant Attorney General Peter Lyskowski said his office is continuing to investigate complaints, including some that “have criminal and civil implications.”

The next hearing is scheduled for January 26, 2009.

Update:
Don Otto, Executive Director of the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, had this to say.

Warren Funeral Chapel was not a member of the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association. MFDEA members pledge to uphold a very rigorous code of ethics that goes beyond just the legal requirements of the statutes to give the highest degree of service and professionalism to the families we serve and to promote the interests of our consumers and funeral service. The allegations against this funeral home are repugnant and go against everything we stand for and try to promote. Out of all of Missouri’s professions,Funeral Directing has one of the lowest rates of complaints, far lower then doctors, lawyers, accountants and the like. We hope that an isolated “bad apple” won’t tarnish the overwhelming majority of funeral homes that behave both legally and ethically and do a wonderful job of serving their communities.

The one good thing that can be taken from the situation is that the Missouri inspection and regulatory system does work. The alleged violations were discovered by the State’s inspectors and appropriate action by the Missouri State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has been taken.

Shrader Funeral Home, in Ballwin, Missouri recently faced every funeral director’s nightmare: they mixed up two bodies. Kim Bell of the St Louis Post-Dispatch reports that when the family of 80-year-old Fritz Schnabel arrived for his wake in late September, his widow took one look at the body in the casket and announced firmly, “That’s not my Fritz.” The funeral home staff at first suggested that the make-up be touched up, but when Schnabel’s family persisted, they checked for a chest scar from Schnabel’s open-heart-surgery. It wasn’t there.

The funeral home had no immediate solution, but suggested the family go ahead with the service, using an empty casket. That worked until some out-of-town family members arrived and wanted to see Fritz. Ultimately, there was a procession and burial ceremony, along with military honors, at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

So who was the man in Fritz’s casket? Robert J. Leonard, who had died the same day as Fritz Schnabel, at a different funeral home. Leonard’s family was also served by Shrader.

How did it happen? Bob Leonard survived his wife and sister; his funeral was attended primarily by nieces and nephews, most who hadn’t seen him in over a year. One niece attributed any doubts in her mind to his recent health issues, and having lost a lot of weight.

In the end, Shrader refunded both burials, and paid to have both bodies exhumed and re-buried, with services, processions, escorts and flowers. They’ve also required all bodies coming in to have ID tags.

Ty Conklin wanted a better way for his biker buddies to make their last ride. Bikers don’t much like cages; that’s part of what makes them bikers.

After a buddy’s funeral, he and some friends were sitting around a bar, considering possibilities. Ideas were exchanged; drawings were made.

A company was born.

I once did a funeral with a horse-drawn hearse, where that hearse met the procession for a last-mile ride. I also had wreckers, pick-ups, and fire apparatus used as hearses. Letting the hearse reflect the deceased is a perfect way for the director to round out his service to the family.

Carr-Yager Funeral Home, in Columbia, Missouri, is buying a former Church of God facility for use as a funeral home. Columbia City Council gave its approval to a rezoning request Monday night. There’s more coverage at the Missiourian website.

Carr-Yager also has a chapel in Fayette, Missouri.

In a continuing story from Columbia, Missouri, Warren Funeral Chapel and its owners Harold Warren Sr. and Harold Warren Jr. are facing a possible class-action lawsuit. Plaintiff Kathy Johnson has alleged that Warren FC lost her mother’s remains, and is seeking an exhumation order to determine if her mother is buried in the correct plot at Rock Bridge Cemetery.

In July 2008, State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors investigators reported they found bags of organs from multiple bodies in one casket, as well as one body stored in an electrical room more than ten months after death. Investigators also found three other bodies not properly stored or handled.
The State Attorney General has also filed a lawsuit against the Warrens. Here’s more coverage from the Columbia Missourian

In September, 2007, Jeff Palmore, owner of Bell Funeral Home in St Louis, arranged a burial at Pacific City Cemetery. To save the family the $525 fee the cemetery sexton was charging, he offered to dig the grave himself. Sexton Alan Bruns refused, saying there was a city ordinance that only allowed sextons to dig graves. Palmore researched it, and found there indeed was such an ordinance, but noted it also set the fee at $360, not $525.

Palmore has filed suit against Bruns and the city of Pacific for the overcharge in small claims court. The judge there ruled the city had sovereign immunity; Palmore appealed that decision, and added a claim for punitive damages, alleging overcharging for burials, selling people grave spaces they already own and digging up and disposing of dead bodies, all with the tacit approval of the city.

It’s been a contentious time since then, with an argument during a funeral where the police were called. The city administrator is siding with Bruns, a fourth-generation sexton. No court date has been set for the new case.

Waynesville, MO, southwest of St Louis, may be getting a crematorium. Waynesville Memorial Chapel plans to install a crematory if City Council affirms the zoning recommendation Thursday evening. The city Planning and Zoning Commission approved the application Tuesday evening.

Affected residents had several questions about the facility and how it might affect property values, but most seemed satisfied with the answers from owner Randy Walters.

Wikipedia has a good entry on cremation.

Steven Keith, the 51-year-old funeral escort hit by a drunk driver on 3 April, has died.

Here’s his employer. You can send your condolences there.

A funeral escort working Jackson County, Missouri was hit by a drunk driver April 3d. The escort suffered “life-threatening injuries” when a 20-year-old intoxicated male began passing the procession one car at a time, leapfrogging his way up. The escort, moving up to the front of the procession, was struck when the intoxicated driver swerved out to pass another car.