One question that I used to get asked a lot was "How did you end up in the funeral business." Well, it sure wasn't my plan, but just the way things worked out. I have always been an aviation nut. In high school I washed airplanes on Saturday's just to be at the airport, then throw in flying lessons and occasionally bumming a ride with any pilot that was going up just to fly around. I was sure that aircraft and engine mechanic school was in sight after high school, and eventually my pilots license.
Then the fickle finger of fate came into play.
My grandmother owned a small share in a funeral home in Mississippi and wanted me to come with them, serve my apprenticeship, go on to mortuary college, then a director position in the firm. Being eighteen years old, sounded good to me. Wear a suit all the time, drive a Cadillac and go to college, and no greasy hands!
Well, long story short, when I graduated from morturary college, she was forced to sell her share of the funeral home.
So there I was, a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and no job! By then I had so much invested that the only choice was to go forward. I was lucky and found a slot with a very large firm in west Tennessee.
For the next 40 years or so my "unchosen profession" fed my family and gave us a roof over our heads. I worked with some really great people over those years, most of them with a great sense of humor, which you needed to make it through the day, with all of the sad stories. The families I worked with and the things I have seen over the years are forever sealed, kind of like the ad that states "What happens in Vagas, stays in Vagas." But, if I could, the stories would amaze!
Years later I did finally get my pilots license, so I could "legally"fly. Nothing can compare to it.
I have also been asked "would you do the same the thing, if you could do it over?" No, I would not!!!
Every time I hear a plane go over, I have to look up. Guess the dream never dies.
Then the fickle finger of fate came into play.
My grandmother owned a small share in a funeral home in Mississippi and wanted me to come with them, serve my apprenticeship, go on to mortuary college, then a director position in the firm. Being eighteen years old, sounded good to me. Wear a suit all the time, drive a Cadillac and go to college, and no greasy hands!
Well, long story short, when I graduated from morturary college, she was forced to sell her share of the funeral home.
So there I was, a licensed funeral director and embalmer, and no job! By then I had so much invested that the only choice was to go forward. I was lucky and found a slot with a very large firm in west Tennessee.
For the next 40 years or so my "unchosen profession" fed my family and gave us a roof over our heads. I worked with some really great people over those years, most of them with a great sense of humor, which you needed to make it through the day, with all of the sad stories. The families I worked with and the things I have seen over the years are forever sealed, kind of like the ad that states "What happens in Vagas, stays in Vagas." But, if I could, the stories would amaze!
Years later I did finally get my pilots license, so I could "legally"fly. Nothing can compare to it.
I have also been asked "would you do the same the thing, if you could do it over?" No, I would not!!!
Every time I hear a plane go over, I have to look up. Guess the dream never dies.
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