Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes

5 Memories of Family Funeral Businesses

5 Memories of Family Funeral Businesses The stories in this chapter are about funeral businesses conducted by parents and grandparents, primarily males, across the years. Most of the storytellers grew up listening to and working with their parents and grandparents, and they share fond memories here. Their tales are often humorous and filled with interesting historical details, some about particular funeral practices and events and some about Kentucky cities and towns. One person tells about his father’s role in embalming a parrot; another tells the inspiring story of her mother’s decision to go to mortuary school and earn a license for the family business. The stories and the storytellers testify to the important influence past generations had on their families, their communities, and their profession. Dad and Granddad Grandfather Edison Hughes came back from Louisville in 1935. He bought [a] one-half interest in the funeral business here, consisting of a horse-drawn hearse and two caskets, for a total of five hundred dollars . It wasn’t long until he owned the funeral business and bought a motorized hearse. My dad, James Hughes, said he could remember his dad loading up his car with what he needed to embalm and then coming and getting him out of bed and putting him in the car still half asleep. When they got to the home of the deceased, grandfather would get everything ready. Then he would come get Dad out of the car and take him inside to help pump. Dad recalls being half asleep when he had to pump the hand-embalming pump. It was a device that looked much like a bicycle tire pump does today. v 162 Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes Before starting the embalming process, Grandfather used a tool to close the deceased’s mouth. The device had two prongs on one end that slid into the nose, and the other end had a flat piece to hold the jaw upward. Then it was screwed up much like a vice to close the mouth. After the embalming was completed, the mouth stayed closed and the device was removed. Today, most embalmers use a gun that shoots a wire into the upper gum and the lower gum. These wires are twisted together to close the mouth. But my dad is “old school.” He still prefers to do it the way he was taught. He sews the mouth shut with needle and thread, then goes under the upper lip into the gum and into the left nostril. Then, it is pushed over into the right nostril and down into the upper gum once more. He then pushes the needle through the lower gum and the thread is tied to the beginning and tightened. This procedure provides a more natural look to the mouth area than the wires that are tightened in a bulky knot. Dad also remembers coming home from nightly school functions to a corpse in a casket laying in their living room. He can still remember going over and peeping into the casket to see if he knew who it was. After looking, he’d close the casket lid and go upstairs and go to bed. Connie Hughes Goodman, Fountain Run, September 25, 2007 Man Made His Own Coffin We buried a man that made his funeral very personal by crafting his own coffin. Burford Ford really got into his work. He literally got into it! He had to get in it to craft it for his special size. It was wider at the shoulders and it was as long as he was. He said jokingly while being interviewed about his creation, “I’m driving nails in my coffin.” He really was, but for people who don’t know, “Driving Nails in My Coffin” is an old song. Mr. Ford painted his coffin with black paint, then came into my grandfather’s store and told him about the coffin he was crafting. Grandfather said, “Well, you need some handles.” Mr. Ford asked, “But why do I need handles?” Grandfather answered, “So we’ll have something to carry you by.” Mr. Ford thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I could use tobacco sticks.” Memories of Family Funeral Businesses 163 But Grandfather wouldn’t hear of it. He went to the basement of the store and came back with a box of casket handles and gave them to Mr. Ford free of charge...