Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes

Front cover

Kent ucky Funera l Homes Ta l e s f r o m W i l l i a m Ly n w o o d M o n t e l l continued on back flap continued from front flap regional / folklore “While many of the tales show how the funeral business has changed over the years, the stories also serve to humanize the death care profession and those who work in it.” R o n a l d L . B a k e r author of Hoosier Folk Legends “For years I’ve heard funeral directors telling tales of their profession, and they would all eventually say, ‘Someone should write a book.’ Well now we have one. This publication will be enjoyed by funeral directors and the public alike for many years to come.” S i d n e y F o g l e Executive Director, Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky Kentucky conducted in-home embalmings. From longwinded preachers and fainting relatives to snake-handling funerals and pallbearers falling into graves, the accounts collected in Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes offer a surprising firsthand record of the history and culture of death in Kentucky. William Lynwood Montell, professor emeritus of folk studies at Western Kentucky University, is the author of many books, including Tales from Kentucky Lawyers and Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky. Jacket design by Erin Kirk New Jacket photograph © iStockphoto.com / Keith Duford M o n t e l l Tal e s f rom Kentucky Funeral Homes Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes W i l l i a m L y n w o o d M o n t e l l In Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes, William Lynwood Montell gives voice to funeral home directors and embalmers across Kentucky, collecting their stories, both humorous and touching, to reveal an insider’s perspective of the business of death over the past fifty years. The stories provide glimpses of the lives of funeral workers, family-run funeral homes, and old-time burial practices and funeral customs, including those unique to the African American community. The book also includes tales of mistakes, miscues, and other recollections that reveal the humorous side of a normally solemn experience. Engagingly told by funeral directors across the state, the stories provide vivid portraits of funeral workers and the families they serve as well as moving descriptions of funeral services and grieving relatives. Other stories are humorous, including one memorable account in which a man’s funeral is upstaged by a tug of war between two widows (one a long-estranged but still legal spouse, the other a common law wife) and the peace brokered by a man whom the storyteller calls “the Kissinger of the bunch.” The majority of the stories take place in recent history, but some take the reader back to a period when funeral directors used horsedrawn wagons to reach secluded areas and $24.95 Domestic Mistreatment and Divorce  Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes ii Tales from Kentucky Lawyers Domestic Mistreatment and Divorce iii tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes v William Lynwood Montell The University Press of Kentucky ...