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A funeral home director in Gadsden, Alabama recently received a hefty fine for abuse of a corpse for storing a body in one of his hearses. It might not sound like such a bad thing to do, but the body was stored in there for several months…possibly even a year or more.

The woman died at the end of 2007. The funeral director stored the body in his facility for awhile awaiting payment from the family to cremate her. He never received payment and eventually decided to stash it in one of the funeral cars in his fleet to get it out of the way. It was discovered earlier this week when two people wishing to buy the hearse started looking through it to see if they really wanted it.

Geff Wright of the Gadsden Police Department had this to say about the funeral director: “He’s a good man, runs a good business. The only thing I can say is he’s made a mistake. He let something get in the way of his better judgment. Either he was ill at the family or it happened to him before, he was ill but he’s made a mistake here.”

I recently took my wife and my mother-in-law to the national cemetery in our area to visit the patriarch of their family. He passed away in November, but the government did not have his stone ready until just a couple weeks ago. When we got there, it took us about 45 minutes to find his grave in the sea of other military graves.

Visiting the cemetery can be an overwhelming experience if you’re going for the first time or if you haven’t visited in awhile. When you are riding in the funeral cars immediately after the funeral service, you think you will remember where it is, but things change. Shrubs get planted, flowers get moved, new headstones are added and other things make it difficult to remember where your loved one is buried. Here are a couple things you can do to make the process easier for future visits:
• Take pictures of the stone and the surrounding area from different angles.
• Write down the location of the plot and some names surrounding your loved one.
• Bring comfortable clothes if you plan to stay awhile.
• Park off to the side to make way for any funeral cars coming into the cemetery for a graveside service.

Follow these tips and you will be able to have a peaceful and relaxing time visiting your loved one’s grave.

If you are a collector of old or antique hearses and funeral cars, you’re probably alone in your neighborhood and maybe even your town. But you are definitely not alone in the world. There are several hearse clubs throughout the country and even some in Europe and Australia designed to bring lovers of funeral cars together to explore and nurture their hobby. One of those hearse clubs is the Coffin Cruisers Hearse Club which serves Oregon and Washington.

The Coffin Cruisers Hearse Club is based in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. Members of this particular club either own hearses, drive hearses or they are interested in hearses in some way or another. The club is also open to other professional cars, including flower cars, ambulances and even limousines.

The Coffin Cruisers Hearse Club holds meetings on the third Saturday of each month. Members also participate in rallies, car shows, hearse cruises and other fun events. The members are also as diverse as any other group. If you live in Washington or Oregon, you might even find your chiropractor or even your pastor at one of the meetings. You just never know.

This is just one hearse-lovers club in the United States. If you love hearses and your neighbors, family and friends make you feel out of place, find a hearse club near you. Or, if you can’t find one, start one yourself. You’ll be surprised how many other hearse enthusiasts there are in your area.

If you’ve been a loved one who has had to drive past the fundamentalist protestors in your funeral cars, you will understand the importance of this proposed legislation. Nevada lawmakers have been trying to come to a decision about imposing restrictions on those funeral protestors that have been going around to various funerals and staging demonstrations. This isn’t an easy bill for them to introduce because free-speech proponents are against it while military advocates are pushing for it. “There is a proper time and place for political protest, and the gravesite of a fallen soldier is no such place,” said Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, a Republican from Henderson. His latest plan – AB1 – would make it a misdemeanor for protestors to get within 300 feet of a funeral , ceremony or memorial service if they intend to “impede, disrupt or interfere with the service.” “It’s really not too much to ask,” said Tim Tetz, an administrator at the Nevada Office of Veteran Services. He added that similar restrictions have been introduced and passed through the courts in other states as well. We’ll come back to this story next week and discuss what opponents of the proposed bill have to say about it. Until then, feel free to leave your thoughts about it below.

When you have a funeral at Pipkin’s Mortuary in Denver, Colorado, you can expect a stylish send-off complete with matching burgundy hearses and so much more.

Mark Pipkin, the owner of Pipkin’s Mortuary, has been helping the black community say their last goodbyes to loved ones at his facility for more than 30 years. The thought and the details that he puts into the funerals at his mortuary have become legendary throughout the community and in the greater Denver area. But matching hearses and funeral cars are not the only things that set him apart from his competitors.

Pipkin also requires his pallbearers and other staff to wear tuxedos and “spotless white gloves” to the ceremony. They walk down the aisle of the chapel in synchronized steps that are “part military, part New Orleans jazz funeral.” He also requires his female attendants to wear uniforms and stand strategically near pews with tissue boxes handy for mourners who need them.

“I tell my staff, ‘There is a right way, a wrong way, and a Pipkin way,” he said in an interview. From the success he has enjoyed since opening the Pipkin Mortuary in 1979 with his parents, the Pipkin way seems like the way to go.

We’ll revisit this story and tell you more about Pipkin Mortuary and some of the reasons why so many people in the Denver area come here to mourn for deceased loved ones.

The Key West Cemetery in Florida is going to be chopping down some palm trees to make the grounds safer for mourners and funeral cars driving around the facility. City officials are planning on removing 15 Washingtonian palm trees which stand inside the cemetery grounds near Frances Street, Windsor Lane and Passover Lane.

Last year, according to cemetery caretaker Russell Brittain, several trees that stood about 70 feet tall easily fell down during last year’s hurricane season. Some of them blocked a street in the cemetery and also damaged the mausoleum.

“They’re extremely tall. They’ve been falling for years,” Brittain explained. “We determined that it’s time for these trees to be removed because they pose a significant threat” to funeral cars and mourners coming through and visiting the cemetery. In addition, the city’s urban forestry manager felt the trees needed to be taken down. “The trees are falling apart,” said Cynthia Domenech-Coogle. “There are arborists who will not climb those trees because they are so brittle. We are trying to be proactive and avoid damage to people and or property.”

Other trees are also getting moved from the cemetery to another area so funeral cars can make turns easier when visiting the cemetery.

Did you know you can order customized hearses for sale when you are planning your own funeral? It’s true! But that isn’t the only thing that’s changing in the funeral industry. With new technologies and changing preferences, the entire face of the funeral home is changing.

One thing that you can do these days is to view a live streaming webcast of a loved one’s funeral. Don’t worry, though. This isn’t something that anybody can view. Many funeral homes are offering this service for family members who cannot make it to the funeral for whatever reason. Those friends and family members are given a special website and password so they can log in and say goodbye to their loved one as if they were actually there. Another new thing is to purchase a DVD of the service after it’s over. Some people who plan their funeral even have special funeral cars picked out for their final journey to the cemetery.

Funeral directors are accepting some changes, but getting used to some of them will still take some time. “Some [changes] are for better and some are for worse, but a lot of what I’m seeing now has to do with people and what they want,” said Mike Morrison of Morrison Funeral Home in Alabama.

How do you feel about the changing trends? Do you have any special plans for your funeral?

With the green movement in full swing, it was only a matter of time before European countries began using eco-friendly hearses. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The eco-friendly hearses used in Granada have a top speed of about 40 kilmetres per hour. Since the hearses are powered by a battery instead of fuel, they produce no carbon dioxide emissions or greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Officials at the San Jose cemetery wanted to help preserve the planet while still transporting bodies to their final resting places in eco-friendly hearses and funeral cars. As a result of their actions, other burial grounds around Spain have noticed the eco-friendly hearses and made goals to do the same thing.

“We have had other cemeteries contact us and ask what the hearses are like,” said Jose Antonio Munuz, the director of the company which manages San Jose cemetery. “We tell them they are fantastic,” he continued. Munoz also went on to say that the San Jose cemetery is “not only the first cemetery in Spain to use CO2-free electric hearses to carry coffins, but we are the first in Europe.”

“Our top priority was to stop people from breathing in pollution during funerals,” said the mayor of Granada. It appears they are on their way to accomplishing their goal.

For more than 120 years, the Day & Carter Mortuary has provided grieving families with funeral services and final arrangements in greater Bedford County, Indiana. In a recent article, the owners of Day & Carter Mortuary discussed their history of funeral services, funeral cars and other amenities that go along with the business.

“Even though we’ve been planning for this milestone for some time,” explained Day & Carter Mortuary owner Brian Pace, “last weekend I was finally struck by the fact that I own a business that has been around for 120 years.” The mortuary dates back to 1889 when two partners opened a furniture store in the area. Along with furniture, however, they also sold caskets.

Since there weren’t any funeral parlors in those days, families would come to the furniture store and pick out a casket in the event of a loved one. The undertaker would then bring the casket to the home and prepare the body there.

In 1917, the owners of the business purchased their first motorized funeral car and expanded into an ambulance service as well. The hearse was a six-cylinder Studebaker.

The business has gone through many changes in the last 12 decades. Few businesses can brag about tracing their roots back as far as the Day & Carter Mortuary, so we congratulate those involved with this business and wish them the best of luck for the next 120 years.

The next time you park your car in a lineup of funeral cars at the funeral home, beware. Thieves in some places have been targeting funeral cars while services are going on.

This story comes out of metro Atlanta. Police are looking for two thieves in that are who have broken into funeral cars and stolen credit cards, cash, purses and even cell phones. The worst part is that all this happens while the family is inside saying goodbye to their loved one. This particular incident occurred at the Higgins Hillcrest Chapel Funeral Home in Newnan, Georgia.

“We were conducting a funeral for a well respected local man here in town,” said Jeff Higgins, the owner of the funeral home. “Large funeral and the cars were parked in procession to go to the cemetery after here,” he continued. Three cars had smashed windows and missing valuables when the mourners emerged from the service.

“They were able to steal the victims purses which contained credit cards, personal checks, drivers license and identification,” explained Sergeant Rick Mires from the Newnan Police Department.

If you have any information about this incident, you are asked to call the Newnan Police Department at 770-254-2355. For yourself, remember to take your valuables with you when you leave your car these days. You know it’s becoming desperate times when thieves will break into funeral cars to get your money.