Heritage Coach Dealer Blog USA

One of the ways partygoers get the most from the Halloween holiday is to rent a hearse. But if you have never rented a hearse, how do you go about renting one for the night? Here are some suggestions to finding hearses and funeral cars that you may be able to rent.

• Call your local hearse dealers. Some dealerships specialize in selling hearses and funeral cars. Since this is a very specialized market, they may be looking to make some extra money by renting out their hearses for the evening. Even if your local hearse dealer does not do this, it doesn’t hurt to call and ask. They might be able to tell you someone who will rent a hearse to you.
• Find local hearse clubs. With the popularity of hearses these days, there are dozens of hearse clubs across the country. Find the websites of the ones in your area and see if they have classified ads that list owners who rent out their hearses.
• Post an ad on Craigslist. Put the word out there that you want to rent a hearse for Halloween. A hearse owner may read your ad and offer their hearse for the night. They may even offer to chauffeur it for you for the evening.

Is it really that hard to stop for a minute when you see a procession of funeral cars going down the road? Apparently it is because we have one of these stories at least every other week. In this story, however, the man who interrupted the funeral procession is getting a summons to appear in court.

Stephen Hillel Krug, age 63, was driving his black Ford pickup truck in Cross Lanes, West Virginia on September 16. There was a procession of hearses and funeral cars going by for a fallen police officer – Patrolman Jerry Jones. He was caught in friendly fire just a few days before and lost his life at the young age of 27. As his processions winded through the downtown Charleston area, Krug failed to stop his vehicle at the intersection where the cars were going through. Luckily, nobody was hurt in this story.

State Police Cpl. Patrick J. Mooney was directing traffic that day for the procession. When he saw the truck go through the stoplight, he got the plate numbers and later reported him to the authorities. Now, Krug is required to appear in court to face two charges – failure to yield the right-of-way to a funeral procession and failure to obey a police officer.

Finally, someone receives some justice for not observing their surroundings out on the road.

One of the most interesting ways to support the president’s health care reform took place in Rockville, Maryland this month. A group of supporters held a mock funeral to send a message to insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies that they are plain “sick of it.”

Many drivers honked their horns at the group of protestors as they drove by the areas where the demonstrations were happening. The protestors used props like funeral cars and signs that decried the profits of insurance companies and touted the praises of a public insurance option. One protest occurred just blocks away from the offices of United Health Care.

The mock funeral procession of hearses made its way to the UHC offices where demonstrators removed a coffin from the back of one hearse. They then “gathered” around the coffin as if they were holding a service for the people who have died due to a lack of health care.

“Marilyn died at age 63 of cancer,” one woman said before placing a red carnation on the casket. Another person gave a speech about how her premiums were higher than her mortgage payments.

These types of protests are going on all over the country to support health care reform. How do you feel about the issue?

In a time when layoffs are imminent and people are worried about where their next paycheck is coming from, the funeral services industry seems to be a secure place to work. That’s exactly what Alan Willoughby thought when he struggled to make ends meet from his job at the used car lot.

Even though he was 50 years old, Willoughby decided to go back to college to study the science and business of death. He isn’t alone, either. There has been a surge of students interested in this field in recent years as more people are looking for a field that will always be needed in the community.

The salaries for funeral directors are not particularly lucrative, but they are secure and decent. According to the latest estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, funeral directors made an average of nearly $60,000. Even if that’s a cut in pay for some people, the security of the industry makes up for it.

The surge in interest in the funeral industry is nothing new, though. This seems to happen every time there is a financial dip. According to Stephanie Kann, the program director at Worsham College’s Mortuary Science program in Illinois, interest in this field historically spikes when the unemployment rate hits eight percent. There was a 20 percent increase this year over last year. Will there be an even larger surge if the unemployment rate doesn’t get better? We’ll have to wait and see.

Talk about disrespect. After reading this story, the idea of a driver working his way into the middle of a funeral procession won’t seem so bad.

In Oakland, California last week, a 17-year-old suspect was arrested after leaving a viewing for a murdered teen and then opening fire on one of the funeral cars that was circling the chapel. According to police, a car began circling the Colonial Chapel on High Street during the viewing for Erik Monrroy, a teenager murdered on September 2. At this time, it seems like the car that was circling the chapel may have been driven by a rival gang member. Either way, opening fire outside of a funeral home while others are trying to mourn is the pinnacle of disrespect.

Officers quickly responded after getting the call of shots being fired. They detained at least 16 people for questioning before arresting one suspect in the shooting.

What is going on in our society? When a family cannot even give a teen son a proper goodbye because others are busy outside the funeral chapel shooting at other people for whatever reason, we are in trouble. When funeral cars and chapels are no longer safe places for families and loved ones, where can we go to say goodbye to deceased family and friends?

It seems like every other week or so, we have a story about a driver who has completely disrespected a procession of funeral cars on their way to a loved one’s final burial site. Here is another one of those stories.

This story comes from a newspaper in Massachusetts – The Berkshire Eagle. While mourners were following the procession of Sam Dellea, the owner of Stockbridge Motors, a driver with a canoe strapped to the roof of his car worked his way into the middle of the procession of funeral cars. There was no way the driver could not have known this was a funeral procession as it was escorted by police, a dozen flatbed carriers and flags on the funeral cars in the lineup.

The driver worked his way into the procession while it was passing the Red Lion Inn. It was a sad display of carelessness and selfishness during a time when a man who gave back to his community was being honored.

Unfortunately, this probably happens every day in America. It does not always get reported, of course, but we have simply lost our sense of respect and decorum. Just look at the recent outbursts that have made the news – from the MTV awards show to Congress. Disrespect has become an epidemic in our society. How do we get it back? Do you have any ideas?

On Tuesday, we told you about Shaw Funeral Home, a funeral business in Battle Creek, Michigan that just celebrated 100 years of ownership by the same family.

Before funeral cars and hearses were even thought of, the Shaw Funeral Home was in its beginning stages. It started as the Buck, Hoyt and Co. funeral home in 1866. That was a time when funeral directors prepared bodies for viewing in homes and churches. The business went through a couple owners before Frank Shaw purchased it in 1909. He moved it to Battle Creek, making it the first residential funeral home in the town.

At the time, people were starting to have more funerals in funeral homes rather than their personal homes. Others objected to the new trends, but homes were getting smaller and could not accommodate funerals. Some other things that have changed include:

• More people are choosing cremation over traditional burials.
• Cell phones have made it possible for funeral directors to leave the office while still being available to grieving families.
• Funeral cars and hearses have revolutionized the industry as the deceased can be buried miles away from where their services are held.

After reading stories like this, it makes you wonder how much the funeral industry will change in the next 100 years!

It isn’t every day when a family business lasts for 100 years. In fact, it’s a milestone when any business reaches its centennial mark. When it does happen, it deserves a mention at the very least.

The Shaw Funeral Home in Battle Creek, Michigan is one of those businesses. This family owned and operated business has been around since 1866, way before the invention of funeral cars and other modern funeral practices. The current family that owns the business took it over 33 years after it began and has enjoyed success since then.

Although there have been big changes in the funeral industry, the basic core of it has not really changed, according to T.R. Shaw, one of the owners. “When you look back, it hasn’t changed a heck of a lot. Being there to take care of the family, that will never change.” Shaw went on to say that “95 percent of what we do is for the living.”

Family-owned funeral homes are quite common in The Great Lakes State, according to Phil Douma, the executive director of the 650-member Michigan Funeral Directors Association. “Michigan has a rich tradition of the multi-generational funeral service.” He went on to say that there is “a lot of pride in service to the community and we see often times generations going into business and keeping them in the family.”

We’ll write more about this monumental event in future blog posts as it is such an encouraging and uplifting story.

More than two months after his death, Michael Jackson’s body was finally laid to rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery today. But in order to keep the ceremony private, funeral cars were not allowed in the area other than the hearses that carried Jackson’s closest family and friends.

You might wonder what happened in the days following his death when his casket was carried from the Staples Center where his memorial service was held to the popular Forest Lawn Cemetery. Apparently, the body only remained there for a short time before being shipped to medical examiners in the area for a proper autopsy.

You may recognize some of the names that rode in the hearse to the cemetery for the final burial. LaToya Jackson, Joe Jackson, Janet Jackson and Don King rode in the main hearse while other funeral cars with friends and family members followed close behind. The hearses and funeral cars were loaned to the family and chauffeured by a local dealer – United Royal Coach. Regardless of how you feel about Michael Jackson, It was a classy way to bury the man who had given so many people the joy of music.

Whether you agree with a person’s politics or not, everybody deserves a proper burial. Edward Kennedy, the Democrat Senator from Massachusetts, passed away late last month and received a burial that he would have been proud of. Part of that reason is because he planned much of it himself.

One of the aspects of his funeral included a motorcade of funeral cars making its way from the family home in Cape Cod to Boston while meandering through a number of significant landmarks along the way. The most symbolic landmark was probably the John F. Kennedy library in the southern region of Boston.

Before arriving there, the procession of funeral cars came from Dorchester Bay and then along Morrissey Boulevard where dozens of football players from Boston College High School lined up in their practice jerseys to pay respects as the late Senator went by. Along the route, the hearses and funeral cars went by the Old North Church as the bells clanged and bystanders tried to catch a glimpse of this piece of history. The motorcade also visited the Faneuil Hall, the place where Ted Kennedy announced his candidacy for president in 1979.

As the motorcade of hearses and funeral cars passed, mourners gathered along the roadways and on the Rose Kennedy Greenway to pay their final respects.