Heritage Coach Dealer Blog USA

You know things are getting bad these days when thieves are targeting the funeral cars of mourners during a graveside service.

That’s exactly what Stacy Egan and Thomas Beach did recently. They were arrested for stealing anything they found in the funeral cars at a cemetery while the owners of those cars were saying goodbye to a loved one.

“These two had no regard for people who are grieving,” said a spokesperson for Sheriff Tom Dart. After being arrested, the two admitted to some unsolved thefts that occurred over the summer at cemeteries. The two thieves have been charge with stealing items like GPS devices, iPods, purses, wallets, loose change and more. However, the authorities let them go after they posted 10 percent of the $75,000 bond.

With the economy getting worse every day, you’re not even safe when you are at the cemetery grieving the loss of you friends and loved ones. These types of crimes are going to become more common as people have fewer financial resources. Be sure to lock your cars when you are parked at the cemetery and anywhere else for that matter. You never know when you are going to be the victim of one of these thieves.

If you have ever been to a traditional funeral, you have probably noticed hymns playing in the background or someone may have even sung a hymn during the actual service. Hymns are very popular at funerals, but do you know why?

Music has an uncanny way of expressing how we feel when we are dealing with grief. By expressing our feelings, certain songs tend to be soothing and comforting when we are feeling at our lowest. In addition to that, hymns tend to be familiar to people, even those who rarely step foot inside a church.

But more pop songs are being used at funerals these days in place of hymns or even in addition to hymns. Here are some of the most popular songs played at funerals:

Wind Beneath My Wings – Better Midler
Candle in the Wind – Elton John
How Great Thou Art
It Is Well With My Soul
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Amazing Grace
Rock of Ages
Go Rest High on that Mountain – Ricky Skaggs
…and several others.

Do you see a song on this list that you would want played at your funeral? What song would you like played or sung at your funeral?

Have you heard the one about the 16 year old girl who haunts a local funeral home? If not, click the image above to play the video. With Halloween right around the corner, this is our time of year. Our time to shine. When you sell new and used hearses, you get excited around Devil’s Night.

When I watched the video of the 16 year old girl, it gave me the idea of setting up a haunted funeral home, similar to a haunted house on Halloween. Have any of the funeral directors out there reading this blog ever turned your funeral home into a haunted funeral home? If so, I hope you’ll share your story with us in the comments section of this blog. If you haven’t tried this, perhaps you should? I think it would be fun and it would definitely get your name out there in the local community.

If you do decide to setup a haunted funeral home, check out our post on renting a hearse for Halloween.

Happy Halloween from the Heritage Coach Company.

Mark Guest was known for his enthusiasm for his motorcycle and riding it every chance he could. So when a procession of funeral cars followed him to his final resting place after being killed in a traffic accident, a large group of his biker friends followed behind for an impressive show of goodbyes.

Guest was only 46 years old when he was killed. He was a father and he had many friends that mourn the loss. At the funeral chapel, it was standing room only because there were so many people that wanted to pay their respects to the man they nicknamed “Pedro.”

“Pedro died when life still offered so much to him, his family and his friends,” said Reverend Cecil Mann during the service. “Motorbikes were his life. He enjoyed being on the open road.”

Pedro was also known for loving music and reading. “He was a deep thinker and a truly loving and caring person. That’s why there are so many people here today,” said the reverend.

It’s always sad when such a beloved person gets killed in the prime of their life. We probably all know someone like this in our life. We should all strive to be like this to others. Maybe the world would be a much better place if there were more people like Pedro.

One of the major problems that funeral directors and grieving families have had to deal with in recent years is the group of people from a “church” in Kansas that protest at funerals. For months, they have been showing up at funerals for soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice and others who have been in the service of this country in some form or another. They protest because they say those people are dying because God hates America.

A recent court case brought the church to trial, however, saying that their speech was not protected under the First Amendment as it constituted “hate speech.” After losing the case, a federal appeals court overturned the decision, saying the church has a right to protest regardless of how unpopular their message is.

“Our speech, on our signs and our Web sites, is public speech,” explains Margie Jean Phelps, the daughter of Reverend Fred W. Phelps, Sr., the pastor of the Westboro Kansas Church. “It’s not on private matters. It’s on public issues, so it’s protected.”

For now, it seems like funeral cars and mourners are going to have to dodge these protestors. They do have the right to speak their mind in the United States, even if it is a despicable message.

If you want to make a point about death or some dangerous habits that lead to death, funeral cars are an ideal attention-grabber. One sheriff in Marshall County, Alabama realizes this and he plans to use a hearse in an effort to deter the area’s youth from drugs.

The hearse, which is a simple one used for carrying caskets to their final resting places, now has images and words on it that make teenagers think twice before using drugs. Phrases like “Meth: Your Highway to Death” and “Don’t let meth make this your last ride” are designed to equate meth and drugs with death so kids and teenagers will stay away from these substances. Teens may even see the coffin inside and feel like that could be them if they use drugs.

“We want kids to realize where meth will lead you. It’s one of those things, a visual aid, it’s attractive to kids, they see it and it’s interest to them,” explained Scott Walls, the Marshall County Sheriff. He got the idea to use a hearse for this purpose from another department quite some time ago, but he could not implement it until recently when an anonymous donor donated the hearse to the sheriff’s office. He plans to take it to various schools throughout the area to teach kids the danger of drugs before they even start using them.

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.