So much of this job involves waiting. When things are slow, we wait for the phone to ring. When a death occurs, we wait for a son who lives twenty-five miles away to come to view his mom before we can carry her away. All of the puzzle pieces must line up and fit together, and some outward force is needed to push them in the right direction. In every case, once I figure out how to harness that force, then apply it appropriately, this business becomes the most rewarding, fulfilling thing I could ever imagine.
I’ve seen the way people greet my father at a visitation, or anywhere in public for that matter. They’re so warm and friendly, so genuinely glad to see him. They really want to hear about his business and about how our family is doing. And we know they’ll call us whenever the death of a loved one occurs because of the kindness and concern that my dad has always projected.
What’s comical, though, is how often we are mistaken for each other. Over the phone our voices sound nearly identical. Whenever I answer with a hearty “Webster Funeral Home,” the response is almost always, “Bob?”
“No. Michael.”
“You sound just like him.”
“I know. Please don’t hold that against me.”
At visitations I often hear, “Ahh, so you are Bob’s boy,” or, “OK, now I can put a face with the voice.” Soon I hope it will be, “Hey, good to see you, Michael. You keeping that old man of yours out of trouble?”
Yes, I am—just as soon as I can find him a hobby.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert D. Webster has been a licensed embalmer and funeral director in the state of Ohio since 1977. As a teenager he was initiated into the funeral home business by mowing the grass, washing the cars, and performing other menial, yet important at the time, duties that served as a springboard for his eventual chosen profession. He completed grade school, junior high, and high school in Hamilton, Ohio, and graduated from Miami University and the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. Upon licensure, he worked for other funeral homes in the area for twenty-four years. He opened The Webster Funeral Home in 2001 in Fairfield, Ohio.
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Robert D. Webster
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Originally published in 2008 by iUniverse Star.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Webster, Robert D.
Does this mean you’ll see me naked? : field notes from a funeral director / by Robert D. Webster.
p. cm.
Originally published: Bloomington, IN : IUniverse, 2008.
1. Undertakers and undertaking—Ohio—Anecdotes, 2. Funeral rites and ceremonies—Ohio. 3. Funeral homes—Ohio. I. Title.
HD9999.U53U597 2011
363.7’5092—dc22
[B]
2011002336
