Friday, January 8, 2010

Who Is A Funeral Director And What He Does

By Anton Cruise

to the actual handling of the deceased's corpse.

The prime duties of a funeral director can be categorised into four broad heads, shifting the dead body, readying it for the funeral service, making preparations for friends and relatives to assemble and pay their final respects to the deceased and then the actual cremation or burial of the body according to the choice or beliefs of the family.

These tasks entail taking care of activities like deciding the place and timings of the funeral ceremonies, arranging for a hearse to shift the body, and writing obituaries and posting them in newspapers or the electronic media. Further, funeral directors have to make arrangements for flowers and have the decoration done for each ceremony, make provisions for vehicles for the assembled people and dress up the deceased for the ceremony after embalming it.

A funeral director has many responsibilities other than the above mentioned ones, including performing the paperwork formalities as required. He helps the family secure a death certificate. He also acts as a facilitator for settling claims of insurance for the family besides helping them take benefit of facilities like veteran's burial support. He can even arrange for the clearance of any annuities or pensions that the family is entitled to receive, and provides tips to the family on management of funeral expenses.

He also has to associate with a number of people and needs to coordinate with all of them for successfully performing his jobs. He has to interact with not just the coffin makers and flower sellers but also priests and doctors.

Finally, it is essential for funeral directors to work beyond their normal schedule and provide comfort and solace to the bereaved family of the deceased, in order to help them tide over their grief. Though it is an important aspect of the profession, some funeral directors usually consider it a trivial responsibility.

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