January 2022

Page A2 JANUARY 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Tom Crown broadcast ing f rom WTAC Radio in 1989 Tom Crown in hi s Home Studio Published Monthly by: Nomis Publications, Inc. PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 1-800-321-7479 FAX 1-800-321-9040 www.nomispublications.com info@nomispublications.com Subscription: United States $25.00 - Canada/Mexico $50.00 Circulation 21,000 per issue. Overseas rates available. Deadline for Press Releases: 5th of the Previous month. Advertising: Display Ad rates sent upon request. Classified and Shipping Directory rates published in each issue. All advertising must be received by the 5th of the previous month. Due to the vast amount of sources, the publisher is not responsible for the content of any news articles or advertisements. Nor is the publisher responsible for any loss of revenue by failure to insert an advertisement. The contents of any advertisement submitted for publication are only the publisher’s responsibility if the error is made by the publisher’s typesetting department, and then only to the extent of the typesetting charges. Advertisers are responsible for adhering to individual state regulations regarding advertising. The contents of any news article submitted for publication is subject to editing and is published at the sole discretion of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to refuse any news article or advertisement. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced, in whole or part, without the exclusive consent of Nomis Publications, Inc. Editor: Margaret (Peggy) Rouzzo © 2022 by Nomis Publications, Inc. ISSN 1944-1126 Funeral Home & Cemetery News Online at www.nomispublications.com MONTHLY FEATURES Classified Ads . .............................................................................................. B13 Shipping Directory .......................................................................................... B9 Calendar of Events ........................................................................................ B2 Association News . ......................................................................................... A30 Deaths ............................................................................................................. A34 Educational News .......................................................................................... A29 Suppliers News ................................................................................................ B1 COLUMNS: Aftercare by Linda Findlay. ................................................................................ A8 Embalming 101 by Wally Hooker...................................................................... A16 Facebook Made Easy by Jason Troyer PhD..................................................... A10 Bright Ideas for Funeral Directors by Mark Bowser........................................ A18 HearseHub by Mike Jamar. ................................................................................ B6 Memoires des choix des Jacque by Kate Frediani-Gorman. ........................... A30 Museum Corner ............................................................................................... A32 Observations by Steven Palmer....................................................................... A12 Powerhouse Marketing With Welton by Welton Hong....................................... A6 Random Musings by Nancy Weil. ...................................................................... A4 Rest In Peace Mr President by Todd Van Beck................................................ A22 Working With Widowers by Fred Colby .......................................................... A20 NOTICE The FUNERAL HOME AND CEMETERY NEWS is now sent in two parts. Section A, which in - cludes pages A1-A36 and Section B, which contains the Classified Advertising and consists of pages B1-B20. If you do not receive both sections please call 1-800-321-7479 or email info@ nomispublications.com. Online Directories US & International Funeral Homes • Supply Companies Cemeteries • Pet Memorialization Companies Trade Associations • Plus Much More... www.nomispublications.com Like @Nomis.Publications FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS 8 0 0 - 3 2 1 - 7 4 7 9 ~ w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c at i o n s . c o m S E N D U S Y O U R N E W S W e w e l c o m e n e w s o f t h e i n d u s t r y Send us information on your firm today! FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS N eed H elp P utting Y our P ress R elease T ogether ? Call Peggy at 800-321-7479 ext. 220 email P eggy @N om i s P ub l i cat i ons . com fax 1-800-321-9040 mail PO B ox 5159, Y oungstown , OH 44514 Send us any press release related to your firm which would be of interest to your fellow industry professionals. All press releases are published free of charge and at the discretion of the publisher. Be sure to include any photographs. Staff additions. . . Staff promotions. . . Anniversaries. . . Apprenticeships. . . Remodel ing. . . Moving. . . New Ideas. . . Community Service Projects. . . Graduates. . . Obituaries. . . etc. Funeral Director Thomas Crown Narrates WWII Hero’s Story accepted, at the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts. He graduated in 1982 and began working at several different TV stations before having the opportu- nity to work in Hollywood. Following training as a studio projec- tionist, Tom worked on many different projects, including the first Ford Tau- rus commercial in 1985, the One Million Dollar Chance of a Lifetime show with Jim Lange from the Dating Game and the movie The Color Purple. Tom returned to Michigan to take care of his father, who passed away in 1987. He went back into radio and worked on several different radio shows. At the time, he was studying respiratory therapy and hosting a medical talk show. He was also the producer and host of Community Focus, a show that reported important news and involved interviews with doc- tors and lawyers. “I love broadcasting. I still love it,” says Tom. More recently, Tom got a call from a monument company that he works with asking if he would do their telephone on- hold recording. This simple act spurred Tom to get back into voice acting in a different way. He was chosen to narrate a book by Candace Salem entitled Ever the Patriot: Recollections of Vincent J. Ric- cio, World War II Veteran and POW . The book is about Salem’s father, Vincent Riccio. “I’m a history buff,” says Tom, so the book piqued his interest. Tom says that Salem and her sisters didn’t know much about their father’s history. In 1989, Riccio started having PTSD episodes, and at that point, the daughters found out about all he went through. The story was so remarkable DEARBORN,MI— As a youth Thomas Crown worked for three different funeral homes in Detroit. Following many years working in radio and television, Tom at- tended Mesa Community College and graduated with an Associate in Mortuary Science. He is currently the funeral direc- tor at Gate to Heaven Funeral Home , the first and only funeral home in the area owned and operated under the aus- pices of Islamic Institute of Knowledge dealing only in Muslim funerals. As a teenager, Tom de- cided he wanted to work as a film editor in televi- sion. After joining the In- ternational Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employ- ees union, he worked as a film editor until 1981 when the industry tran- sitioned to videotape. As technicians were remov- ing the editing equipment from the booth a co-work- er approached Tom and told him he should try to get in front of the cam- era. Tom took the advice to heart, applied and was that they wanted to share it and memori- alize their father’s heroic acts, so they set up a camera and interviewed him. Tom says, “The book is a personalized account of what that young man went through at that time.” During World War II, at the age of 21, Riccio was drafted into the Army Air Corp. Trained as a flight engineer, he was flying a B17 bomber when the plane was hit and went down in Germany. As a POW in Stalag Luft IV, he struggled, but survived. The book tells his story from Boot Camp to his release from Germany. It reflects his impressions of military ser- vice, the people he met, and the lessons he learned along the way. “Mr. Riccio’s spirit got him into a lot of trouble with the brass, but it also helped him to sur- vive his time as a POW,” says Tom. Candace told Tom she chose him be- cause the emotions conveyed in his nar- ration were a good match to the spirit of her father’s story. “She guided me along the way. I’m so honored that she asked me to do it,” Tom says. The book is 73 pages long and the audiobook is close to two hours. With his strong passion for broadcasting, Tom maintains a studio set up in his home. Tom’s voice has a rough quality to it, which he blames on the formaldehyde fumes that burned his vocal cords ear- ly in his funeral service career. He says that the firms he worked with had hor- rible ventilation in the prep rooms and fortunately have since been shut down. Gate to Heaven Funeral Home features a state-of-the-art prep room installed by Duncan Stu art Todd that goes above Continued on page A10