February 2017

A12 A1-A44 B1-B24

Page A12 FEBRUARY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
Time may be only a
moment so keep a
memory
Necklace Urn Pendants
for an Everlasting Keepsake.
Urns hold a portion of the cremains.
Sterling Silver and Gold pieces in stock.
ORDERS OR CATALOG:
877-303-3144
CREMATION KEEPSAKES
those consecrated notes with meaning and respect, live, at the
final honors of any honorably discharged veteran.
His organization is now a 501(c) 3 to accept donations
for the cost of networking the buglers and other appro-
priate horn players across the country, veterans and civil-
ians alike. There are no dues. They must pass an audition
to be sure they give the proper presentation of this tribute
.
Jari Villanueva established Tapsbuglers with a similar mis-
sion. A retired United States Air Force Band member in
Washington, DC, he spent 23 years as a bugler at Arling-
ton National Cemetery. He studies and writes about the
historic tune and its place in the nation’s history. Villanue-
va serves as the president of the board for the Patriot Brass
Ensemble, a group dedicated to providing music for veterans.
and an advisory member to Taps For
Veterans, a group dedicated to helping find live buglers for
military funerals. . This website
gives other resources for buglers and musicians to continue
this historic and irreplaceable part of a salute to a veteran.
There are no official words for these few notes, however
these are the ones most accepted to accompany the tune:
Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh – Falls the night.
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright;
God is near, do not fear – Friend, good night.
Regardless of its mixed history and the myths that accom-
pany it, we know it is a deserved honor, one of deep apprecia-
tion for their service. God bless all who deserve its rendering.
“There is no amount of money or technology that can buy the
feeling you get playing taps for a family, the last they are seeing
their loved one and veteran. It’s something sacred to us and to
them. It brings tears. We call it the hardest 24 notes.”
–Tom Day
Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors grad-
uate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has
been licensed on both coasts, he owns the Westcott Funeral Homes of
Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ. Steve offers his observations on cur-
rent funeral service issues. He may be reached by mail at PO Box 352,
Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-
5156, by e-mail at or through his web-
site at or on Facebook.
Observations
“Every person can recognize the tune within the first three
notes. When you hear it, it just brings you back immediately to
every time before that you’ve heard that sound.”
–Jari Villanueva
Jack Bumann, a high school senior in Woodhull, Illinois,
found a legal way to get out of his classes; and to learn respect
for veterans who risked all for him.
Bumann, a talented trumpet player, was getting requests to
play taps at veterans’ funerals when a live bugler couldn’t be
found.
On January 1, 2017, Illinois joined four other states (Okla-
homa, Texas, Wisconsin and West Virginia) that allow quali-
fied musicians to miss class to play taps at a veteran’s funeral.
Bumann is a member of the Youth Trumpet and Taps Corps ,
an organization founded by Katie Pryor, an Oklahoma high
school trumpet player, that makes similar horn players aware
of the need for their talents at veterans’ services. Aspirants
must pass an audition to be allowed to play these notes to
honor a service member.
Why? Over a half a million veterans die every year. They
are deserving of the recognition of their service to their coun-
try. In 2000, federal legislation was enacted to ensure that
all honorably discharged veterans receive military honors.
This law mandated that at least two members of the military
would be present to fold and present the flag of our country,
and to mechanically play taps: first through a CD and shortly
thereafter, an implanted device into a bugle that would play a
recording of taps. This device was made available to all veter-
ans’ posts that offered honors at veterans’ funerals. The bugle
also played “reveille” for other post ceremonies.
This was a big relief to funeral homes and Veterans of For-
eign War or American Legion Posts who were providing hon-
ors at comrades’ burials.
However, the mechanical reproduction of taps was not sat-
isfactory to all of the deceased veterans’ family members. The
actual playing of this last tribute was important. This sent fu-
neral homes and veterans’ posts scrambling to find musicians
to play this salute.
“Any way we can make this experience more meaningful
for the grieving family, more respectful for the veteran, is
a good thing,” Illinois State Rep. Don Moffit (D-Gilson),
sponsor of the bill, told the Chicago Tribune.
Ami Neiberger-Miller remembered her brother Christo-
pher’s military funeral to the Huffington Post. Her brother
was killed by an IED while on patrol in Baghdad. “It was
relatively short. There were prayers, volleys were fired and
the service members folded the flag and presented it to the
family. The family received the flag and there was taps. It
lasted less than a minute, but those notes were incredibly
powerful. It went to the core of us and stuck with us.”
There are some families that will not only criticize the me-
chanical rendition of taps, but will also condemn a trumpet
over the purity of a bugle. This part of a veteran’s funeral
honors has that much meaning.
Taps has a long and often misquoted history. I prefer the
US Department of Veterans Affairs version of its origin. The
name “taps” comes from the words “tap toe.” This related to
the French bugle signal “tattoo,” which signaled soldiers to
cease their drinking and get to their posts. “Tap toe” meant
shut the tap of the keg.
Civil War General Daniel Adams Butterfield was not
pleased with the day’s end bugle call, “L’extinction des
feuxs” (basically, “lights out”). It was too long. After hearing
“Tap toe,” he sat with brigade bugler Oliver W. Norton and
came up with the call. They played it at day’s end and it be-
came popular with other brigades. The Confederate buglers
even adopted the tune.
In 1874, it became the official “taps.”
When a cannoneer died in battle, Union Captain John
Tidball ordered it played at his burial rather than the three-
volley rifle salute (he didn’t want to reveal their location).
General Stonewall Jackson had taps played at his funeral,
beginning a tradition. In 1891, taps was considered a part
of a military funeral ceremony.
It is also played at the lowering of the flag and to signal
“lights out” at days end.
There is a well circulated myth about a Union Army Cap-
tain Robert Ellicombe, who supposedly heard the moaning
of a wounded soldier. When he located him, he saw that it
was his son, a member of the confederate infantry. He could
bury his son, but without the usual military fare, as the son
was of the enemy. He supposedly found a scrap of paper in
his son’s pocket containing 24 notes. He asked the bugler to
play at the son’s burial. This was not the true story of taps.
Tom Day was one of those who felt a live bugler was not
too much to ask for at a veteran’s final honors.
A former Marine, he played taps at a military funeral at age
10. He knew the military history of the bugle and felt it need-
ed to be played live for any veteran. He formed Bugles Across
America; a network of bugle players to offer a bugler to play
By Steven Palmer
24 NOTES
DESIGN
PRODUCTS
VENTILATION
SPECIALIZING IN
720.583.1886 Visit our idea gallery
My Dead Clown is about
a funeral director who lives
above the funeral home
and is at the top of his
game when his wife tragi-
cally dies. Consumed in
grief he is at a point where
the owner of the funeral
home is forced to let him
go if he makes one more
mistake. Bill, the funeral
director, assures the own-
er he’ll straighten up and
can handle running things
while he is away. Unfortu-
nately, a clown dies in an
Rousculp Wins in Playwright Competition
David E. Rousculp
FORT WAYNE,IN— David E. Rousculp, general man-
ager of E. Harper & Son Funeral Home, New Haven,
IN recently won second place in the 8th Annual North-
east Indiana Playwright Festival. My Dead Clown, origi-
nally was written as a screenplay and won second place
Best Comedy Short in The Indie Gathering Internation-
al Film Festival, Cleveland, OH back in 2005. Though
it never made it to the silver screen, many fans suggest-
ed it could be written into a play, including comedian
Tim Conway. It wasn’t until David returned to the fu-
neral directing profession, after being a sales representa-
tive for Batesville and Aurora Casket companies, that
he considered taking another look at the script. “It was
exciting to bring the characters back to life after putting
them away for so long. I had forgotten how fun this sto-
ry could be,” says Rousculp.
explosion and Bill accidently embalms him using holy
water. The clown “Dingy,” rises from the dead and threat-
ens Bills career immediately and to make things worse,
death shows up to correct things but the clown plays
tricks on him and death leaves upset and without Dingy.
Ironically, it is up to this clown to save the day and Bill.
This dark comedy will make you laugh and remind you
that sometimes people are meant to bump into our lives to
help us get back on track. The festival is March 18, 2017 at
the Fort Wayne Civic Center, Fort Wayne where My Dead
Clown, will be read by actors at 2:00 p.m. followed by Da-
vid answering questions from the audience. “I’m delighted
and honored to be one of the winners and look forward to
the all-day event this coming March,” says Rousculp.
David has been a licensed funeral director for 31 years
and is a graduate of Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science
class of 1984. He has been very involved with theatre,
television, and film since childhood. David is not only
performer, but also has a strong background in photog-
raphy, sound, set design, voice over, improv, writing and
directing. “Writing is what I do when I can for now. I’m
running a funeral home doing 150 calls by myself and I
don’t have to tell anyone in the business that there is no
free time.” Rousculp has several scripts in the works and
hopes to be in more competitions soon.