February 2017

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Page B6 FEBRUARY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B
By Mike Jamar
to hold ice around the body and slow the decaying process.
There were also several caskets, both wood and metal, that
were completely enclosed, except for a round glass section for
viewing the face inside.
Since that time I watched a 50’s horror movie featuring Vin-
cent Price, and it was neat to see a similar coffin used. This era
horror and science fiction movies are my favorite. Even the bad
ones are entertaining. As you might suspect, during the funeral
scene of the movie the camera drew in closer and closer to the
glass window and just when they were hovering over it, the eyes
popped open. I knew it was coming, we all knew was coming,
but I still jumped. I wonder if that ever happened for real.
The museum also featured a display case of embalming
equipment and various glass containers that presumably held
embalming fluid at one time. I wish someone had been there to
tell me about how the equipment was used, but the funeral was
still going on, so I just had to look and wonder. Another display
case held different photo books and what appeared to be scrap
books. I gently looked through each one and found a treasure-
trove of old pictures, articles and marketing pieces for the fu-
neral home. One picture was of an old hearse and was labeled
the first gas powered hearse in St. Joseph. Interestingly, many
of the marketing pieces included pictures of their then current
hearse. There was more, but too much to list in this article.
A number of small caskets were also on display. These would
have been used for an infant or small child. If you have ever
wandered through an older cemetery you start to notice how
many of the oldest graves were for children. I guess we don’t
appreciate how lucky we are today that the infant and child
mortality rate is remarkably low, compared to the turn of the
Heaton-Bowman-Smith
Funeral Museum
My wife I were looking for something to do this past
weekend. Living in Kansas City we like to visit towns
around us, never knowing what we might find. We decid-
ed to visit St. Joseph, Missouri, known for the Pony Ex-
press and Jesse James. However, always looking for things
off the beaten path, we discovered St. Joseph actually had
a funeral museum. Given my interest in the funeral indus-
try, we jotted down the address and were on our way.
An hour or so later we pull up to the museum. Much to
our surprise, we discovered that the funeral museum was
part of an active funeral home called Heaton-Bowman-
Smith, and based on the number of cars outside, we were
immediately aware that a funeral was in progress. None-
theless, we ventured inside, jeans and all. A very nice lady
met us at the door and surmised that we weren’t looking
for the funeral. We explained that we were looking for the
museum, and she ushered us down the hallway. The room
she took us to was full of caskets, and other funeral para-
phernalia.
At first, I was a little disappointed. I feared it wasn’t
going to be worth our time, especially for my wife who
doesn’t necessarily share my interest in the funeral indus-
try. I am happy to say I was wrong on both counts. There
may not have been very many exhibits, but all of them
were extremely unique.
One such exhibit was the transport casket that interred
the body of Jesse James, all the way from the coroner’s of-
fice to the funeral home where the service was held. An-
other casket on display was used before embalming was
routinely done. It had metal trays in it, which were used
20th century.
That day I realized it does not take a huge exhibit to be a
remarkable exhibit. If you ever find yourself in St. Joseph,
I highly recommend the museum.
When I got back home, I did a Google search for fu-
neral museums. The first that came up was the national
one in Houston, which I understand is incredible. But I
also found several museums that were probably along the
size of the St. Joseph museum, and often in active funer-
al homes. I also suspect there are many that were not in-
cluded in the Google search. If you know of a funeral mu-
seum, or just a collection of funeral equipment someone
has, but not designated as a museum, please send me their
information. I would like to put together a list of these
places. If there is already a list please pass that along too.
Mike Jamar is founder and co-owner of Advanced Integration
Technology. Mike has been working with computers since the early
80s and started Advanced Integration in 1994. Advanced Integration
specializes in Internet inventories designed for specialty vehicles and
equipment. HearseHub was created through a collaboration between
Advanced Integration and Nomis Publications, and is now in its fifth
year of service. HearseHub brings together funeral vehicles from a
number of dealerships that specialize in high quality funeral vehicles.
HearseHub offers funeral directors a large, and easy to shop inventory,
of funeral vehicles. You can reach him at
Transport Coffin for Jesse James
Window Coffin
For answers to questions like this, ask about Market Research from MKJ Marketing.
Where should I build a new
funeral home, howmany
cases will it do and
how should it be marketed?
| 1-888-655-1566
OneWorld Memorials
opens Minnesota’s First
Retail Cremation Urns
Showroom
Gushulak joins Johnson
Consulting
Ron Gushulak
PHOENIX,AZ— Johnson Consulting Group (JCG) has
appointed Ron Gushulak to its management services
team. Ron brings over thirty years of experience in opera-
tions, sales, and financial management of funeral home
and cemetery businesses throughout North America.
Johnson Consulting Group, already known for their on-
staff team of funeral and cemetery industry experts, pro-
vides services for all life cycle phases of a funeral business,
including business valuations, business brokering, man-
agement consulting, business improvement consulting,
financial accounting, lending and their popular Perfor-
mance Tracker customer survey and sales analysis program.
Ron is a licensed funer-
al director and embalm-
er, having graduated from
Humber College in Toron-
to, ON in 1979. He also
earned a Bachelor of Busi-
ness Administration degree
in Accounting from Lake-
head University in Thunder
Bay, ON in 1986 and later
worked in public account-
ing and private business. In
1993, he joined The Loew-
en Group where he served
in various roles including
operations controller, direc-
tor of operations and vice-president of advance planning
and operations. From 2005 to 2016, Ron lead the sales
and business development efforts for Making Everlasting
Memories (MeM), a Cincinnati, OH based company that
provides software solutions to funeral homes and cemeter-
ies for service personalization and memorialization.
Jake Johnson, president of JCG, said, “Ron’s strong fi-
nancial background along with experience in operations,
sales and strategic management are welcome additions to
Johnson Consulting Group. With the growing interest
in our services, we are pleased to have him on our team
to help deliver customer service improvements, organiza-
tional efficiencies and sound financial management prin-
ciples to our clients.”
For more information on Johnson Consulting Group’s ser-
vices, contact Johnson Consulting at 888-250-7747. Con-
tact Ron via email at
Williamson joins
Covington Casket
(L to R) Andrew Williamson and Alan Williamson
ANDALUSIA,AL— Cov-
ington Casket Company
has announced the addi-
tion of Andrew William-
son as new sales representa-
tive for the Mississippi and
Louisiana area, beginning
January 1, 2017. Andrew is
the third generation of the
Williamson family to have
served this area. The late
Johnny Williamson began
his sales career with Cov-
ington in 1971 and even-
tually became owner and
president of the company
in 1986. That same year his
son and current vice presi-
dent, Alan Williamson
joined the company as a
sales representative.
Alan states, “As a father I
could not be more proud
than to have Andrew join
us. From an early age An-
drew has shown inter-
est in our family business.
He would come by after
school and go straight into
the factory. Wherever he
could help he would jump
right in. It means a lot to
him knowing this was his
grandfather’s business. He
has the personality and
work ethic that will help
our company to contin-
ue to grow and prosper”.
“We’ve been here since
1924, and I have no doubt
the future will be in good
hands.”
After 30 years of being on
the road, Alan plans on be-
coming more actively in-
volved in day-to-day oper-
ations of the company. “It’s
time to pass the torch,”
says Alan. For more infor-
mation about Covington,
SAINT PAUL,MN— OneWorld Memorials has opened
the Twin Cities’ first retail cremation urn shop. Custom-
ers seeking a cremation urn for a loved one can visit the
showroom to peruse and purchase products on the spot
and add on custom engraving if desired.
OneWorld Memorial decided to expand their success-
ful ecommerce business after recognizing the benefit of
offering customers a place to view bereavement products
prior to purchasing, especially in Minnesota where the
rate of cremation is higher than in most other states.
“After moving our operations to University Avenue in Saint
Paul, people from all over the Twin Cities started showing up
at our door to buy cremation urns, without any prompting
from us. It was clear there was a need,” said IraWoods, pres-
ident. “Opening a retail showroom was a big decision, but
our management team agreed that it would be very helpful
in the Minneapolis metro area where cremation is popular
and many people search online for memorial options.”
OneWorld Memorials provides quality memorial urns, cre-
mation jewelry, biodegradable urns, condolence gifts, and
more. For information visit, .