March 2017

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Page A21 MARCH 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
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2016-2017 Scholarship Donors
and Recipients
Lady Madonna
In 1976 James E. Churchman, III and Edith C.
Churchman, another generation, stepped up to the
plate and both received their funeral service license as
funeral directors and embalmers from the state of New
Jersey. At the time, they became the only fourth gen-
eration and African American family owned business
in Essex County. Currently, the James E. Church-
man, Jr Funeral Home is happy to employ James
E. Churchman, IV, son of James III and Brandon J.
Churchman-West, son of Edith. Edith states that they
trust yet another generation of Churchman’s will serve
with diligence, compassion, and sincerity, following
this story of service from horse to airplane, from pen
to computer, from fathers to sons to daughter, from
generation to generation.
Donor: Madonna Multinational Home for Funerals
It was August 1984
when Donna R. George
arrived at the NFD&MA
Convention in New Or-
leans, with a dream in
her head and hope in
her heart of opening her
own funeral home in her
hometown. Passaic, NJ
was becoming a melt-
ing pot for multi-cultur-
al families that called it
home. Madonna says, “I
was in town not only to
attend the convention
but to search for a name
for my new funeral home,
a place that would serve
all nationalities of peo-
ple. I read every sign that
I passed and looked for a
sign that would reflect my
vision and I asked every-
one for their input and
any ideas if they took
the time to listen. I real-
ized there was a barrier
to break that would in-
vite them because blacks
went to blacks for service,
whites went to whites,
and so on and I wanted
them to all come to me at
the new Madonna Multi-
national Funeral Home
of Passaic.”
Madonna opened her
doors in August 1985.
It was named Madonna
in honor of the mother
and child. She changed
her name officially to
Madonna in 1992 and
served hundreds of fam-
ilies of all races and na-
tionalities including Pol-
ish, Russian, Africans,
Yugoslavians, Chinese,
and of course Hispan-
ics and this is just a short
list. Her doors are open
to all of God’s children
with honesty, love, cul-
tural ideas and ethics.
Madonna is a wonderful
role model for women en-
tering the mortuary pro-
fession and has served as
mentors in the Lottie K.
Weldon Mentoring Pro-
gram for the 100 BWFS
organization and gotten
rave reviews from the stu-
dents. The 100 BWFS
would like to thank Ma-
donna for her many con-
tributions to the wom-
en of funeral service; her
dedication to give to oth-
ers, for the ability to not
be afraid to teach others
what is expected of them,
and for honoring her
mother and grandmother
through the gift of funeral
education.
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