March 2017

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Page A6 MARCH 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
Argenta, IL 62501 • 800-331-9093
For over thirty years Rick and Elizabeth Roberts,
owners of Roberts & Downey,
have been supplying the funeral industry
with superior quality handcrafted
hardwood chapel furniture, on a custom built to order basis.
Queen Anne Collection
Large Baby Bier/Cremation Altar as the base of the Urn Carrier,
offers multi-purpose functionality.
The enclosed Urn Carrier provides a way to present the cremains
in a more formal manner for the funeral service.
Urn Carrier
Your authorized Howard Miller, Hekman and Woodmark dealer.
By Christopher Kuhnen
There’s More
To It...
Advance
Funeral
Planning
How Times Have Changed
Christopher Kuhnen of Edgewood, Kentucky is a 29 year vet-
eran of funeral service. He is perhaps best known as an industry
go-getter and progressive leader. As an insider into excellence,
he is a trustworthy advisor to many funeral home and industry
professionals.
Kuhnen spent a good portion of his career working for a family
owned and operated funeral home and national pre-need sales
and marketing organization. He additionally was the architect and
founder of Funeral Profit Protectors, LLC. Currently he serves as
Vice President of Pre-Need Marketing for the Unity Financial Life
Insurance Company, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Chris is a Kentucky Licensed Funeral Director, Life Insurance
Agent, Certified Pre-Planning Consultant (CPC), Insight Institute
Certified Funeral Celebrant and Certified Marketing Specialist, as
bestowed by the former American Marketing Academy.
Chris can be reached at (859) 307-7223 or
I’ve been engaged in funeral service since 1986. I’ve
seen many things in this industry, but never have I expe-
rienced what I came across recently.
I had seven couples, my wife and I are acquainted with,
ask me to assist them in pre-planning their funeral ser-
vices. Each couple wanted to be cremated, however they
also wanted to have their body embalmed and presented
for a public viewing and final remembrance service prior
to the cremation. On the surface, this appears like a good
thing. They didn’t want a direct cremation; they wanted
a public viewing with a service. Yeah!! Here’s the catch.
They didn’t want their public viewing and final remem-
brance service to be conducted at the funeral home.
“Why don’t you want to use the funeral home?” I asked.
Here is the gist of what they all had to say: “I don’t want
to use the funeral home because the funeral home is a
place of death. I want people to remember me in happier
surroundings where I enjoyed spending my time.”
What a revelation!
Three couples wanted everything conducted at their
church. One couple wanted to use a “party room” at
their Country Club. One couple wanted to use the com-
Secondly, I would seriously consider marketing my
funeral home facility space for other events. Marketing
the use of your grounds and facilities to local groups
will help bring in additional revenue and make con-
sumers more aware and more comfortable with your
establishment and surroundings.
What do you think? If families are shifting away from
using your facility, how could you use your funeral
home space for something new? Where is the most un-
expected place you’ve ever held a funeral or memorial
service? I’d love to know your experience, thoughts and
comments about what I just experienced.
munity clubhouse at their lakefront retreat. Another couple
wanted to hold their services at the local VFW hall and the
last couple liked to spend their time at a local Antique Mall,
which had an Event Center attached to it. Therefore, “Why
not hold everything at the Event Center, so my friends can
Antique Shop after visiting with me?” Who am I to argue
with this logic?
Funeral directors have been told that the rise in crema-
tion is due to cost considerations, environmental concerns,
fewer religious prohibitions and changing consumer prefer-
ences, such as a desire for less ritualized funerals.
My experience showed me there may be one more reason.
Many consumers may not be anti-funeral, public view-
ing, cost conscious, anti-religious or anything else. They
just don’t want to conduct their final farewell in the funer-
al home. They would rather have these important final re-
membrances held in places they frequented and enjoyed in
life. A funeral home, by its very nature, is not such a place.
If consumers don’t know and/or understand that other lo-
cations and places could be an option for them, then they
wrongly believe that their only option is to conduct a cer-
emony “at the funeral home.” If they don’t want to use the
funeral home, then they opt for minimal services or direct
cremation.
If families don’t care to conduct their final goodbyes at
your funeral home (just because it’s a “funeral home”) then
what becomes of all the time and money you have invest-
ed in your facility, furnishings and surroundings? How will
you recoup your investment, if families won’t use it?
If I were a funeral home owner, the first thing I would do
is make sure all families in my service area understand that
my funeral home can and will conduct final remembrance
ceremonies anywhere they desire, so long as it is allowable
by law. Anywhere, anytime, any way…that would be my
maxim. If they don’t want to use my facilities, that’s fine, as
long as they use all my other services. There are a multitude
of goods and services I can offer families that would profit-
ably support my bottom line.
We spent several years get-
ting to know the Gabaldon
family and their business,
and we are very excited to
have this truly elite funer-
al home join our family of
businesses. Our focus on
improving family service
at all levels will allow us to
continue to build on and
protect Gabaldon Mortu-
ary’s impeccable reputa-
tion.”
“We are very pleased that
the Gabaldon family has
entrusted the Signature
Group with their truly elite
funeral home. It is very ex-
citing that Rick Gabaldon
will continue to serve fam-
ilies at the mortuary. The
support provided by the
Signature Group will al-
low him to focus exclusive-
ly on his passion for serv-
ing his client families and
community at a high lev-
el,” added Jay D. Dodds,
co-founder of the Signa-
ture Group. David San-
chez, Jr, manager and Ga-
baldon family member,
stated, “The decision to
partner with the Signature
Group was based in part
on their ability to provide
support in all areas of the
business, which allows all
of us to focus on provid-
ing excellent service to all
of our families. Our shared
goal of being the indisput-
able choice for funeral ser-
vices in our community
made the Signature Group
a clear choice for the Gab-
aldon family.”
The Signature Group pro-
vides independent owners
the opportunity to join a
company founded by two
individuals with proven
track records and whose
operational goal is to build
a long-lasting organization
that remains independent.
Stonemor Partners L.P.
Announces Departure of
Chief Financial Officer
Signature Acquires Gabaldon Mortuary
HOUSTON, TX— The Sig-
nature Group announced
that it has acquired Gab-
aldon Mortuary from the
Gabaldon family. Founded
in 1952, Gabaldon Mortu-
ary is a premier funeral ser-
vice provider in Southwest
Albuquerque, serving over
270 families annually.
J. Bradley Green, co-
founder of the Signature
Group, stated, “The acqui-
sition of Gabaldon Mor-
tuary not only represents
a further expansion in the
Greater Albuquerque mar-
ket, but also represents our
commitment to the en-
tire state of New Mexico.
TREVOSE,PA— StoneMorPartnersL.P. (NYSE:STON)
announced that Sean P. McGrath resigned as Chief Fi-
nancial Officer of StoneMor GP LLC, the general part-
ner of the Partnership, to pursue business opportuni-
ties outside the deathcare industry. Mr. McGrath will
remain in his current role as CFO until the filing of the
Partnership’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2016. The Board of Directors of
StoneMor GP expects to announce his replacement be-
fore his departure.
StoneMor Partners L.P., is an owner and operator of
cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States, with
317 cemeteries and 105 funeral homes in 28 states and
Puerto Rico. For additional information about StoneMor
Partners L.P., visit .
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