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JULY 2014
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
By Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE
Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE, is President of J. Starks Consulting in
Lutz, FL, and a nationally-recognized trainer on funeral home and
crematory risk management.
He used his experience in both funeral home and crematory op-
erations and risk management, combined with his involvement
with funeral homes of all sizes and geographies, to become an au-
thority at controlling risk and loss in the death care industry, pro-
viding lectures and presentations to private firms, as well as region-
al, state and national associations. He also conducts private audits
and risk assessments to independent funeral homes and cremato-
ries in the US and Canada, often identifying ways to save or gener-
ate thousands of dollars of profit.
Jim is a Michigan and Indiana Licensed Funeral Director and
Embalmer and ICCFA- and CANA-certified crematory operator, as
well as Dean of ICCFA University’s College of Cremation Services.
He is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, the Mid-America
School of Mortuary Science, and the ICCFA University. For more
information on risk management in the death care industry, vis-
ntact Jim at (813) 765-9844 or jim@
jstarksconsulting.com.
Protecting your Investment:
Repairs Cost Less Today, More
Tomorrow
Just like any investment, every firm requires regular at-
tention and care. But many firms wait to spend time and
money on their facility until it’s an absolute necessity.
When this happens, the cost is almost always more than
if the problem had been addressed at first notice. Not to
mention, waiting until there is no choice could affect nor-
mal business operations, resulting in additional costs.
Not only does timely attention and care keep a facility
attractive and presentable, but it also helps prevent ac-
cidents. And accidents resulting in injured people could
have an adverse effect on insurance rates for both GL
and workers’ compensation.
The following steps can help protect your investment
in your business:
• Consider paying a home inspector to check your
business every five years. The inspector can inspect
the roof, electrical, plumbing, foundation and much
Protecting
Your Families
and Business
• Watch for water. Water is one of the top causes of
damage to businesses, so it important to keep it out
of your buildings. Water damage can come from
different sources such as bad roofs, ice build up on
the roof, clogged drains and old water heaters that
should have been replaced.
• Do preventive maintenance now; these small fixes
can help prevent larger ones that could be more cost-
ly in the future.
Remember the old idiom “
penny wise and pound fool-
ish
” because doing something small now could alleviate
major problems in years to come.
more. This will aid in budgeting for expenditures along
with correcting areas before they cost more or cause
damage to your facilities.
• Start a maintenance file for your building, equipment
and autos. Maintain a list of all maintenance, repairs and
who did the work. This documentation can be very ben-
eficial when different people handle the maintenance or
don’t know the history of past maintenance and repairs.
• Develop a list of the contractors/service people who do
the work for your business. This list needs to be avail-
able to staff, so when something needs immediate atten-
tion the correct person can be contacted. For example, if
your sound system stopped working and there was a ser-
vice in a few hours, a staff member could call and hope-
fully have it fixed before the service started.
• The normal maintenance must be routine. Every firm
should have maintenance checklists that document
what must be done, as well as corresponding documen-
tation of when a service was performed and by whom.
• Annually, create a capital expenditure list with budget-
ed funds, along with a contingency fund for emergency
repairs.
• Maintain a file for future maintenance and repairs; often
we walk past or are told of areas that need repairs in the
next few years, but we forget. By keeping a file, these ar-
eas can be reviewed on a regular basis.
Fippinger Funeral Home
Fippinger Funeral Home
marks 50
th
Year
A
TTENTION
: S
END
U
S
Y
OUR
N
EWS
!
WE WELCOME INDUSTRY NEWS!
PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 • Fax (800)321-9040
press_releases@nomispublications.com
FUNERAL HOME &
CEMETERY NEWS
August of 1964 from
Marie
Morrison Sherrard
whose
grandfather,
Hugh R. Mor-
rison
, founded the firm in
1857. Bob was a graduate
of
Worsham College of Mor-
tuary Science
and was em-
ployed by the
Drechsler
Funeral Home
in Oak Park
prior to purchasing Sher-
rards. Bob and Betty lived
in the upstairs apartment at
the funeral home and raised
four children: twins Karen
and Jan and sons, Bob and
Scott. Betty was an active
owner and partner in the
business until her death in
May of 1979.
Scott Fippinger
joined
the business in June of 1982
after graduating from the
University of Minnesota,
where he lived and worked
at the
Phalen Park Funer-
al Home
in St. Paul, MN.
Scott and his wife,
Ann
,
currently own Fipping-
er Funeral Home and they
also own
Peterson Wallin
Knox Funeral Homes
in
Alpha and Woodhull, IL.
They have three children:
Nathan, who is currently a
sophomore at Luther Col-
lege in Decorah, IA, Ben
who will be a senior at Mer-
cer County High School,
and Elise who is going to be
in eighth grade. Bob Fip-
pinger passed away in May
of 2004.
The Fippinger Funer-
al Home is located at 401
South College Ave in Ale-
do. The home was built
by Aledo founder
John
Thompson
and quickly
sold to
John
and
Arabel-
la McKinney
, local banker
and businessman. His son,
Congressman
James McK-
inney
owned the home un-
til his death and
Raleigh
Sherrard
purchased the
home in 1944, moving the
Morrison/Sherrard Fu-
neral Home
to its current
location.
Through the years, the
Fippingers have made many
changes and updates to the
facility and there are no
plans to build. “Hopefully
we will be making chang-
es to our chapel in the near
future to change with the
times but for the most part
we love this place.” Scott
invites you to visit their