July 2017

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Page B6 JULY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B
Funeral Directors Research,Inc.
AMRA INSTRUMENT, LLC
623 N. Tower (P.O. Box 359)
Centralia, WA 98531
“the shorter the supply line the better off you are”
WEB DIRECT GIFT & PRICING
TM
®
By Mike Jamar
dealers that make up HearseHub. We start with Mullen
Coach, not because he is our biggest dealer, but because
without Mullen Coach there would be no HearseHub,
but more on that later.
Mullen History
Mullen Coach started in 1956 when Ralph E. Mullen
(John’s dad) entered the funeral coach industry after six years
as Sales Manager of a Dodge-Plymouth dealership in Mis-
sion, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. He started with The
Hess & Eisenhardt Company, covering a territory of Kan-
sas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Colorado.
Ralph took on the Superior Coach Franchise in 1957,
and in 1974 he became a dealer for Armbruster/Stageway
Limousines, Ft. Smith, Arkansas.
In 1962, he was joined by Raymond E. Rawie, and in
1981 by Clint Cole. His son John also joined the firm in the
1980s and is sole owner of the operation today. Ralph may
be gone, but is certainly not forgotten by the many of you
who purchased vehicles from him and later from his son.
Today Mullen Coach is still located in Kansas City and do-
ing very well.
National Car Show for
Professional Vehicles - July 22
If you find yourself close to Lebanon, Missouri on
July 22 and love professional cars, as I do, make sure
you stop by the Grand Concours d’Elegance at the Na-
tional and Premiere Professional Vehicle Show.
This car show is based around the annual meeting of
the Professional Car Society (PCS), July 19-22.
Every year the PCS International Meet assembles
their members together for several days of car fun and
a little business too. Tours, lunches, dinners, parking
lot chat, and the grand Concours d’Elegance Show al-
ways make for a great time!
The most exciting part of the meeting, for me, is
the Concours d’Elegance Show. The show will include
some of the finest examples of vintage and classic pro-
fessional vehicles. It is being held on Saturday, July
22 from 10:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M. and will be in the
climate-controlled exhibition hall of the Kenneth E.
Cowan Civic Center. The public is welcome and there
is no charge to attend.
I plan to be there, and many of my upcoming articles
will feature some of what I see and learn at the show.
Even if you can’t attend you’ll be able to experience
many of the fascinating vehicles featured at the show.
If you would like additional information about the
Professional Car Society, check out their website at
.
In this article, we begin our special series on the many
Mullen Coach - HearseHub Connection
Mullen Coach is located in Kansas City, as am I. In
2006 my company was in the business of providing in-
ventory systems to used car dealers for showcasing their
vehicles on their website. On a whim, I made a call on
John Mullen, the owner of Mullen Coach. I most likely
stopped by his establishment because I have a strange at-
traction to hearses, and simply went in to view them up
close. John had a website, but it did not include an in-
ventory system, so his website visitors were unable to see
his vehicles online. John immediately saw the value in
what we had to offer. With some modifications to our
system, we launched his website inventory system.
As I mentioned, were it not for Mullen Coach,
HearseHub wouldn’t exist. Working with John on his
inventory, I learned about the funeral vehicle industry,
not even aware there was such a thing. One day dur-
ing a meeting with John I noticed the Funeral Home
and Cemetery News on his desk, which I didn’t know
existed either. He told me about the publication and
gave it to me, so I could look through it.
To make a long story short, so it fits in the article space,
I approached the editor, Peggy Rouzzo, with the outland-
ish idea of creating a national advertising website for fu-
neral vehicles. She was thrilled with the idea and we were
off to the races. HearseHub is celebrating its fifth year in
business and shows an average of over 450 funeral vehi-
cles.
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 .
Muster Delivery to Hodapp Funeral Home
John Hodapp, Rev. Bob Highley, and George Ber-
gen of Hodapp Funeral Home take delivery of their new
Cadillac Hearse built by Federal Coach and sold by John
Muster (third from left) of Muster Coaches. Hodapp
Funeral Home is a family owned and operated funeral
home serving the Cincinnati area with four locations.
Live Oak Trust adds
Mark Hall as Senior Vice
President
L & G Funeral Supplies
opens new Distribution
Center and Showroom
In the back of his office
is a warehouse that holds
hundreds and hundreds of
caskets lined up in neat,
tight rows, organized for
easy mobility. When a fu-
neral director comes in,
Michael casually strolls
down past his large inven-
tory and treats them as if
they’re the most important
person in the world. Fu-
neral directors often come
in having no idea that L
& G existed. Whenever
Michael is asked why few
have heard of the great
quality and prices of his
caskets, he laughs. “We
don’t need to spend mon-
ey on marketing. We pass
on the savings to our cli-
ents. Many funeral direc-
tors already know about us
and our reputation in the
industry grows everyday
on its own.”
Michael’s steady net-
work is not restricted to
the Northeast part of the
United States. Michael has
relationships with funeral
homes all across the nation
due to his products and a
great reputation for quali-
ty.
When asked why he de-
cided to open the new lo-
cation Michael responded,
“A lot of the funeral direc-
tors I knew years ago often
remarked, ‘it’s not like the
good old days anymore.’”
I thought it was time we
gave that old school, per-
sonal relationship style
back to them. The world is
always changing, but good
business is just that – good
business.”
Give Michael a call any-
time to discuss how he can
help you with his products
at 347-244-2927.
Nelson Thulin joins
Johnson Consulting
Group as Management
Consultant
PHOENIX,AZ— Johnson Consulting Group (JCG) has
appointed Nelson Thulin to its Management Services
team. Nelson brings over thirty years of experience in op-
erations, sales, marketing and financial management of
funeral homes both independent and corporately owned.
Johnson Consulting Group, already known for their
on-staff team of funeral and cemetery Industry experts,
provides services for all life cycle phases of a funeral busi-
ness, including business brokering (buy/sell), business
valuations (appraisals), management consulting, business
performance improvement, incentive programs, financial
accounting, training, lending, and their popular Perfor-
mance Tracker customer survey and sales analysis pro-
gram ).
Nelson Thulin began his funeral service career at a fam-
ily owned funeral home in Wisconsin and over the course
of 30 years, his work experience has included indepen-
dent ownership as well as corporate leadership roles. His
management experience ranges from a single location
serving approximately 100 families a year to multi-loca-
tion markets serving over 2600 families.
As a mortuary science student, Nelson received the J.M
Nolte Scholar Award and continues his education as a Cer-
tified Funeral Service Practitioner through the Academy of
Professional Funeral Service Practice as well as collaborat-
ing with and learning from other funeral professionals.
Nelson emphasizes a keen focus on the importance of
exceeding expectations of client families and providing a
meaningful and memorable experience for their guests,
resulting in a loyal advocacy of our profession as well as
continued growth of individual businesses.
Jake Johnson, President of JCG, said, “Nelson’s strong
background in funeral home management and his prov-
en record of achieving increased operating performance
are welcome additions to Johnson Consulting Group.
With the growing interest in our services, we are pleased
to have Nelson on our team to help deliver customer ser-
vice improvements, organizational efficiencies and sound
financial management principles to our clients.”
For more information on Johnson Consulting Group’s
services, contact Johnson Consulting at 888-250-7747.
Contact via email at
Mark Hall
WILMINGTON,NC— Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (Nas-
daq: LOB) continues its leadership in trust services for
funeral home and cemetery clients with the hire of
Mark A. Hall. As Senior Vice President and Director
of Trust Relationship Management for Live Oak Trust,
Hall will provide administrative, operational, invest-
ment and consultative services to funeral and cemetery
trust customers.
Hall joins Live Oak Bank after 22 years with Sun-
Trust Bank in the financial services industry, most re-
cently spending more than six years as head of funeral
and cemetery trust servic-
es at the bank.
“Mark is a great addi-
tion to our Trust team as
he understands the com-
plexities of funeral and
cemetery trusts,” said
Steve Jackson, CEO,
Live Oak Bank Trust Ser-
vices. “His insights and
experience ensure our fu-
neral home and cemetery
trust customers the best
access, options and ser-
vice for their accounts.”
In addition to being fi-
nancial leaders in the funeral service industry, the Trust’s
in-house legal team focuses exclusively on funeral and
cemetery trust customers and understands the impor-
tance of ensuring trust accounts are in compliance with
all the various state statutes, rules and regulations.
“The transformation and consolidation taking place in
the funeral service industry is leading to greater chal-
lenges and opportunities for our customers,” said Hall.
“I’m thrilled to join other experienced leaders in the fu-
neral home and cemetery industry at Live Oak Trust as
we help our customers navigate these changes.”
Live Oak Bank was founded to provide small business
loans to professionals across the country looking to start
or expand their businesses. Live Oak is an FDIC-insured
national footprint bank and one of the largest originators
of small business loans in the country. To learn more about
Live Oak Bank, please visit