Member Spotlight Member Spotlight Our family has always maintained a strong community presence. My grandfather, Rolla, served as mayor in the 1950s and was on the local school board. My father served a record 30 years on the school board, and at the time of his death was treasurer of the nearby Mineral Area Community College. They were also always quite helpful to families in need. My grandfather told me that during the worst of the Great Depression in the 1930s and early 1940s, he would often take items in trade, like hogs to be butchered, to help a family pay their funeral bill. Even today when we serve families with limited means, I always try to find ways for them to pay their funeral bills. I noticed my family’s activity in the community and have tried to follow in their footsteps since taking over the business. Since returning to Farmington, I’ve served as president of the local Rotary Club for several terms and am the current president of the county’s Historical Society. I’ve been named “Man of the Year” twice by the local Farmington Press. Beginning in the mid-1960s, I was an adjunct professor in government and related topics for 20 years at the Mineral Area College in nearby Park Hills, Missouri. For the past 20 years, I’ve taken thousands of photos of the local high school football team’s games. The best of these photos are transferred to DVDs, which are given to each player. In what ways do you use technology to further the service you offer? No other funeral home in our service area offers the video services we provide to families. We have a small production room next to the entrance to our chapel with video mixers and controllers that are used to operate four remote cameras mounted on the chapel’s ceiling. A control unit switches among the cameras during the recording of the funeral services. Our videos frequently include flag ceremonies held at the cemeteries, and fine color-corrected photos that often look better than the originals provided to us by the families. With our titling equipment, our videos also have a professional look that surprises families we serve. We spend a lot of time on these, but all that work pays off when families often order additional copies. We also present each family with an 11x14 color Cozean Memorial Chapel & Crematory provides full-color pamphlets to all present at their chapel services, meant to be a keepsake. print of the deceased person at the time we deliver the flowers and other printed items to the family home following the funeral service. What growing trends have you noticed in the funeral service industry? In what ways have you tried to keep up with these changes? Thanks to the many contacts we maintain within the profession via organizations, conventions and subscriptions to professional magazines and publications, we have noted some important trends. One is the growing use of “cremation only” requests by families. In our arrangement conferences, we stress the importance of holding a visitation at the very least, but we also stress the value of a “final goodbye” that comes through a traditional funeral service. Over the years, we have seen an increase in requests for DVDs that feature photos supplied by the families www.ogr.org | The Independent® 29
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