Member Spotlight Member Spotlight we serve, and a decrease in requests for use of a “family car” for the trip to the cemetery. On the other hand, we’ve noticed that many of our chapel funeral services are expanding as families want some live singing and participation via testimonials at funeral services. We encourage such expansions of the traditional funeral service by suggesting that families invite friends and relatives to come up to the podium to offer their remembrances of the deceased. Also, our register books now contain far more photos supplied by families. As a result, we think families are more likely to preserve the register book as an heirloom. We’ve always tried to keep current on all the latest changes taking place in our profession, starting with being one of the first businesses in the death care industry of southeast Missouri to use computers. In the 1960s, we computerized the entire list of families we’d served going back to the mid-1920s. From there, we grew to use programs to handle all our financial activities including pre-need payments, and to assist in meeting the FTC’s Funeral Rule. More recently, we’ve become a major user of Photoshop and other advanced video graphic programs for the high-quality DVDs and photos we use. At each service, we also start the program by handing out a colorful pamphlet to all present, meant to be a keepsake for all those who attend our chapel services. We continue to stay on top of the latest trends by sending our staff to various seminars on funeral service held around the country each year. For the past 17 years, we have participated in NFDA’s Pursuit of Excellence program and were just recognized as a Pursuit of Excellence Award winner this year. We’ve won enough times to be inducted into NFDA’s Hall of Excellence. How has your funeral home pivoted to serve families during the COVID-19 pandemic? Our city - population 20,000 - has been pretty good about following guidelines to help avoid COVID infections. We require masks at all of our visitations and funeral services, but we don’t eject from our facilities those who refuse to participate. This is the practice widely followed in our city. What do you value most about OGR? Why did you become a member? Even though funeral services have been around since the first humans walked the Earth, there have been constant changes to make this activity more professional and memorable for survivors. While we may think what we’re doing today is as good as it can be done, there is always room for improvement. As new equipment and practices become available, it’s important for our profession to adapt. That’s one of the main reasons we’ve been OGR members for nearly 20 years. The magazine and seminars help members stay on top of new developments and services that become more and more meaningful as our lives become more complex as time goes on. I like to attend OGR’s conferences, which are always useful and informative. We proudly display OGR symbols throughout our facility. The OGR sign is included in all of our handouts, the hundreds of calendars we distribute at the end of the year and our print and radio advertisements. We are proud to be OGR! Staff members Amy Courtway, Dawn Bryson, Jon Cozean & Deanna Roberts pose for a photo inside Cozean Memorial Chapel & Crematory in Farmington, Mo. (OGR photo) 30 www.ogr.org | Fall 2020 Is there anything in particular that you do at work to keep your spirits high or the spirits of your staff high?
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