Page A22 april 2024 ASSOCIATION NEWS 1-888-792-9315 • mymortuarycooler.com Scan QR for our website Cots not included MODEL # TR3 Triple Cot Roll-In Mortuary Cooler AMC N W FAST SHIPPING AVAILABLE ON SELECT PRODUCTS Duane Hills Alice Adams Appropriate to Greatness: Caskets of the Rich and Famous Written, researched and photographed by Alice Adams and Duane Hills There have been many good books written about the deaths of the rich and famous. However, none have taken the viewpoint of the funeral service professional or cemeterian. In this series, we hope to accomplish exactly that with the little-known details, obscure facts and citations we have found in our research. We’re excited to share our findings. An award-winning writer, Alice Adams has chronicled the men and women in funeral service for more than two decades. “My goal has always been to recognize funeral directors and cemeterians who selflessly assist families during times of their darkest grief,” she said. Adams resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, where she enjoys her children, four grandchildren, Cassie, the Black Lab and two cats – all three rescues. A funeral director for the past 40 years, Duane Hills grew up in upstate New York, has been at the helm of the historic Joseph Gawler’s Sons Funeral Home in Washington, DC, and recently partnered with Alice Adams in writing One Block West of the White House: Joseph Gawler’s Sons – Undertakers for the Presidents, published in 2022. Hills is an active member of the District of Columbia’s Funeral Board, the DC History Center and The Lincoln History Group of the District of Columbia. He has been selected to mentor NFDA’s 2023 Class of Meet the Mentors. He resides in Silver Spring, Maryland. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.NomisPublications.com Monthly Columnsonline at The Midas Touch of NOLA’s Al Copeland, Entrepreneur and Founder of Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken February 2, 1944 – March 23, 2008 The sleek, private jet radioed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. By pre-arrangement, the low-flying jet would follow a route along Veterans Memorial Highway. Alvin “Al” Copeland, flamboyant, 64-year-old NOLA celebrity restauranteur and founder of Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken, had died the day before in a cancer treatment clinic just outside Munich. Once German embalmers completed preparations, Copeland’s body was literally shoe-horned through the small door of the jet, and immediately flew back to New Orleans. As the aircraft neared NOLA, it tipped it wings in recognition of the mourners, lining the roadway, welcoming the city’s celebrity son home. Born in NOLA, the youngest of the three Copeland sons, toward the end of World War II, shortly after Al’s birth, his father left the family. At one point Al’s mom had to move her family to the St. Thomas public housing project. Al’s was a poor family from a poor side of town. To help his family make ends meet, 16-year-old Al Copeland left high school to work at a supermarket as a soda jerk and then ranteur’s make-up required touch-ups. As Bass recalled, “Copeland’s youthful appearance was part of the Copeland Brand, requiring multiple facelifts, permanent tattooed cosmetics, cosmetic dentistry and custom hairpieces.” At the cemetery, Al’s beloved motorcycles, cars and boats took up every space around the Copeland’s family mausoleum, a display rivaling any high-end car, motorcycle and boat show. Al’s brother requested the casket remain unsealed before the heavy bronze door was closed and locked. Before Christmas 2008, cemetery personnel found the mausoleum generously decorated. Lake Lawn Cemetery officials allowed the abundant lights and wire statues for that year only, despite protests from families whose loved ones rested nearby. for a doughnut chain partially owned by his older brother, Gil. Two years later, Al sold his car to buy a doughnut store from his brother, dipping an inauspicious toe into the restaurant business and franchising. When he opened his new fried chicken store, Popeye’s (named after Gene Hackman’s character, “Popeye Doyle”, from the movie, “The French Connection”), he added the smokey hotness of Cajun spices to every dish on the menu, Popeye’s – and Al Copeland – hit the big time. Funeral director James R. Bass, who worked for Stewart-owned Lake Lawn Funeral Home and Cemeteries, was assigned to meet the jet. “I took a coach and a pall to cover the shipping case. Luckily, the pilot parked so photographers gathered at the airport would not see the unloading of the shipping case. My job was to transport one of NOLA’s larger-than-life celebrities with dignity and honor.” Back at the funeral home, the solid bronze, highly-polished Batesville Promethean with white interior arrived and the Copelands immediately agreed the gleaming gold casket would meet with Al’s approval. Watching the charges for the services move toward six-figures, Bass saw the only way to protect the funeral home was to have the Copelands’ lawyer sign the bill – which he did. The Copeland family requested services at St. Louis, King of France Catholic Church, but the priest – wary of the mobs attending – said “no,” so Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church was the second choice, and the minute the funeral ritual was over, a long, white Mercedes limo, loaded with Popeye’s lunches, pulled up and every mourner had lunch, leaving the sanctuary reeking of fried chicken for days. “We worked on arrangements two to three days, full-bore,” Bass remembered, “while the Copelands made sure we had food.” During that time, the restauContinued from Page A21 2024 CANA Symposium: It’s a Wrap! Green Part 2, Jessica Wakefield described the vision that went into launching SCI’s new holistic funeral home and Darren Crouch of Passages International shared a case-study on green options that raise the bottom line. Lindsey Ballard of Ballard-Sunder Funeral Home and Nicki Mikolai of Resomation co-facilitated a discussion among attendees on Lessons Learned: Business and Marketing StratEssig of The Green Burial Council, and Neil Sherrin of Plotbox. Exploring Green Part 1 featured Taelor Johnson with practical tips on marketing and communications. Landon Elder of Starmark debuted the company’s new research on ceremonial rental casket use. In Exploring Continued on page A24 Your Real Source. Anywhere. Anytime. @Nomis.Publications Like News FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY online
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