May 2018

Page B6 MAY 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B By Mike Jamar Milk Truck Funeral This was told to me back when people told stories. When you gathered around someone, when they brought you in close and you sat and listened. Time has betrayed this tradition, though. Everyone is too busy now, or can’t find the patience to listen. I want to take you to a dairy farm on a small town. Maybe you know it. The exact time uncertain. One of the sons, we’ll call him Jed, delivered milk in this small town. Jed liked his job. He liked the people on his route and the time spent on his wagon, the clip clop of the horses’ hooves echoing in his ears. The dairy had been delivered this way for as long as he could remember, and in his heart he hoped it would always be like this. One horse could have done the job, but Jed felt the camaraderie between two horses made the task easier for each. Eventually, one of the horses went the way of all flesh. The prospect of finding another horse, and the melancholy of the other horse, forced the dairy to em- 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 Mike@AITAdvantage.com. www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. B logs brace the automotive age and a truck was bought to de- liver the milk. Jed thought he would hate doing it this way. It didn’t seem right. But on the first morning, he found he didn’t miss the labor of having to get the horses ready, harness- ing them up, and hooking them up to the wagon. All he had to do was step on the starter and away he went. The truck was much faster too, and the deliveries took less time. The clip clop of the horses was replaced by the purr of an engine, and he missed that, but not as much as he expected. Not having to unhook the team, brush them, feed them and settle them in for the night was nice too. He just killed the truck and went inside. Time soothed his jaded sensibilities, and he came to love his milk truck. But every morning and evening Jed had to pass the lone remaining horse, and he felt his heart changing again. The horse seemed lost, didn’t know what to do with him- self. Soon it joined the other horse, in what comes for ev- ery horse. After time had its way, Jed let one of his sons take over the delivery duties. Like the lone remaining horse, Jed wandered around, aimlessly adrift, a man without pur- pose. For years he had gotten up before dawn and was asleep soon after the sun went down. These are the sacri- fices of a dairy farmer, and Jed found himself never hav- ing made any real friends or embracing a hobby. Jed never thought too much about dying, but when he knew his hour was approaching, he made one sim- ple request. He wanted to be delivered to his final rest- ing place in his milk truck. His day came, and the milk truck was covered in flowers, and pulled away from the funeral home, slowly moving down Main Street so that all could see and reflect. Gone but not forgotten. If you have a story you would like to share too, please contact me at HearseHub@gmail.com . DESIGN l PRODUCTS l VENTILATION 7 2 0 . 5 8 3 . 1 8 8 6 l V I S I T OU R I D E A G A L L E RY l D U N C A N S T UA R T TOD D . COM FDLIC Named Best by Great Place to Work ® and Best Companies Group ABILENE,TX— Great Place to Work® and FORTUNE magazine have honored Fu- neral Directors Life as one of the 2018 Best Workplac- es in Financial Services and Insurance. FDLIC was also named one of the top 10 medium-sized companies on the 100 Best Companies to Work for in Texas list for 2018. Great Place to Work, a research and consult- ing firm, evaluated more than 50 elements of team members’ experience on the job. These included employee pride in the or- ganization’s community impact, belief that their work makes a difference, and feeling their work has special meaning. Rank- ings of more than 76,000 employees in financial ser- vices are based on employ- ees’ experiences, no matter who they are or what they do. Funeral Directors Life took the fifth spot on the national list for small and medium companies. “We are truly honored to be named to this na- tional list for the second year running,” said Kris Seale, Funeral Directors Life president and CEO. “As a leadership team, we focus on creating a fun and productive work environ- ment where employees can develop personally, profes- sionally, and spiritually. As a company, we get to help people every day and make a difference in their lives, and that gives us a sense of purpose and meaning. We love what we do.” The Best Workplaces in Financial Services and Insurance stand out for thriving in a competi- tive marketplace. Funer- al Directors Life excelled in several categories sur- veyed. In fact, 100 per- cent of employees sur- veyed agreed that they feel good about the ways they contribute to the commu- nity, that they have special and unique benefits, and that their facilities con- tribute to a good working environment. The Best Companies Group statewide sur- vey and awards program was designed to identi- fy, recognize and honor the best places of employ- ment in Texas, benefiting the state’s economy, work- force and businesses. The awards program is a proj- ect of Texas Monthly, the Texas Association of Busi- ness, Texas SHRM and Best Companies Group. “It is an honor to be rec- ognized by the Best Com- panies Group and Tex- as Monthly in the 100 Best Companies list,” said Seale. “To be named as one of the top 10 mid- sized companies in Tex- as for the fourth time is a great accomplishment and a tribute to the amazing people who make up our organization.” Funeral Directors Life specializes in the sale of pre- paid funeral insurance pol- icies and annuities. Their mission is “to be known as the best, most-respected provider of service to the funeral industry.” For more information about Funeral Directors Life, visit www. funeraldirectorslife.com. FrontRunner Professional Releases Turn-Key Cremation Solution KINGSTON,ON— FrontRunner Pro- fessional has announced the launch of A Simple Cremation™, a turn-key business solution developed to help death care businesses provide simple and cost-effective direct and packaged cremation services. A Simple Cremation™ is designed to proactively meet the needs of the mod- ern family, answering the demand for more cremation-focused offerings that are flexible, affordable and simple. Equipped with FrontRunner’s award winning management software and a family-focused DIY website, the sys- tem also comes with invaluable grief, online marketing tools and planning resources directly targeting the crema- tion market. “When looking at the market today, the numbers paint a clear picture of where things are going and what peo- ple are looking for from death care providers. Cremation has increased in popularity and it is only going to con- tinue to be a popular choice for North American families. This should come as no surprise. People want something that is convenient, affordable and flexi- ble to their needs. A Simple Cremation equips funeral businesses with the tools and resources to meet that demand, and is marketed directly to consum- ers across North America so they know cremation options exist and where to find them,” says Jules Green, CEO at FrontRunner. Complete with pre-built content, a licensed image library and grief support content, FrontRunner’s lat- est website platform enables firms to control the look, feel and function of their online presence. In addition, cremation businesses can now give families access to intuitive pre-plan- ning tools, a helpful online quote builder and a way to compare cre- mation options, all while generating revenue and enhancing the services offered to the community. “It wasn’t enough for us to just build a cremation technology solution. We wanted to build a network of crema- tion providers that span across North America, equipped with the tools they need to meet every need that fami- lies may have. Online tools like the quote builder, we believe, are the fu- ture of how families want to interact with death care businesses. A Simple Cremation is based on convenience for families, revenue for firms and getting cremation services just right,” conclud- ed Green. FrontRunner is the leading full ser- vice technology and marketing compa- ny offering the only truly integrated so- lution on the market. FrontRunner’s A Simple Cremation™ is now available to all funeral homes and death care busi- nesses across North America. To learn more about the cremation solution and what FrontRunner can do for your firm, visit www.1frontrunner.com or call 1-866-748-3625. Your Real Source. Anywhere. Anytime.