September 2021

Page B6 SEPTEMBER 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on B 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 The funeral of President Abraham Lincoln greatly in- fluenced how Americans felt about death and was in- strumental in changing our mourning customs. In a big way it helped to create the funeral industry as it is today. President Lincoln’s death came at the conclusion of the Civil War, a war where hundreds of thousands of soldiers died and most were not able to be returned to their families. President Lincoln’s funeral, in many ways, was the funeral for all the soldiers who had died for the cause but could not be mourned in the cus- tomary manner. Lincoln’s height, around 6’4”, was an issue because most coffins were built to accommodate the average sized person of that era, which was much shorter. His coffin had to be custom built and was not ready until April 17th, two days after he had died. Even though it was custom built for his stature, his boots still had to be removed so that he would fit. The official funeral started on April 19, 1865 and al- though the original plan was for a closed coffin, the public demanded to see him. Given the public outcry, it was decided that the coffin would remain open dur- ing the official funeral service, at which time it would be permanently closed. Although common now, at that time, a public view- ing of the deceased was rare, perhaps even considered a bit morbid. However, allowing the public viewing was instrumental in changing the way the people thought about the deceased. It became more of the norm after this, and still is today. The plan was to take Lincoln’s body to his final rest- ing place in Springfield, Illinois, in the most direct way possible by train. The urgency was due to the fact that the president’s body was continuing to decay. Even though he was embalmed, the chemicals were in no way as effective as they are today. However, in order to say their proper goodbye, the 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 spe- cialty 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. FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at By Mike Jamar Your Source for High Quality Funeral Vehicles the coffin would be opened, due to the condition of the body. In fact, there were seven more official stops and viewings before reaching Springfield, where there was also a viewing. This did require that the embalm- er use a chalk potion to cover his darkening color and continually adjust his facial features. The funeral procession finally arrived in Springfield on May 3rd. By this time the Lincoln’s face had turned black and was only made presentable by a thick po- tion of rough chalk and amber. The president’s coffin, which had seemed too small at the start, now seemed many sizes too big because his body had shriveled so much. But the trip was made, and hundreds of thou- sands, if not millions, had the opportunity to say their goodbyes. This significant funeral procession changed the mourning customs of America as well as the funeral industry itself. The country began to accept things we take for granted today, in particular viewing the de- ceased’s body, embalming, and the custom of flowers at the funeral. public had a different route in mind. It was decided that the train would retrace the original journey the presi- dent had taken as the president-elect in 1861. This was a 1,654-mile trip and would take around 20 days. There would be at least 12 viewing stops, when the coffin would be taken to a public building for an open coffin view. Even with our advanced embalming chemicals, I won- der how a funeral director would feel today about accom- panying a body for 20 days in the warmth of late spring, on a train car that had neither air conditioning nor re- frigeration. Plus, the responsibility for these open coffin viewings attended by tens of thousands of people. It is said that the president’s body was embalmed daily, presumably because of the inadequacy of the embalming chemicals at that time. Formaldehyde, for example, an ef- fective embalming agent, was not discovered until 1867. This was one of the first public displays of embalming in America, and the practice did not have the effectiveness it has today. Nonetheless, what it did was make the public aware and accepting of the embalming practice. There is no reason, in this column, to go through all the stops that the funeral procession made, nor what hap- pened at each, although some are rather interesting. But here are a few notable events. The first stop was Baltimore on April 21st. The pro- cession was met with heaps of flowers, many being li- lacs. The lilac would come to represent the funeral trip. The flowers were welcomed not as much for their beauty as for their sweet fragrance. The president had been de- ceased for many days and his personal fragrance was not so sweet. The flowers were reported to have done wonders for the event. This was the first time flowers were includ- ed in a funeral and it started an industry that still flour- ishes today. As the trip progressed the president’s face started to darken and twist. Reporters covering the funeral openly speculated that the New York stop would be the last time The Funeral of President Abraham Lincoln NecroMetics ® and Pierce Chemical Company announce National Distribution Agreement Matthews International Reports Results for Fiscal 2021 Third Quarter P I TTSBURGH , PA— Matthews International Corporation (NASDAQ GSM: MATW) announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 2021 and nine months ended June 30, 2021. Joseph C. Bartolacci , President and Chief Execu- tive Officer, stated: “Our fiscal 2021 third quarter operating results again demonstrated the strength of our Compa- ny through the diversity of our businesses and the ben- efits of the investments that we have made over the last several years. I again want to recognize the tremen- dous efforts of our employ- ees during this challenging pandemic. The Company’s outstanding performance would not be possible with- out their hard work and commitment. The safety of our employees remains the top priority of our Board and leadership team. “All of our segments re- ported higher sales than a year ago resulting in a new quarterly consolidated sales record for our Company. This performance reflected a combination of growth from our core businesses and significant contribu- tions from our more recent investments and opportu- nities.” Matthews’ Board of Di- rectors declared, at its reg- ularly scheduled meeting, a dividend of $0.215 per share on the Company’s common stock. The divi- dend is payable August 23, 2021 to stockholders of re- cord August 9, 2021. Matthews Internation- al Corporation is a glob- al provider of brand so- lutions, memorialization products and industrial technologies. The Memori- alization segment is a lead- ing provider of memorial- ization products, including memorials, caskets and cre- mation and incineration equipment, primarily to cemetery and funeral home customers. The Company has approximately 11,000 employees in more than 25 countries on six continents. For more information and full financial results, visit www.matw.com. CHESAPEAKE,OH— NecroMet- ics®, LLC and Pierce Chemical Company, a division of the Wilbert Group, are pleased to announce that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership for Pierce to be- come the sole United States distribu- tor of NecroMetics® brand 21st cen- tury mortuary restoration cosmetics. Borrowing from his background fas- cination with special effects cosmet- ics, NecroMetics® president, Shane A.S. Ritchie, CFSP, along with ar- tistic input from his daughter Taija Shutt, developed NecroMetics® prod- ucts many years ago. Ritchie, who is a three-state licensed embalmer, fu- neral director, and restoration expert, stated, “Available mortuary cosmetic products have generally been based on old theater ‘grease-paint’ products or worse yet, home-use products.” Adding, “I decided to use my knowl- edge of special effects cosmetics to come up with something much bet- ter for my own use. The result was the NecroMetics® line, which is far supe- rior to any other product available for current mortuary use.” The products are available exclusive- ly from www.piercedirect.com, or call a Pierce sales representative at 800- 527-6419. The NecroMetics® web- site, www.necrometics.com, hosts a blog with tips and tricks for product usage, instructional videos, and more.