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OCTOBER 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
Honor Vase, Inc.
1-877-556-5454
HONORVASE
@
ATT
.
NET
F
LAT VASES
FOR MAUSOLEUMS
OR UPRIGHT HEAD
STONES
R
EAR DRAINAGE HOLE
PREVENTS
STANDING
/
POOLING WATER
A
VAILABLE
IN
B
ROWN
•
C
OPPER
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P
EWTER
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W
HITE
He also rented caskets and other funeral paraphernalia to
studios.
He and partner
Allan Abbott
designed the casket air-tray
that we know today. Abbott & Hast started turning sta-
tion wagons and other like automobiles into “conversion”
vehicles appropriate for removals and other dignified trans-
portation.
He and Allan Abbot were pallbearers at Marilyn Monroe’s
funeral and provided livery for many other stars including
Natalie Wood, Clark Gable, Jack Benny, Gary Cooper, Er-
nie Kovacs, Jack Warner, Mario Lanza, David O. Selznick,
Karen Carpenter and Los Angeles Police Chief William H.
Parker.
Ron was un-giving on some of his core beliefs. He would lis-
ten but you knew your argument was challenged before you
started. He was polite but could be unbending. This caused
a tension on the issue of whether embalming is necessary for
public viewing, but after some push and pull we agreed to dis-
agree.
The voice that has been silenced is one I will still expect to call
out of the blue or hear that familiar voice when I called him
back at 1-xxx-Ron Hast.
Thank you Ron for your encouragement, your education,
your wisdom, your humor, your hospitality and your provok-
ing deep thought on complex issues that affect our industry.
But most of all Ron, thanks for the memories!
“We are constantly reminded that the public is in charge of
death care. When costs exceed the public’s willingness to pay,
or changes in perceived values take place, the buying public
will prevail and force changes over time. The challenge is for
funeral directors to find ways to appeal to families in need. The
first order of business is to do away with insensible rules and
restrictions, such as the elimination of hospitality and food ser-
vice on the basis of public health. And most important of all, is
to listen.”
–Ron Hast,
Mortuary Management
, April 2011
Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors grad-
uate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has
been licensed on both coasts, he owns the Westcott Funeral Homes of
Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ. Steve offers his observations on cur-
rent funeral service issues. He may be reached by mail at PO Box 352,
Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-
5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuneralhome.com or through his web-
site a
r on Facebook.
Observations
Remembrances
of Ron
“We’re moving from a ceremonial base or agenda to a so-
cial agenda in the course of serving families,” said Ron Hast,
publisher of
Funeral Monitor
newsletter and
Mortuary Man-
agement
magazine. “So our purpose is to provide a comfort
zone…for people to work through the process of their grief.”
–
Journal Sentinel Online
, Wisconsin
Ron Hast
, sage, controversial commentator, legend in funer-
al service, friend of many, left us on August 20, 2013 at the age
of 74. I can assure that his voice and his printed words will be
missed.
I enjoy writing and funeral service had become my life, so in
1977 (at the learned age of 22) I sent my first submission to
Mortuary Management
and it was printed. Ron sent me an en-
couraging note and solicited more submissions. I would send
in three to four essays a year for over a decade and most were
published by Ron.
In the early 1980s I was the Massachusetts State Chairman
for the Order of the Golden Rule. Ron was a presenter at one
of the conferences. I stood in line to shake his hand and he rec-
ognized my name. Ron invited me to visit his funeral home in
Los Angeles as he knew I despised the cold New England win-
ters.
The next year, after an OGR conference in Phoenix, I visited
Los Angeles and Ron. He and
Steve Nimz
gave a tour of the
spacious Venice Boulevard location of
Abbott &Hast Funeral
Home
. The next day he and Steve picked me up at my hotel
and we traveled toMarina Del Rey to board “Tribute”, his mo-
tor yacht. Parked next door was Ed McMahon’s boat, “Victo-
ria”. We walked by Robert Wagner’s yacht, “Splendor” which
was covered over and had not been used since Natalie Wood’s
tragic death upon it.
Other quick memories Ron shared were the house where
Ozzie & Harriet lived (their actual home that was shown on
their show) and the Wilson family (of the Beach Boys fame)
lived in the same neighborhood. Ron had told me when he
had his airplane it was moored next to Walt Disney’s aircraft
and of the brief discussions they had had. Ron was not a boor-
ish name dropper – sometimes you had to pull this out of him.
This was what it was like to spend time with Ron Hast, and
partner Steve Nimz, who was always a genial, and patient, co-
er for the Carol Burnett Show. Ron also gave me a history les-
son about Forest Lawn’s founding by Dr. Hubert Eaton, now
in the care of the Llewellyn family.
I moved to Southern California in 1990 and talked to Ron
fairly often. In 1994 I had moved north to the Modesto, Cal-
ifornia area. Ron called me and asked me if I knew where Ti-
buron in the Bay area was. I did not. He was about to put a
deposit on a waterfront home there.
Ron always had a sense of style. When I visited his home
in the Hollywood Hills, not that far behind the iconic HOL-
LYWOOD sign where deer roamed, it was comfortable and
well appointed. I knew his home in Tiburon would be the
same. It was, and more. This beautiful home inMarin Coun-
ty, located in a quiet section gave a sense of tranquility. In the
backyard was the dock where the “Tribute” was moored.
He and Steve hosted several seminars at theTiburon Lodge
but the highlight was the gathering at his home in Tiburon.
Dungeness crabs and grilled oysters were my favorite. Ron
would sit at the piano and play with such fluid motion – be
it classical or musicals. One of my favorite memories was at
the Tiburon Lodge, I returned from dinner to find Ron at
the keyboard, with
Enoch Glascock
(who had purchased
Abbott & Hast Mortuary) and my wife
April
singing any
song that the assembled requested. At one seminar, shortly
before her death, Ron invited longtime acquaintance
Jessi-
ca Mitford
(author of
The AmericanWay of Death
) to speak
at a seminar. We spent time with her and exchanged views
but her charm and wit made it difficult to dislike her. I had
brought my college dog-eared copy of her book which she
gladly autographed.
Ron’s contributions to this industry were many and here are
a few of them:
He started a flower delivery service from funeral homes
to cemeteries that grew into a fifty-plus automobile liv-
ery business that grew into the buying and selling of fu-
neral homes.
He maintained a collection of hearses and limousines
from many decades that were used in over 300 movies.
By Steven Palmer
host. Steve was a great part of
Ron’s success.
When Ron sold the Venice
Boulevard location and moved
his funeral home to the Silver
Lake section of Los Angeles,
I visited there also. Ron asked
me if I wished to accompany
him on an urn graveside ser-
vice at
Forest Lawn Cemetery
in Hollywood Hills. Quickly
agreeing, we drove to these fa-
mous grounds adjacent to Dis-
ney Studios. The eulogist at
the committal was a head writ-
Ron Hast
(L to R) Sidney R. DeSantis, Anthony M. DeSantis, Katie Golden Smith, Thomas J. Golden
Carlucci-Golden-DeSantis Funeral Home Serves
Community with Pride
Roberts-Mitchell Funeral
Home Purchases New
Hearse
MEDFIELD,MA—
Tracy Mitchell
of
Roberts-Mitchell
Funeral Home
, Medfield, MA, is shown taking deliv-
ery of their new 2013 Lincoln Federal MKT Stratford
Hearse purchased from
Muster Coaches
, Calhoun, KY.
Tracy operates the family owned business with 2 loca-
tions in Medfield and Mills, MA. With a history dating
back to 1896, Tracy continues the proud tradition of be-
ing a leader in excellence in funeral service today.
receipt of their funeral
director’s licensure, her
sons
Michael J. Carluc-
ci
and
Leonard Carluc-
ci
joined the family busi-
ness.
In the year 1950, the
family moved the busi-
ness from its Smith
Street location to East
Drinker Street in Dun-
more, where the funeral
home is still located to-
day. Michael J. Carlucci
had served as supervisor
of the business until his
mother's death in 1983.
He was sole owner of
the business from 1983
up until 1996. At that
time the business was
purchased by its cur-
rent owners,
Thomas J.
Golden
and
Sidney R.
DeSantis
, both licensed
funeral directors and
owners of two other area funeral homes.
Stanley E. Golden
was the founder of the origi-
nal Golden Funeral Home. He was a graduate of the
Dolan College of Embalming
in Philadelphia. In 1947,
upon completion of his tour of duty with the U.S.
Army, he established the business known as the
Stan-
ley E. Golden Funeral Home
located at 2004 Dela-
ware Street in Dunmore. Upon his death in 1977, his
son and business partner, Thomas J. Golden contin-
ued operating the business as the
Thomas J. Golden
Funeral Home
at the same location until December
31, 2010.
Meyer Ziman
began in the funeral business in 1918
conducting services for the deceased of the Jewish com-
munity out of their private residences. It was in 1937 that