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A Orono Weekly Times, Wednesday, November 14th, 1979-8 by Sheri Yeo As one of a group of approximately forty students, I was required to meet, greet, escort and introduce one of the professionals at Clarke High for Career Education Week, Standing in the Library with my fellow receptionists, my name tag securely on my lapel and a loaded camera About my neck, I wondered bow I was to recognize my professional. A fellow greeter, Irene; stated "There he is." I asked her how she knew. "Because he was at my uncle's funeral", funeral", she replied. That may sound strange to an innocent bystander, but to me it was all part of the, day. For my professional was Craig Ross, Funeral Director from Port Hope. Declining coffee, Mr. Ross sat down to chat with me while I snapped pictures of others around us and wé waited for the seminars to begin. I hadn't planned to attend his seminar but on an impulse changed my mind and ended up asking most of the questions. It was a small group of people, four all together, but Mr. Ross was surprised that anyone at all was interested in such a profession as his. To begin with we learned from Craig Ross the various duties he performs as à Funeral Director. When someone dies, their family phones a Funeral Home and the Director is usually asked to make all the arrangements. arrangements. He will contact the family clergyman and arrange arrange a time for the funeral service. Then the family will come in and if the deceased has not made previous arrangements arrangements for his burial, the family will. A coffin must be chosen and it i$ the làw for the Home to show no less than eight (from different price ranges) to those selecting, A verÿ important aspect of a Funeral Director's job is to comfort the bereaved family. I learned Thursday that funerals are for the living not the deceased. It is for the living to let their emotions flow freely so that life can continue mentally healthy. Grief can not be kept inside. Another job, that almost made my stomach turn, is embalming. Mr. Ross did»not go into great detail over this. Hedid say, however, that it is a two hour operation that takes two years to learn. The process involves two small incicions in the body whereby the body fluids are removed and replaced by a preservative. preservative. One student enquired as to whether the body was cold when the Director was working working with it. It was cold to your touch, he said, but only as a table is, for both are at room temperature. The Clothes that one is buried in are brought in by the family, and some are buried without shoes. It's all a matter of the family's prefer- Craig Ross, Port Hope depressing. The job of a Funeral Director, enjoys his Funeral Director involves job - and doesn't find it comforting the bereaved, em balming and making all the arrangements necessary for a funeral. A question that was in my mind was whether or not, when the director dressed the cadaver (body), if it was stiff from rigor mortis. Here was another misbelief to be righted. righted. Rigor mortis, it was explained, is a stiffening of the muscles due to the coagulation of the acids and proteins in the muscles. The process starts a few hours after death and begins in the back of the head. It takes a while to travel through the whole body and disappears disappears after another few hours. If. rigor is in the hand and Craig wants to change the position of the hand, all that néeds to be done is flex the muscles and rigor mortis is broken. * When a casket is placed into the. ground, there is a liner of cement around it, a law in Ontario. The reason for this is that if it was not there eventually the ground would cave in around and on top of the casket and need to be filled in. A great upkeep cost, because it would happen year after year to the same grave. Another of my misconceptions misconceptions has been that after a few months in the ground, worms and other such creatures would find their way through my wooden coffin and begin to eat the flesh off my bones. Thank goodness Mr. Ross righted this wrong. With a steel enforced casket and a cement-lined grave, nothing could get to me. And if I was to be dug up twenty or a hundred years later, there would be virtually no change in my appearance except for a little dehydration. That's how good the embalming process is and how. airtight the deceased's environment is. Reassuring. A funeral can be as inexpensive or extravagant as you choose. An average one is about $1,100. Mr. Ross in Port Hope averages 85 to 100 funerals a year. After taking provincial taxés etc. into account, he doesn't make as much money as you first deduced. But the money still isn't too bad. Cremation is becoming a popular alternative to burial, because of rising land costs. The cadaver is placed in a wooden box (the law) arid put into a furnace. A temperature of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit is maintained for six to eight hours, At the end of this time all that remains are calcium deposits from the body and any metal that was on the casket. From a tray in the bottom of the furnace, the metal is removed and the calcium put into a container. The ashes can then be interred of spread anywhere in the world except oh public property (a park, for instance). instance). To become a Funeral Director, Director, one must attend Humr ber College. It is the only school in Ontario that has accommodations for teaching this course. Into this profession profession women are making their way, and in no small number. Classes taken in this course are in psychology, human behaviour, embalming, embalming, and qf course, law. The Funeral Director has to know how to deal with human bereavement and grief. It is not feasible for anyone to open a new Funeral Home. The cost is too extreme. The way to do it is to work for an established Home, work your way up and eventually buy - into a partnership. Either that or, if your family is in the Business, join, them. In the realistic view of the job, it is a lot of work. There are no 9 to 5 hours; you work as many hours as are needed. And as for planning a vacation, well you just don't do it. As Craig Ross elaborated, elaborated, if you're all dressed and ready to go out, say to a wedding, and the phone rings with that fateful call, then the Funeral Director doesn't go out. He goes to work. Even though I have never planned to be a Funewt Director, and still don't, I'm glad I went to his seminar. 1 learned a lot and I feel much better about leaving my body behind when I depart from this world. All of iis in the seminar were invited by Mr. Ross * visit his Home. I think IT take him up on his offer. IS rather see a Home first asm neutral visitor than as a grief-stricken family member. member. Thankfully it hasilt happened to me yet, but when it does, I think I am mom prepared mentally than I was before I met Mr. Craig Ross, Believe it or not, • this gentleman is a Flight Atten dant. What young lady wouldn't wouldn't like to fly with him?,. ' The truck driver who spoke a suit and tie when he's ,io students' was Tony Mit- driving, chell. He doesn't usually wear • Sam who? Sam tiureatz seems to be wondering aloud to Joe Caruana why he'd.been. should' know'who he is and- given a name tag. Everyone what he does.