Women in funeral service..

Forty plus years ago, a majority of women were at home, yes the June Cleaver days of
Leave it to Beaver. Moms were home makers, working as hard as the husbands who were
out in the work force trying to make a wage to live on.  The gals that were working back
then were secretaries, teachers, librarians, etc. Then came the women's revolution and
the women of America wanted in... and it hasn't been the same ever since.

A lot of the 'business barriers' were torn down, jobs that traditionally done by men were
now being sought by the opposite sex, and things started changing quickly.
It was rare 40 years ago to find a gal in funeral service, unless of course her mom and dad
owned a funeral home, then it was a natural progression that she would follow in the
foot steps of the parents. Back then, only about 5% of people in funeral service were
females. Through the seventies and eighties, the numbers started in increase dramatically,
and today; almost 45% of those in funeral service are women. Does that surprise you?
It doesn't me. When I graduated from mortuary school, 1980, there were a good number
of gals in our class...and many are still at it. And they do very well at it too.
 Most women funeral directors I know are very well respected and well thought of. In many instances, I sometimes feel it's easier for a grieving family to  make arrangements with a
 gal....I think they may be able to connect a little better in some situations. They seem less
 'business' like, and more understanding of what a family might be going through.

The job is a  physical one, as well as mental, and I'm sure it has been a challenge for
some ladies who might be of a smaller physique. After all, making a removal of a
deceased person does require some good upper body strength and good muscle tone.
So if a females can jump that hurdle, then she is 'good to go' as they say.
So the number of females funeral directors continues to climb. The NYS funeral
directors association from where all of these numbers come from, now reports that
the Milwaukee Institute now has a 75% female graduation rate....that in itself is unreal!

As funeral service continues to evolve, fewer caskets are being sold, thus fewer
full ground burials and more cremations. This means a deceased will have to be
moved fewer times between death and final disposition, and that in itself will
lessen part of the physical requirements of the job.

So will all those old white guys like myself in black suits go? Well, we might still
be around in some capacity, but like all things, change is inevitable.  It just might
be the female persuasion that will save funeral service and offer new programs
and choices. Welcome ladies in those stylish blue suits.....the baton is passed to
your very capable hands...run with it and serve well!

A sneak peek....

As usual, the clock seems to be 'ahead' of me most of the time, not sure if it's my
age..or maybe I have too many irons in the fire, and 'not enough fire' to go around.

The new short story book is about 8 weeks or so from hitting the book stores
and the internet... I will keep you up to date as things progress..meanwhile..here's
a sampling of what it is all about.


Following Undertakings of an Undertaker here's a sneak peek into my short story book
                           
                                             Tales Unleashed

which will soon be going to my publisher. He is I think, more excited about it than
myself and can't wait to get it underway for me. I'm expecting a 6 to 8 week
turn-around on it once it's in his hands...so I'm predicting prob. late July to mid
August for it's release.

Twenty eight short stories, all of the 'unusual' kind that I know you are going to
enjoy.  Some of the stories will include;

* a single crow watches over his silent domain...

*a lonely widow receives a long past lost and found from her husband...

*a young woman in an accident moves briefly to the 'next level'.....

*a young man's injuries take him back to another era....

*the strangeness of the occupant in the house on the hill...

*the couple that never arrive at their date-night destination...

*the 'cat' lady and her two young visitors...

*an abandoned vehicle prompts a boy into a profession...

*on their way home, a couple shadowed by an unidentified object...

*the haunted belfry...

and much much more to keep you entertained. The book will be a
pocket size 5 by 7 inch to tuck into your purse or back pocket and in
a larger print for an easier read. It will of course be on Amazon, Amazon
Kindle and Barnes and Noble.

Well, that's it for now...... more as it happens...stay well. SS

by the way.. you can leave a note/comment anytime after any of
my posts...just click where it says No comments.  Would love to hear
from you!

Thanks Almond library..

A big thank you to the folks at the Almond library for hosting me on Tuesday
evening. There was a nice group of people who turned out, and we had a good
lively discussion about publishing, the book Undertakings, and I was able to field
a good number of specific questions about the funeral business.

My next 'roady' trip I guess you call it will be sending me to Hornell, N.Y. and
the public library on Saturday, May 12th at 1:00 p.m. If you are in the area,
stop in and chat. The program usually lasts 40 minutes or so...

More on my upcoming projects soon..SS

Picking the stories..

As I mentioned in some of the previous posts, that you can read below if you keep scrolling,
the organizing of what I was going to actually put in my book was a pretty big chore.

My publisher, Book Stand Publishing of California had never printed a book quite like
mine before, and they had a couple of concerns. First was the cover.

I had envisioned something dark, maybe of a cemetery at dusk or later at night, with
some crows flying overhead. They told me that there were a lot of books out there
with that same 'dark' look, and that I should consider something more striking, out of
the ordinary if you will.

So with that in mind, I took three old embalming bottles I had in my garage... these are
old bottles I'd collected from like 60 or more years ago. Arranging them on a board with
my garage in the background, I snapped the pic. Soon after I sent it to the publisher, he
called me said, "Stan...that's your book cover."
And with a little arranging of text with the picture...the book cover was born. And I must
admit when you see it in a bookstore, on a rack, anywhere...it beckons you to pick it up.
When in studio with Brother Wease on radio 95.1 in Rochester, his first remarks were
on the excellence of the cover. (I still have that interview and you can hear it by going to
Soundcloud.com, search Stanley Swan, you'll find it.)

So we had the cover...then we worked on the back cover...how the book came about,
background about myself and our funeral home.

So now... arranging the stories. We started out chronologically...it just made sense for the
book. How I became interested as a kid, being torn between it and actually becoming
a broadcaster for a number of years... then being 'called' back to do funeral service.

We tried to mix some light hearted stories within the book, a short break from some of the
more serious stories. Again, the publisher said the mix needed to be there in order to be
entertaining, and not gloomy. They helped me make good decisions there.

There were a couple of stories that did not make the book. I've held them back. One
particular one about a child' death, a tragic one, it was a story that I felt just wasn't
needed to be remembered...by anyone. Another chapter called the Most Asked Questions
just didn't make it to the publisher on time for inclusion, and I'll share that one with you
in the future.

We had it pretty much set...now we just sat back and waited for it to be produced.
In 6 to 8 weeks.. the book was out, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble...I had ordered
a slew of books myself to fill orders that I knew I'd be getting. And for over three years
now, the book continues to do extremely well, even 'across the pond".

Coming up in a few days....how we marketed, advertised and hit the pavement to make
Undertakings of an Undertaker a success...from Boston to L.A. and on radio stations
in medium to small markets, podcasts and more.

Come back in a few days, and happy holiday! SS