What Does a Funeral Director Do?
A funeral director’s job involves a lot—in fact, funeral directors go through a ton of schooling to receive a degree in funeral service education. Plus, they have to serve an apprenticeship under another funeral director for a year or two. Then, to become a licensed funeral director, they have to pass a national and/or state board examination.
As far as their job during an actual funeral, think of their role as an all-encompassing one that represents the liaison between the grieving family and all the people involved in the funeral and burial of a loved one.
With a wide range of tasks, a funeral director must be someone that can manage people, tasks, and communications with several organizations apart from the most commonly known task, that of preparing the body.
What Else Does a Funeral Director Do?
A funeral director usually is the person in charge of arranging all the details and the logistics surrounding a funeral. With the family, they look at location, dates, times, memorial service details, and burial arrangements. Funeral directors often handle the paperwork related to a person’s death and are able to assist families on all things related to the funeral and burial arrangements.
Provides Facilities for the Viewing – Specifically, they provide an area for the viewing before the actual funeral, if this is something the family wants.
Publishes Obituaries in Local Newspapers – They’ll get all the necessary details from you, but a funeral director will do the work in publishing these in local newspapers and in appropriate places online to notify the community of your loved one’s death.
Takes Care of All Paperwork – Families will still have to sign off on things, but the funeral director should fill out all documents beforehand.
Arranges Transportation of the Body across State/Country Lines – If the deceased is in another country or state, a funeral director will know how to get the body transported locally or to their final resting place.
Arranges for Final Destination of Ashes – If your loved one were cremated, a funeral director would help you preserve the ashes in a memorial urn, or they could help you arrange those ashes to be scattered at a specific destination.
The Funeral Director Workplace
Funeral directors work very closely to families, they have an emotional and physically demanding job. Not to mention, sometimes stressful. However, funeral directors very often have a passion for their job and consider helping families their mission. Besides the activities mentioned below, funeral directors often fall responsible for other tasks.
Fulfills All Special Requests – If the will specifies special arrangements or the family has some special requests, which could include music or anything else, the funeral director will do his best to fulfill those requests.
Helps Make Caskets Available for All Budgets – A funeral director is for all families in the community, no matter how wealthy they are. There should be many different options for coffins and caskets in any budget.
Arranges Transportation – Vehicles that help transport the deceased and the family of the deceased to the cemetery from the funeral are arranged by the funeral director.
Caters Flowers Arrangements – Some families choose to take care of this on their own, but they can ask their funeral director to order floral tributes. Once they arrive, the funeral director will also make sure they stay fresh and watered.
Accepts/Delivers Donations – When families ask for donations to be made to a charity of their choice instead of flowers, the funeral director will accept those donations–both online and in person. They will also relay those donations to the chosen charity.
Helps Families During a Difficult Time – While funeral directors have been through many funerals, they understand that every family is special and they need guidance and support during difficult times.
Meet Our Funeral Director
At The Gardens, we are honored to be a family owned and operated business. Our Funeral Director, Garrett Jacobs, opened the Boca Raton Funeral Home and Cremation Services as a way to help South Florida families.
As an owner and Funeral Director, Garrett is not only behind the daily operations of The Gardens, he is also the point of contact for many families. For over 20 years, Garrett has served as Funeral Director at many funeral homes, performing over 1,100 funerals per year.
Unlike most funeral directors, Garrett is deeply involved with the process of planning funeral and burial arrangements. For him, providing the utmost level of personalization, dedication, and comfort to the families that visit us is essential.
But, beyond helping families plan their funeral arrangements for their loved ones. Garret understands the difficult situation they’re going through, which is why besides being a funeral director, Garrett also acts as one of our expert counselors to help you through this challenging time.
Do you need help planning a funeral? Are you considering pre-planning your own funeral? Talk with our experts at Boca Raton Funeral Home about any other questions you might have. Call them at 561-284-8729, or visit our offices in Boca Raton.
