Funeral director: A job worth doing

By Hannah Wallace

Funeral directing is often labeled as a morbid and twisted job, when it actually is a happy and full-filling profession.

To be a good funeral director, there are some things to keep in mind.

For example, a funeral director must be good in tough, stressful situations and also at reading emotions.

Everyone handles death differently. Funeral directors have to be able to handle each person with the utmost poise and respect, even if they are emotionally distraught and somewhat out of control.

Someone in that situation can seem rude and inconsiderate, due to the circumstances they are facing.

To become a licensed funeral director, the criteria varies in every state. For example, Kansas asks that you have at least 60 semester hours from a college or university (20 of which are defined and regulated by a state board).

You must pass a state board exam after an apprenticeship.

Texas requires high school plus mortuary college — and passing the national and state law examinations, while Colorado only requires no current licensing requirements. However, it does have an active voluntary certification program in which funeral directors participate.

More than anything, a funeral director is in the job of helping people navigate through experiences and plans that can, in many sudden cases, be the hardest things they have ever been asked to do.

Kindness and patience, then, are keys to the job.

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