Local funeral home makes improvements
Ben Matthews was hired two years ago to run the facility and has worked tirelessly since then to upgrade and improve the funeral home.
In his first year the funeral home did 120 service calls, which is the most services the funeral home has provided to date.
Each family is given a username and password that grants them access to their loved ones site, which allows them to add pictures and names in order to keep the information about their loved one up to date.
The site is permanent and is will always be accessible through the Web.
in addition to streaming video, and the ability to continuously update the site, family members and friends can light a memorial candle on the website that will have a message for others to view.
“This provides friends and family a way to express their condolences in a unique fashion,” Matthews said.
He has seen the business of planning funerals change from being “cookie-cutter-funerals” to more personalized services that reflect the life of the deceased.
He said that during a viewing for one family, he also had the deceased’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle next to the casket.
“The family loved it,” Matthews said. “It provided familiarity and comfort for the family.”
Matthews has also added a new showroom to Madison Chapel, where family members can pick out and customize an entire service and view other options they may not have previously thought of.
Matthews said that the most important part of his job is to ensure that the final memory someone has of their loved one is a special one and because the funeral home is independently owned and operated he said that allows him to be more accommodating and flexible with providing the type of services a family would want.
“Being independent gives us the freedom to provide the unique service that our families want without having to go through five managers to get approval,” Matthews said. “When families work with me they have the comfort of knowing that any request they may have is decided upon right then”
Matthews has not done it all by himself. Two months after he was hired, Matthews hired Hal Hammett who served as an apprentice under Matthews until earning his license to become a certified funeral director earlier this month.
In addition to adding services Matthews has also made some improvements to the building. He didn’t really have a choice though, because a car crashed trough the wall of the main chapel forcing Matthews to replace it.
Matthews felt that since he was replacing the wall anyway, it would probably be a good time to paint the outside, and redo the colors of the main chapel.
Matthews also said that he is still going to continue to make improvements and try to find ways to provide better services for the families that her serves.
“You only get one chance to get it right,” he said. “We work hard to make sure we do things right, in order to give family and friends a lasting final memory of their loved one.”
