Drive-Thru-Funeral Home

John Royark JR said:

An open casket is for a last chance to say good by, and for closure. Many people are in denile until they see the body in the casket. As for pictures, in the old days pictures were so expensive, thats the only time most people took a pic of someone to remember. To this day my family still takes pictures of our family in the casket. Really nice to remember the service and gives a chance for other family/friends to get a chance to see it if they could not make it.

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People forget that the open casket viewing is something that has been around for thousands of years. If it wasn't valuable, it would have been gone long ago. It was really during the Egyptian times that caskets and viewing started. There is a valid reason why we do almost everything in the funeral homes today. Most of the tradtitions we have, including visitations, funeral processions, flowers, and burials have proven helpful in the grief and mourning process. Most people who are not in the funeral business feel that funeral homes do things that are only profitable.....this is far from the truth.

If a drive-thru viewing helps people, then I am all for it. I see advantages to it, including the elderly staying in thier cars to view a friend, more opportunity for people to view because the viewing could take place during longer time periods with less suprervision, not to mention less wear and tear on the funeral home carpets!

Bill Carlin said:

Most of the tradtitions we have, including visitations, funeral processions, flowers, and burials have proven helpful in the grief and mourning process. !

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Exactly. We currently are assisting a Phillipine family with the death of their matriach. The visitation has been going on for 5 days so far with the funeral scheduled to be next Wednesday.

We, people at the funeral home, had to adjust and grasp an understanding of their values and their culture so we could provide the type of service customary to their beliefs, not ours.

I think too many times funeral directors fail to make this adjustment thinking all "Traditional" funerals should be done a certain way.

I've always said there is a reason why we do what we do!!!

Adam Borkat said:

Ok, I think it's a little weird too. Personally, I don't really even understand the idea behind an open casket. But what really blows my mind about this whole thing... why the heck are so many people taking pictures of the deceased?!?!?

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Adam I'm with you. On one of the times I was assisting my Uncle at his home we had a death of a young one and and I was thinking of how wierd it was to me that all the family was standing around the casket taking pictures as a group and individually of the remains.

And then at the service here came the Guitar playing Rockabilly Guy???

Hirschel Thornton Mortuary - Atlanta, GA

Press photo currently on eBay

Ready, But Business Is Slow--This Atlanta funeral home has completed construction on its five broad windows for drive-in viewing, but owner Hirschel Thornton says business is slow, Thornton said that since his plans were made public in March, he has received letters from all over the world, many of them critical. However, one Ohio mortician said after looking at the drive-in windows that Thornton was 10 years ahead of the times. 1968