Funeral Coach or Hearse?

While on a funeral this afternoon I was listening to one of the apprentice funeral directors as he instructed the pallbearers to " take hold of the handles and lift together...place the casket on the rollers on the back of the hearse and pass it to the man in front..." I kind of chuckled because as I listened to him as he talked about the "hearse" I remembered going to Mortuary school and being taught that it was a "funeral coach" and then coming back to Cleveland and using that term and people looking kind of funny. I figured out that a hearse is a hearse here, no need to try to call it anything else.....it is a Hearse.
I was also reminded of a story told to me by an older Funeral Director that I worked for.... He was going over the contract with a family and made mention of the charge for "use of the funeral coach". The old gentleman looked a little confused then replied " We don't need no funeral coach, We done this with out him when Pa died and don't need no coach now." No kidding you just can't make this stuff up.
Is this just a regional thing? How do you refer to yours?

Thanks,
James
 
Interesting question...

I refer to my own as coaches. Most every one else just calls my nearly daily driven 69 a hearse...if im lucky...sometimes its just "that thing" or worse ha!

All kidding aside, hearse seems to be the norm in this area, funeral directors and everyone else. Ill continue to say coach.
 
Being from Tennessee, and now living in southern kentucky, i have never heard anyone in this area call them a Funeral Coach. I have heard a couple older Funeral Directors call them a coach every once in a while, but for the most part, its just plain old hearse.

At the FH i use to work at here in town, the owner calls it the wagon.

Josh
 
Ive heard funeral directors out here refer to the car as "the coach" when giving pallbearer instructions. On my display board that I put up at car shows, I have it described as a 1986 Lincoln Sayers & Scovill Funeral Coach and have gotten some funny looks from people. But it slows down the "hurst" or "Hearst" comments.
 
Ive heard funeral directors out here refer to the car as "the coach" when giving pallbearer instructions. On my display board that I put up at car shows, I have it described as a 1986 Lincoln Sayers & Scovill Funeral Coach and have gotten some funny looks from people. But it slows down the "hurst" or "Hearst" comments.

That's an excellent point Rich, one i totally forgot about. By all means, feel free to call it a hearse but please, please do not put a "T" at the end of that haha!
 
Similarly we call our vehicles Ambulances..heard them called amblanzes,rescue squads,cars,or the most famous, whats a ecnalubma,it says it on the front eh,service cars are just as bad, body wagons,coroners cars,removal cars, our old funeral directors would cringe telling us they are first call units......please and thank you,
 
Here is the definition of the word "hearse" ...

A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.



Here is how I refer to my own cars...

I call my cars Hearses. In sensitive situations, I call it a Funeral Coach.


I feel the word hearse is harsh if dealing with sensitive people or situations. I think funeral coach is a gentle way of saying hearse.


Darren
 
Mike wrote:

Hearses are pulled by horses. Funeral Coaches are motor driven...........
My sign in the windshield does not say "Hearse".



Mike,

Hearses were originally horse-drawn, but silent electric motorised carts were introduced as horses began to be phased out as transportation. Examples that were used in Paris were reported in the pages of Scientific American May 1907 and petrol-driven hearses began to be produced from 1909 in the United States. Motorised hearses became more widely accepted in the 1920s. The vast majority of hearses since then have been based on larger, more powerful car chassis, generally retaining the front end up to and possibly including the front doors but with custom bodywork to the rear to contain the coffin.

They were HORSE DRAWN hearses and are now MOTORIZED hearses.
Always a hearse.

I do like the front window FUNERAL COACH signs, but it is still a hearse.

Coach work or wooden frames in the early hearses, but still a hearse.



All above info is factual but call it what you want, it is your car !

Darren


P.S. Please don't take this wrong and dislike me. Just providing the facts.
 
At the funeral home I work at we refer to it as "the coach". Our brochure has it listed as Funeral Coach but listings in other area funeral home brochures it is different. One lists it as Hearse another lists it as Hearse/Casket Coach. I personally don't have a opinion either way.
 
I think everyone knows what a hearse is. I am not convinced everyone knows what a coach is... My part timers are instructed to give directions to pallbearers by, "Gentlemen, I need you to face (toward, or away from) the hearse..."
I once worked in a backwoodsey area, where we were supposed to use the term "coach", but I stopped when I realized that my, "Gentlemen, I need you to face toward the coach..." caused several confused looking pallbearers to start scanning the crowd of mourners for the local football, basketball, or baseball... coach...
 
"A rose by any other name..."

A hearse is a hearse, no matter what someone chooses to call it.

The same applies to an ambulance, no matter if someone calls it a medic, EMS truck, bus :)twak:), squad, rescue, or whatever. It's still an ambulance!
 
For me My wife and I call it " THE COACH " On my info sheet for car shows it says Funeral Coach......I never call it ' The Hearse" just dosen't seem right to me. and besides the Company who built it was The Eureka COACH Company, not the Eureka Hearse Company.

I think Funeral Coach is more dignified

"Dignity"...... Honorable quality.....stately appearance or manner
In my mind thats what our cars are
 
For those of you in the Funeral Profession, are you an Undertaker or a Funeral Director (and/or Embalmer)?

When I went to Mortuary School back in the olden days (1972-74) at Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma, we were taught that the word "Undertaker" was from a time past, and the modern licensed funeral professional is a "Funeral Director", "Embalmer", or "Mortician".
We were also taught that the Hearse is horsedrawn, and a Funeral Coach is motorized.

This should stir some discussion!!!

:D
 
The title to every "coach' I have ever owned said hearse. In the industry, in front of the public I called it "the coach".
 
For those of you in the Funeral Profession, are you an Undertaker or a Funeral Director (and/or Embalmer)?

When I went to Mortuary School back in the olden days (1972-74) at Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma, we were taught that the word "Undertaker" was from a time past, and the modern licensed funeral professional is a "Funeral Director", "Embalmer", or "Mortician".
We were also taught that the Hearse is horsedrawn, and a Funeral Coach is motorized.

This should stir some discussion!!!

:D



do people still refer Funeral Directors as Morticans ???? I thought that went out along with the term "Undertaker" ????? and by the way...where did the term Undertaker come from ?????

My house is Castleton's old Undertakers house ( 1864) and on record it says Undertaker
 
An "Undertaker" undertook certain duties of a funeral. This is where that word came from. Sometimes it was to rent his hearse. Sometimes he just rented white pallbearer's gloves. As time went on the Undertaker done more and more of the duties of the funeral. As it evolved, he later done embalming (At the home of the deceased), sometimes dressing the body if the family wanted him to. The visitation was done at the family home, and the funeral service itself was at the cemetery. The Undertaker evolved into the Modern Funeral Director as he done more of the duties of the funeral for the family.

"Mortician" is still widely used. I don't like the word. Like "The Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts"
 
For those of you in the Funeral Profession, are you an Undertaker or a Funeral Director (and/or Embalmer)?

When I went to Mortuary School back in the olden days (1972-74) at Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma, we were taught that the word "Undertaker" was from a time past, and the modern licensed funeral professional is a "Funeral Director", "Embalmer", or "Mortician".
We were also taught that the Hearse is horsedrawn, and a Funeral Coach is motorized.

This should stir some discussion!!!

:D
Here in the south, it is Funeral Director, or Undertaker. A lot of black people say Mortician. I personally like the term Undertaker, although Funeral Director is more professional sounding.

Josh
 
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