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Last week I spent a day teaching out at the “Farm” in Batesville.  I have lost track of the number of trips I have made to the “Farm” over the years, but suffice to say I have been making that journey many times over the past thirty years.

It all started out when I was teaching merchandising at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and way back then we took two classes a year to Batesville (I think they still do this) to have the grand tour, and to let sink into the minds of the “baby undertakers” just what it took to make one casket – let alone seven hundred caskets a day.  To say the least, it was and still is mighty impressive stuff to take that tour.  Then for a decade I was involved with a large corporation who had a close relationship with Batesville, and since that experience went belly up, I have made a trip most every year for other funeral service companies who were having their annual training programs out at the “Farm.”  I have seen the “Farm” move from a small assembly of cottages to a terribly impressive training and conference center with a splendid lodge, and gorgeous surroundings.  Batesville, as with most everything, like it or not, has done this right, no doubt.

This last trip as I was driving from the Cincinnati airport and meandering across the country roads outside of Batesville I was just struck at what insight, vision, tenacity of purpose, and just good management the Batesville Casket Company has exhibited consistently over these many years.
Say what you want about the Batesville Casket Company, and there certainly have been detractors, but to be honest this company I believe has changed the methods of burial and now cremation across the globe.  I take my hat off to them and their leadership but particularly for their creativity.  Batesville I believe did not compete; instead, they created.

There was a time in funeral service when countless casket companies abounded in the field.  Looking back, there were probably just too many of them.  When I started one powerhouse company was the now defunct Crane & Breed Casket Company located in Cincinnati.  There was Belmont, Merit, Chicago, National, Springfield Metallic, Boyertown, Marsellus, Clarksburg, Connersville-Franklin, and Comet - well, the list went on and on.  In their own way each of these companies did an outstanding job, for the time they worked in.  However, it often took a month to get a casket from some of these fine casket companies, and Batesville, along with other things, changed all that.

I remember the first time we were able to get a replacement casket from Batesville in a couple of hours. We were stunned, and to tell the truth that experience alone changed the way we looked at casket companies.  Of course quick replacement of caskets is nothing new today, and if a casket company can’t replace them quickly, well then the individual funeral homes will no doubt determine, among other things, who sells caskets and who does not.

However beyond the reformation of the casket industry, Batesville had something else, I concluded on my last trip to the “Farm.”  The company clearly succeeded in implementing and leading a new vision of what a casket was, and more importantly what a casket could be, and that one aspect, I personally believe, changed the way the funeral profession viewed the casket.

Certainly our profession has learned much from Batesville’s Options program, and I remember when that program was rolled out the reaction many times was not supportive or visionary.  I remember hearing “Batesville is endorsing cremation!”  I don’t hear that comment much anymore. 

There have been a few, not many, just a few movements in our great profession that literally changed things.  Cremation is of course one of them. The movement from home funerals to the mortuary concept is another. Going from using ice to embalm with to accepting arterial embalming is another. Government involvement is yet another. And I would suggest that the work and success of the Batesville Casket Company ranks right up there with the other permanent changes in funeral service.

To be sure there are other great casket companies – no question about that. But thinking about my most recent trip and looking back at these many years, I cannot help but conclude that Batesville just changed the way the funeral profession viewed caskets, merchandising, and now cremation possibilities.

Anyway, I was just thinking about Batesville; my small brain was jogged by my trip out to the “Farm.” As always, this is just one old grumpy undertaker’s opinion. TVB

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Want to see a movie with a positive depiction of funeral service? No, it's not "Eat Pray Love" or "The Expendables." At least not as far as I know, though I haven't seen either movie. It's "Get Low," which is harder to find, but has some star power (Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek) and a MUCH better Rotten Tomatoes rating than those blockbusters I just named--85  percent vs. 38 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Don't trust movie critics? How about this: Brenda Clough, ICCFA office manager and book reviewer, and I saw the movie recently and highly recommend it. You can check out the reviews and find out if it's playing near you at Rotten Tomatoes, which also has some clips you can view:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_low/?critic=creamcrop

Here's a direct link to a clip of funeral home owner Frank Quinn (played by Bill Murray) explaining to employee Buddy why he should be the one to venture past the "No Trespassing" signs to knock on the door of a cantankerous and trigger-happy hermit (Robert Duval) with their funeral sales offer. Suffice it to say that Quinn is no Gary O'Sullivan:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_low/trailers/11116960

And here's a direct link to the clip of Quinn and Buddy reacting to the hermit's request for a "funeral party":

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/get_low/trailers/11116959

Here is Brenda's review:

GET LOW is that very rare movie with a funeral director as the hero.  Two, actually.  Frank Quinn, owner of Quinn Funeral Home, and his faithful assistant, Buddy, take on the ultimate in preneed planning.  They plan and hold a funeral for hermit Felix Bush, who hasn’t died yet.

The challenges of running a funeral home in a small Southern town during the Depression are gently funny when Bill Murray is the star.  As Quinn he seizes on the possible bonanza of a massive funeral and helps Bush achieve his goal: not only holding a big party, but resolving past secrets.  The younger FD Buddy makes frequent visits to the old recluse and puts in some stellar personal service, chauffeuring Bush around in the antique hearse and getting to know him.

The number of modern funeral features in this movie is quite notable.  The funeral director doesn’t just sell caskets but is the event planner and facilitator.  He buys old Bush clothing and shoes, a haircut, and when things get difficult he moves mountains to get the funeral to happen.  The actual event features not only food, drink, and a live mountain-music band, but a lottery drawing.  There’s even a pet cemetery! 

In all this is a very positive depiction of the industry, and does us proud.  As an ‘art’ film it probably might not see release in your local multiplex, but it’s sure to be available on DVD.

GET LOW, starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek, from Sony Classics.  Website www.sonyclassics.com/getlow/

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