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There’s also a registry book to sign and a memorial box for anyone who wants to drop off a sympathy card. The window is actually a sheet of bulletproof glass covered by curtains connected to a motion sensor. They get three minutes to sign the guestbook and say goodbye, Ivan Phillips, president of the Paradise Funeral Chapel in Saginaw, Michigan, told ABC News today.
“As you enter into the drive-thru you are going to see a memorial box where you can drop a memorial card or monetary contribution,” says Phillips, explaining just how the process works. Mourners drive on and push a button which opens a box that has a register book inside. Here people can sign their name and write messages of condolence to the family. Some may like the convenience that they offer, while others feel that the practice of driving up to view a body may not be for them.
The Drive-Thru Funeral Home of Compton
Instead, the funeral home director decided to pass out free coffee for two hours every Wednesday morning as a part of a community outreach program. They have unique skills and knowledge, which enables them to serve the community — and they make money doing it. Phillips got the idea for a drive-thru window last year when he was working with an elderly woman whose husband passed away, and she was too sick and couldn’t move well enough to attend his funeral. At the very least, drive-thru funerals create an opportunity for the critical process of mourning, and they create space for being able to appropriately move on. But a drive-thru funeral provided at least some solace and normalcy.
YP advertisers receive higher placement in the default ordering of search results and may appear in sponsored listings on the top, side, or bottom of the search results page. Click to viewIn the Times' video, Peggy sings hymns and discusses her business strategy. "You can come by after work, you don't need to deal with parking, you can sign the book outside and the family knows that you paid your respects." This time the nature of the drive-thru funeral was to personalize a funeral service to commemorate the memory of the deceased.
Patterson H M & Son Funeral Directors
Some funeral directors across the country have decided to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Several Compton residents said they would like to see a fast food restaurant combined with the drive-thru experience. That way they could view the body of a loved one while waiting for their food order. Sam Clampton, a Compton postal worker, said if he had his way, along with fast food the funeral home could install video rental machines. An AP video posted back in 2014 from Saginaw, Michigan features Paradise Funeral president Ivan Phillips, an early adopter of the drive-thru funeral.
Unlike the American versions of the drive-thru visitation, this Japanese version does not seem to allow mourners to view the body. The funeral home director in Chicago allowed mourners to drive to a window to see live video of the deceased. Previously a construction worker, the director said that he often wouldn’t attend funerals because of his soiled clothes. Elderly or disabled mourners do not have to exit the car to see the body of their loved ones. They can offer support to the family by signing the guest book and leaving a condolence card.
Andrews Chennault Funeral Home
The funeral industry that has often been criticized for being something of a ‘dinosaur’ is certainly now demonstrating some assimilation of modern cultural trends. The introduction by some funeral homes of web-casting of funeral services, was viewed by many as a rather morbid assimilation of modern technology and the rather stoic profession of funeral directors. A drive-thru funeral or visitation provides at least some sort of thread to connect a deceased’s loved ones to the other family and friends that knew them in life. While a full reunion may not be possible just yet, even seeing a friend from a car window is a richer experience than chatting with them on a computer screen. Instead, the visitors enter their names and addresses on an electronic device. They then give their condolence offering and are given the change to pray over incense.
By placing their loved ones’ bodies in a display case that enables drive-by viewing, families are spared the extra expense of floral arrangements and providing coffee and donuts. There is another more sinister reason behind the glass chamber viewing room. The gang shoot-outs at funerals in the 1980’s led to a fear by many of attending graveside services to pay their last respects. And the glass at Adams Mortuary is reported to be bullet-proof, not that the mortuary claim this is relevant to their community viewings today. Peggy Scott Adams is a Grammy-nominated gospel singer and owner of the Robert L. Adams Mortuary in Compton, California, one of the few funeral homes in America that offers drive-thru open-casket displays. The Los Angeles Times profiled Adams this weekend and made a strangely entrancing video about her business.
The funeral procession passed through the drive-thru and 40 burgers were served up to the funeral party. As Kime’s casket was lowered, his final burger was placed on top of it. Owner Willie Junior was one of four Escambia County Commissioners removed from office in 2002 by Gov. Jeb Bush after being arrested and charged with bribery, extortion, racketeering, and money laundering. The funeral home, which had been up for sale, was a casualty of the scandal.
The drive-thru open casket display allows relatives and friends the option of viewing a dead loved one from the comfort of their automobile. The convenience alleviates many of the usual headaches that accompany attending a funeral; ironing a wrinkled shirt, having to think of appropriate condolences and the inevitable irritation of finding a parking spot. No fuss no muss, and more importantly, no more worries about the new rims on your ride getting pilfered like the old days of indoor funerals. With today’s hectic schedules, the drive-thru mortuary permits people “on the go” to pay their respects without all the vexatious rescheduling that funerals used to demand.
Sara is the Editor in Chief for US Funerals Online and has been researching and writing about the death care industry in the US for the last 10 years. Needless to say, in a culture where being able to view a deceased to pay those final respects is important and symbolic, this drive-thru option is surely a way to enable a more shared and accessible service. Adams Mortuary in Compton introduced the glass-encased viewing chamber as a means to enable their community to view those they had lost en masse, and believed it was a step forward from the webcam view of a viewing. Flo Watson, 61, and her daughter Nina Watson, 34, view Flo's late postal service co-worker Robert Sanders, 58, at the Robert L. Adams drive-through funeral parlor in Compton, Los Angeles, February 8, 2012.
The faces of the mourners are shown on monitors in the funeral home so the family and friends gathered inside can see the mobile-mourners as they pay their respects. The business owner said that he decided to offer this service when an elderly widow was not able to attend the funeral of her husband. The director said that care is given to make sure that only real mourners utilize the service. When it comes to viewing the bodies of the dearly departed, few American cities can hold a candle to the convenience and ease offered by Compton’s drive-thru mortuary. The general consensus of the citizens of this south central Los Angeles community is astonishment that their city is one of the few in the country to offer a drive-thru funeral parlor.
Two weeks ago in Granite City, Illinois, local figure “Stormin’ Normin” received a drive-thru visitation. And the Los Angeles Times reported a story about a drive-thru funeral in Madera, California. Drive-thru funerals have popped up in New Jersey, Las Vegas, Boston, and Kentucky as well. Cake offers its users do-it-yourself online forms to complete their own wills and generalized educational content about wills. We are not attorneys and are not providing you with legal advice. Many users would be better served consulting an attorney than using a do-it-yourself online form.
This drive-thru option was popular for mourners during the 1980s when funeral gatherings may have resulted in gang violence. At one point, families were able to utilize the drive-thru mourning option without paying any extra charges on top of the regular funeral expenses. In fact, there was a funeral home in Atlanta that offered this “moratorium” service in 1968. Funeral alternative to get attention and increase sales, but this is their prerogative — they’re in the business to make money and serve the public. Here are the reasons that someone would use a drive-thru funeral and which cities across the U.S. offer a drive-thru funeral facility. Very professional, organized and compassionate funeral home.
They may feel more comfortable when viewing a dead body through two panes of glass. Some drive-thru funeral homes allow you to see a close-up video image of the deceased person. This enables the drive-thru to be open to different groups of families and friends at the same time. YP - The Real Yellow PagesSM - helps you find the right local businesses to meet your specific needs. Search results are sorted by a combination of factors to give you a set of choices in response to your search criteria. “Preferred” listings, or those with featured website buttons, indicate YP advertisers who directly provide information about their businesses to help consumers make more informed buying decisions.
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