From left, NJSFDA Past President Orlando G. Covington Jr., CFSP, and Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association Immediate Past President C.R. Lyons III, CFSP.

New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association Past President and former National Funeral Directors Association Policy Board member Orlando G. Covington Jr., CFSP, and Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association Immediate Past President C.R. Lyons III, CFSP, have both been appointed to the newly formed NFDA Leadership Development Committee.

Covington and Lyons, both members of the Northeast Funeral Service Partnership, were successful in their bids for appointment during an NFDA meeting in Nashville, TN, on October 16, 2021.

They join seven other funeral directors from throughout the country as founding members to the revamped NFDA committee.

The Leadership Development Committee, initially consisting of nine former Policy Board members, has been re-tasked with identifying, cultivating and recruiting future leaders for NFDA. The new group will review applications and interview candidates to present a slate of qualified future leaders for election to officer and at-large representative positions. They additionally will monitor candidate compliance with newly adopted campaign and election rules and guidelines and will report any infractions to the Board of Directors.

This change follows amendments made to the NFDA Bylaws earlier this summer to facilitate better member communication between the states by transitioning to “issues forum” meetings. The NFDA Policy Board effectively ended at the October 16 meeting.

The NFDA now must build a structure through the issues forum meetings that will allow for more open communication and multiple voices from the 50 states to share information when they are convened. Issues forum meetings, which now replace the Policy Board, will take place at major NFDA conferences, the convention or virtually.

State associations will retain and appoint a State Association Representative who will continue to attend the in-person voting meeting and cast the vote for the at-large representatives to the Board of Directors positions at the NFDA Leadership Conference.

All NFDA Bylaw changes went into effect on October 17, 2021.

Junkyard dogs are threatening mourners in a New York City cemetery, according to a lawsuit. An unlicensed man is charged with illegally operating a funeral business in Ohio. And a New York woman is convicted of burglarizing the homes of funeral attendees. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

Lawsuit Claims Junkyard Dogs “Terrorizing” Queens, NY, Cemetery Mourners
By Vincent Barone (1010 WINS)
The managers of a historic Queens, NY, cemetery claim a pack of dogs from a neighboring junkyard company are terrorizing staff and mourners in a new lawsuit. Read more here.

Woman Convicted in Crime Spree Targeting Homes of Westchester County, NY, Funeral Attendees
By Larry McShane (New York Daily News)
TLatonia Stewart was convicted by a Westchester County, NY, jury on six felony counts for robbing the homes of a half-dozen victims attending their spouses’ wakes or funerals after scanning through online obituaries to select her targets, according to Westchester D.A. Miriam Rocah. Read more here.

Man Charged with Threatening Tennessee Police after Gun Found During Funeral
By FOX13Memphis.com
Dyersburg, TN, police say they found an AR-style rifle during a recent funeral in a church parking lot. Police said officers discovered a large crowd and were told threats had been made to shoot up a funeral in progress. Read more here.

No Immediate Family, So 300 Veterans Came to His Funeral
By the Veterans Administration
The Fort Sill National Cemetery in Oklahoma held a committal funeral service for Corporal Charles York, a veteran who died with no immediate family to honor him. The veteran community and its families–about 300 people–rallied to honor Corporal York and to ensure he was not buried alone. Read more here.

Warren County Considers Using Funeral Homes to Conduct Forensic Autopsies
By Michael Goot (The Post Star)
Warren County, NY, is seeing if funeral homes would be willing to let forensic autopsies be done there as a potential solution to a problem in which a medical examiner cannot perform them at Glens Falls Hospital. Read more here.

Ohio Man Accused of Operating Unlicensed Funeral Businesses Indicted on 37 Counts
By Eric Lagatta (The Columbus Dispatch)
A man whom the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has accused of storing two bodies inside a Columbus, OH, storefront as part of an unlicensed funeral service business has been indicted by a grand jury. Read more here.

The information contained in this column is a report of the actions taken by the board members who were present during the open public session portion of the meeting only. It is not a transcript of the official board minutes or an official record of attendance. It does not address board member attendance or actions taken during the executive session that typically follows the open session and is closed to the public.

October 5, 2021

Members Present

James J. Marrocco, CFSP, president; Bruce Van Tassel, CFSP, secretary; Rita T. Alvarez; Charles F. Bechtold, CFSP; Garrett C. Jones; Aladar G. Komjathy; Curtis S. Macysyn; Matthew Moench; Kim Nesbitt Good; Eleanor Jordan Rudolph, CFSP; and Kara L. Whigham.

Staff Present

Quin Archer, executive director; Wendy Faulk, deputy attorney general.

Public

Susan Berger; George R. Kelder Jr., CFSP, and Althea D. Ford, New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association.

Executive Director’s Report

The Board received seven complaints in August/September for a total of 39 complaints received in 2021.

Twenty-five candidates are registered for the October 7, 2021 Jurisprudence examination.

Intern Registrations

• Toshiko Butler, Padgett Funeral Home
• Kenisha Campbell, Jorge Rivera Funeral Home
• Karla DeColli, Jeffries & Keates Funeral Home
• Taylor Chantilope, Boucher Funeral Home, LLC
• Spiridoula Dimou, Vander Plaat Memorial Home
• Damaris Fontanes, Newbaker Funeral Home
• Farrah Franco, McGuinness Funeral Home
• Patrick Gardner, Martin Funeral Home
• Lisa Hayducka, Shook’s Cedar Grove Funeral Home Inc.
• Caryn Hilton, DuBois Funeral Home
• Brittany Hoffman, Anderson Funeral Service
• Alexandra Kyllonen, Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services
• Juan Mendoza-Alvia, Volk Leber Funeral Home (Teaneck)
• Dedra Moore, Garden Hill Funeral Directors Service Inc.
• Thomas Polak IV, Scott & Kedz Home for Funerals
• Michelle Rodriguez, Day Funeral Home
• Emily Shattle, Day Funeral Home
• Danielle Swilley, Adams Funeral Home
• Ryan Taylor, DeGraff Lakehurst Funeral Home
• Tyler Volkers, Cochran Funeral Home
• Harry Watson Jr., G.G. Woody Funeral Home LLC
• Patricia Wind, Mikal’s Funeral Parlor LLC

The Board has registered 72 new interns in 2021.

New Licensees

Licensed by Application:

• Walter Bilotta
• Kyeisha Buckland
• Branon Kincaid
• Alyssa McDonnell
• Patrick Smith
• Angela Trombetta
• Heather Urcinole
• Jennifer Zgola

The Board has licensed 31 individuals by application and seven by credentials in 2021.

New Installations

• Legacy Growney Funeral Home, Hillside; Manager, Sakina Smith

The Board has registered 12 installations in 2021.

Unlicensed Person Violation

John B. Houston, manager of Cushnie-Houston Funeral Home, signed an Offer of Settlement in Lieu of Formal Disciplinary Action and paid a $7,500.00 penalty for knowingly hiring an unlicensed individual to oversee operations of the funeral home and enabling the individual to perform, arrange and or/participate in funeral services, and accompany human remains to the place of final disposition, in violation of N.J.A.C. 13:36-5.15 and N.J.A.C. 13:36-8.10.

As a condition of the settlement, Houston was required to complete three in-person credit hours in a Board-approved course in Ethics and three in-person credit hours in a Board-approved course in New Jersey Funeral Law within six months of signing the offer.

Mortuary Registration Violation

James Robinson and Lacy Carmack Jr. paid a $5,000 penalty for actions in violation of N.J.A.C. 13:36-4.6A(a) and (b). Specific information was not available as of the date of this publication.

Continuing Education Report

The Board approved the courses listed on the meeting agenda, with several exceptions.

Next Board Meeting

The next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.

Two New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association members have won $100 gift cards for participating in an online survey concerning the 2021 Funeral Directors Convention and Expo in Atlantic City.

W. Arthur Sznyter of Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home won for participating in the attendee portion of the survey and Joseph Wood of Shook’s Cedar Grove Funeral Home won for participating in the non-attendee portion.

The survey was conducted to gather impressions of those who attended the Convention, held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino from September 22 to 23, 2021, and to gauge the reasons while others chose not to attend.

The survey found that most respondents who attended the Convention were very comfortable with the health and safety measures put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents gave their comfort level an average grade of nine out of 10.

When asked what factors respondents felt were most important at the Convention, 91 percent said educational seminars were either extremely or very important. A total of 82 percent said that socializing and networking were either extremely or very important. The Exhibit Hall also ranked very high in respondents’ priorities.

Among the respondents who did not attend the Convention, 29 percent said that COVID-19 had an impact on their decision. But 66 percent of respondents said they are planning to attend next year’s Convention.

The 2022 Funeral Directors Convention and Expo will return to Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City. The Convention will be held from Tuesday, September 20 through Thursday, September 22, 2022.

It’s an interesting way of drumming up business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A digital billboard on a truck circled the city of Charlotte, NC, before a recent NFL football game told people in striking language, “Don’t Get Vaccinated.” The ad was purported to be from a “Wilmore Funeral Home” and included a link to wilmorefuneralhome.com.

The ad did its job and created a stir, exploding with congratulatory tweets and retweets on Twitter and spurring television news reports.

“Dope ad campaign,” read one tweet.

“Wilmore Funeral Home, we applaud you! Stay lit!” read another.

Only Wilmore Funeral Home doesn’t exist in Charlotte. The ad was the brainchild of BooneOakley, an advertising agency known for edgy presentations that create buzz wherever they are seen.

David Oakley, the firm’s creative director, told CNN the ad was born during a creative meeting at BooneOakley where the lagging coronavirus vaccination rate became a topic of conversation.

“We noticed that the vaccination rate had really flattened in North Carolina … and we decided that maybe we should take this on as a passion project,” Oakley said.

Oakley said his team felt that traditional advertising efforts urging people to get vaccinated “really weren’t moving the needle, no pun intended.” Choosing a funeral home as the “advertiser” was a reminder of the potential cost of getting COVID-19.

The website, also created by BooneOakley, drove the message home: “Get vaccinated now. If not, see you soon.” The website contained one link, to a vaccine registration site.

“It’s so stark to see a message that is actually so blatant to say, ‘don’t get vaccinated,”” Oakley said. “And at first you think it’s from an anti-vaxxer group and then you read a little farther and it’s like, “What? It’s from a funeral home? Huh?”

According to CNN, the ad worked. The registration site reported a 22 percent increase in people setting up appointments to get the vaccine.

Oakley told CNN that several other cities have reached out to the firm to see if the billboard could make the rounds in their communities as well.

Our sincerest condolences to former New Jersey Governor Richard J. Codey, a member of the Essex, Union and West Hudson Funeral Directors Association, on the death of his brother, Donald R. Codey Jr.