Years ago, nearly 500 human remains were exhumed from a church cemetery in Philadelphia, PA. When will they be reinterred? France has changed the maximum time period between death and burial or cremation. And a grandfather in Australia collapsed and died immediately after the funeral for his eight-year-old grandson. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

Nearly 500 Souls Were Removed from Philly’s Old First Baptist Church Burial Ground Seven Years Ago. When Will They Be Reburied?
By Valerie Russ (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Israel Morris was 25 years old when he died on December 9, 1754. He was buried in the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia cemetery, at Second and Arch, just across the street from where Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. Today, Israel Morris’ remains, along with those of nearly 500 other Philadelphians, are stored in a climate-controlled basement in Camden, NJ, waiting for a final resting place–again. Read more here.

France Changes Its Deadline Rules for Burials and Cremations
By Zane Lilley (The Connexion)
A recent decree has changed the maximum length of time that can pass before a deceased person must be buried or cremated in France. Previously, rules stated that a person’s body must be buried or cremated within six days of the creation of a death certificate (excluding bank holidays and Sundays). However, the decree of July 11 has prolonged this to 14 days, which include Sundays and public holidays as part of the overall count. Read more here.

Unable to Afford a Burial, this Mother's Grief Is Compounded with Her Daughter Lying in a Freezer
By CBC
A grieving mother in Canada says her daughter is one of dozens of bodies being stored in Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital, lying unclaimed and prolonging the pain her family is going through. Janice Strickland said the high cost of funerals and government inaction is what's keeping her daughter in a freezer unit and not buried. Read more here.

Funeral Director Fined $350 for Undisclosed Domestic-Abuse Convictions
By Clark Kauffman (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The Iowa Board of Mortuary Science has fined a funeral director $350 for failing to report multiple criminal convictions to the board. State records indicate David Dolezal of Toledo, IA, was issued an Iowa funeral director’s license in 1989 and that he subsequently practiced mortuary science in Toledo. Read more here.

Mother in England Calls out Coroners after Daughter’s Burial Took Weeks
By Abigail Kinsella (Daily Echo)
A Bournemouth, England, mother is angry after her daughter took more than six weeks to be properly laid to rest. Read more here.

Beloved “Poppy” Collapses at Eight-Year-Old Grandson’s Funeral and Dies in Australia
By News.com.au
A grandfather has tragically collapsed at his eight-year-old grandson’s funeral and died, leaving a Sydney, Australia, family in “unimaginable pain.” The man had said farewell to his grandson–who died of cancer earlier in July–at a funeral service when he walked out of the chapel and collapsed. Read more here.

The 2024 Funeral Directors Convention and Expo is getting closer, and those wishing to attend the event, to be held from September 17 through 19 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City, have two weeks left to register at discounted prices.

The discounted registration rate will be available until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 6. Registration can be done online on the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association website. The online option will remain available until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 3, 2024. Onsite registration will also be available.

There are three different registration options for the 2024 Convention:

The 3 Day All Access Pass includes access to up to six continuing education seminars, plus Exhibit Hall access, the annual Service of Remembrance, General Session, all networking and social events and more. Those attendees 35 and under should make plans to attend the new Forward Collective networking event on Wednesday, September 18.

The Single Day Select Pass provides access to continuing education seminars, the Exhibit Hall and other scheduled Convention programming on that day.

The Exhibit Hall and Networking Pass includes access to the hall on two Convention days including meals. Don’t miss out on the Funeral Directors Round-Up and Network Bridge as well.

Tickets for Wednesday night’s Convention party, Yacht Rock Night, can be purchased separately at the time of registration.

More information on the Convention, including a list of scheduled speakers, featured events and details about the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, can be found on www.njsfda.org/convention. Make sure you register at discounted prices now so you can enjoy this year’s Convention.

For the first time in more than 50 years a New Jersey funeral director will be president of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.

Shawn’te Harvell, CFSP, a New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association member and manager of the Smith Funeral Home in Elizabeth, will lead the 100-year-old association from 2024 to 2026. The last New Jersey licensee to serve as president of the NFD&MA was Carnie Bragg, who led the association more than 50 years ago, according to Harvell.

Harvell is a graduate of the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service and is licensed in New Jersey and New York.

The NFD&MA has a rich history of funeral service, having assisted throughout epidemics, natural disasters and horrific events such as the Jim Jones massacre in Guyana in 1978 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The association is dedicated to education, advocacy and service.

Harvell’s term as NFD&MA president adds another task to his already full plate. In addition to being the manager of Smith Funeral Home, he has served as an adjunct professor, is vice president of Essex Union and West Hudson Funeral Directors Association and is on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Funeral Service Education Corporation.

The average annual salary for licensed funeral home owners and licensed non-owners in New Jersey dipped in 2023, after record gains the previous year, settling in at levels more in line with previous reports, according to the Thanexus 2023 Year in Review.

The 2023 Year in Review features information gathered by Thanexus, the first funeral practice management cooperative in the country. The report details average yearly compensation for employees of shareholders for whom Thanexus provides payroll and benefits services.

According to the report, based on information gathered in the spring of 2024, licensed funeral home owners reported an average annual salary of $133,652 in 2023, a decrease from the $145,007 reported in 2022. The 2023 number, however, is still ahead of the average of $132,247 reported for 2021.

Licensed non-owners also saw a decrease in their average salary, from $92,634 in 2022 to $87,967 in 2023. The 2021 average for licensed non-owners was $88,205. Newly licensed non-owners did see a slight increase in average salary, from $68,385 in 2022 to $69,765 in 2023.

Clerical and administrative staff, funeral attendants and interns all saw their hourly compensation rate increase in 2023. Clerical and administrative staff pay increased from $24.23 per hour in 2022 to $24.32 in 2023. Funeral attendants’ pay rose from $21.58 to $24.03 per hour, and interns increased from $20.98 to $21.38.

Thanexus uses actual W-2 wage data to calculate average and median salaries for several categories of employees, making it one of the most accurate barometers of funeral home employee compensation available. In 2023, Thanexus shared employment with and administered benefits for the 856 employees of its 70 shareholders in 124 registered mortuaries across 107 worksites, for a combined annual payroll of $35.5 million. A total of 285 of those workers are licensed funeral directors.

New Jersey’s licensed funeral directors enjoyed wages that were well above the national average wage for morticians, undertakers and funeral arrangers in May 2023, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nationally, this group of funeral professionals makes an average wage of $58,020, the BLS report states. State-level statistics show that the funeral professionals group made an average wage of $66,270, according to the BLS.

Thanexus declared $332,228 in patronage dividends for 2023. Of that figure, $249,171 will be returned to shareholders in cash distributions with the remaining $87,057 allocated as member equity. Over the past 23 years, there has been more than $3 million in patronage dividends declared, of which more than $1.8 million was returned to shareholders in cash distributions.

The Thanexus retirement plan posted strong gains in 2023, ending the year with $120 million in total plan assets for its 481 participants. The average account balance for a plan participant in the 40-59 age group was $326,061. The average weighted expense ratio of the retirement plan is .3 percent, well below the national average, according to the Investment Company Institute.

To view the details of how Thanexus provides invaluable services to its shareholders, find the 2023 Thanexus State of the Industry report here.

Interested in learning more about the Thanexus advantage?

Contact Chris Murphy at 888.309.5137 for a confidential discussion about how Thanexus can help your funeral home with its benefit offerings and staff oversight.

The New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association is pleased to announce the 2024–2025 Board of Directors, who will take office effective September 1, 2024.

2024-2025 NJSFDA Board of Directors

• Tara M. Scarponi-Danniballe, President
• Ryan M. Buckland, President-Elect
• Samuel C. Arnold, 1st Vice President
• Daniel Bitecola, III, CFSP, 2nd Vice President
• John K. Baltz, Secretary/Treasurer
• Kyle P. Ledford, Sr., CFSP, Delegate-at-Large
• Rosa E. Hernandez, Delegate-at-Large
• Joseph L. Wood, CFSP, Delegate-at-Large
• William Smith, Delegate-at-Large
• Frank R. Galante, Immediate Past President

NJSFDA District Officers

• Andrew Nimmo, Bergen FDA President
• Thomas E. Weber, Jr., Burlington FDA President
• Joseph L. Wood, CFSP, Essex, Union & West Hudson FDA President
• John Lawton, Hudson FDA President
• Scott C. Larkin, Mercer FDA President
• Jennifer L. Burry, Middlesex & Somerset FDA President
• Bruce A. Polcino, Monmouth & Ocean FDA President
• Erik J. Schneider, Morris FDA President
• Roy B. Garretson, Passaic FDA President
• Richard L. Maguire, III, Tri-County FDA President
• Michael DeStefano, West Jersey FDA President

The New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association has mailed notices seeking updated information for its 2024-2025 Membership Directory.

A Directory Change Request is included in the notice, which members can use to make any changes or updates to their information. Members should fax the Directory Change Request, noting any changes, by August 9, 2024 to NJSFDA Membership Services at 732.974.8144.

Members must include a unique email address where they can receive online event registrations and payment confirmations, password notifications, weekly FORUM Bulletins and more. If your funeral home shares one email address, you will miss important NJSFDA communications and announcements.

If the Membership Services department does not receive a response by August 9, 2024 it will be assumed that the member information on file is correct and the existing data will be published in the Membership Directory.

The Membership Directory is available online. A print version will be distributed to funeral homes in the fall.

If you have any questions, contact Membership Services at 732.974.9444.