WilbertEDU® Sessions for November
On November 4, join the WilbertEDU webinar series and hear Pat Lynch CFSP, Funeral Director, President, and Co-Founder of the Lynch and Sons Funeral Home in Clawson, Michigan. This is one of several funeral homes owned and operated by the Lynch family.
Pat will be speaking on The Importance of the Graveside Service. In our transient, mobile society where many families live apart from one another, those times when we come back together are treasured. This includes when a loved one dies, and family and friends gather to mourn the passing and commemorate the life. One of the most meaningful ceremonies is a graveside service, where you go the distance, accompany your loved one to the grave, to say your final goodbyes.
Pat, born and raised in Michigan, is an active member of many funeral service associations, and served as President of both the Michigan Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association from 2010-2011. One of his focuses in association work has been consumer protection and as president of the Michigan association, he helped to pass landmark consumer protection legislation and he is a founding member of the Preneed with Integrity Task Force of the National Funeral Directors Association.
Pat and the Lynch family were instrumental in the filming of the Frontline PBS Documentary, The Undertaking! Cameras were allowed into Lynch and Sons to give the audience a rare, behind-the-scenes look at life as a funeral director.
The film takes you on a journey starting with the initial call, through the funeral, and concluding with accompanying the deceased to the final place of rest. If you have not seen this documentary, you need to! Pat knows that while difficult, the graveside committal service is a most rewarding experience. Families value the graveside service at the cemetery “as important as” or “more important than” the service conducted at the funeral home or chapel.
As a final gesture, many families opt to stay until the vault is sealed and lowered into the grave, perhaps even taking a shovel of earth and placing it into the grave. Pat will share his insight into this most important part of the funeral and why you should encourage your families to go to the graveside to say goodbye. Pat always emphasizes the importance of accompanying the deceased from their place of death to their place of final rest, the gravesite. He will share how you can make the graveside committal service more meaningful to the families you serve as they say their final goodbye.
This webinar is one you should not miss!
On November 18, Linda Stuart joins the WilbertEDU stage again for Self-Connect to Re-Connect.
Funeral Professionals spend their careers catering to the tender needs of others. They are a beacon of light who serve all day long, and likely go home to rinse and repeat. By being everything for everyone else, their wells dry up, their oxygen runs out and over time, they can slowly lose themselves. Linda is a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant, a Reinvention Life Coach, Writer, and Speaker who is passionate about creating transformational experiences. She has crafted many ceremonies to celebrate life, mourn death, mark milestones, and cross thresholds. Since childhood, she has been immersed in the bereavement sector through her father’s business and realizes that as caregivers, we are so plugged into others that we can lose the ability to assess and access our own needs and desires. This combination of living on autopilot and disconnection from self can result in feelings of isolation, emptiness, and confusion. And no, the answers are not floating in a large glass of wine or hiding in a tub of Ben & Jerry's.
Linda teaches us to make ourselves a priority by listening to the wisdom within us, exploring our inner world, and honoring our own needs, we can restore balance and connection to who we are and live a more passionate, authentic, and joyful life.
Poul Lemasters rejoins the WilbertEDU Stage on December 2, to talk about a very a popular topic, Funeral Ethics, and Law for the Deathcare Provider. Poul’s professional career covers both funeral service and law. He has worked in the funeral profession for over 25 years and holds both a funeral director’s license and embalmer’s license in Ohio and West Virginia. His deathcare experience includes managing both small and large funeral homes and working with both independent and corporately owned funeral homes. He remains active in local, state, and national funeral and cemetery associations.
As an attorney, Poul is admitted to practice law in both Ohio and Kentucky. His focus in deathcare began as Corporate Counsel for Alderwoods, where he advised on the various funeral home, cemetery, and crematory issues, including regulatory, licensing, and litigation. He currently works with funeral homeowners, funeral directors, embalmers, cemeteries, cemeterians, cremationists, and crematory owners. He assists in areas of legal, compliance, regulatory, litigation, and operational issues. Poul also serves in various roles with national groups, knowing that as deathcare providers, we are trained to help. Sometimes when we focus on helping, we can unwillingly create problems. Unfortunately, what we perceive as good intentions cannot protect us when it comes to the law. In today’s world, ethical dilemmas are becoming a common problem that ultimately becomes public, which can alter the definitions of what is ethical and what is not.
Poul details real-life scenarios, how ethics can break a company, then will demonstrate how to develop ethical guidelines for success. Let Poul help you, your business, your employees, understand how ethics can build or break any company. Ethics aren't simply subjective thoughts; they are objective baselines that must be measured. Join us as Poul educates the audience on the world of ethics in funeral service today!