<Begin Segment 10>

JG: So going back, it's really interesting, 'cause you said that you were working the mortuary since you were seventeen years old.

GF: Correct, I was going to SC at the time, and I would work at the mortuary during the summer and during the winter so that I could have my own funds -- my parents paid for my tuition, but I would have my own funds to subsist on for my, my own personal things. Going skiing or eating.

JG: So at what point, I'm just trying to get a sense of what does a young person do in a mortuary? I mean, were you working with, were you working with the deceased at all?

GF: Uh-huh.

JG: You were.

GF: That's where I started out in the bottom of the totem pole, so I would dress the, help dress the remains. I would help our embalmer cosmetize them, place 'em in the caskets. I would, when the caskets would be delivered, I would receive the caskets. Every day we would clean the car, the funeral cars, 'cause they would get dusty, so I'd clean them or gas them up. And then as someone would pass away at a facility, a hospital or a residence, I would go pick up the remains.

JG: So at seventeen, did that have any kind of impact on you? I mean, had you seen many dead people?

GF: Oh, yeah.

JG: You had? So it wasn't anything unusual to you?

GF: No, I think, as I mentioned, we used to go there when we were young after church, and so I did see a lot of human remains. So when I actually started working in the mortuary and I actually had to be physical with them it never really bothered me. There are some times it, it is unpleasant, depending... not everyone passes away from old age. You have your car accidents, for example, you have your, maybe decomposition... we've had our cases where they didn't know the person passed away. The only reason why they did is maybe the postman noticed an odor coming out of the house, something like that. Or suicides, things like that. Then sometimes it's kind of unnerving to handle that.

JG: Did your father give you any instructions about how to deal with human remains, or did he talk to you about the importance of respect or dignity?

GF: No, he didn't have to, 'cause I already showed them, I mean, I already knew. I've always been that way where I respect everyone and everything, am very compassionate of people. You asked me do I remember anything when I was young, I do remember one thing when I was growing up and my father -- I had to have been fifteen, sixteen -- took me into the mortuary to show me someone who had passed away in an auto accident, young kid who had passed away in an auto accident and the accident, during the accident he was burned. And so he showed me that, and I think he was racing and so my father thought, "Well, this is a good thing to show my son to make him realize the dangers of, of driving." And so he showed that to me. I still drove crazy, but I was a teenager so... [Laughs] but I do remember that. I remember that. That did have an impact on -- no, I was, I probably was careful. I was always careful driving. I had my, my moments, but I was usually very careful.

JG: What are, what are some aspects of the job that you, you didn't enjoy?

GF: Well, I didn't mind working in what we call the morgue, dressing, cosmetizing, but of course after I graduated I would hope I would do something... it wasn't the type of work I would've liked to have done. I probably would've liked to have done something a little more clerical, at least. The other aspect, I think probably one other main aspect was the responsibility of always having to be there and that, the mortuary back then, we were a lot smaller. The staff was a lot smaller, so there were times that you may have plans, you may have a weekend planned, and you would have to cancel it because we would have to service our families, so that was kind of difficult. That was probably one area I didn't like that much in that it did take away from some of my free time.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.