Though everyone

will one day need it, nobody wants the services of a funeral home. In

fact, no one really wants to consider mortality, either their own or that

of a loved one.

Death is an

inevitability, though, and when it comes, people must seek out the services

of a funeral home and confront the issues of death and dying. While there

are lots of questions surrounding these issues, one question that is rarely

asked is, "How does one get interested in and choose a career in

funeral services?"

For most it

is a family business, passed down from generation to generation, but for

others, like C.J. Mowell of Fayetteville, it was a calling and something

he had to strike out on his own to do.

"My father

was a Baptist preacher and I would go to lots of funerals with him,"

said Mowell. "I rode with the flower vans and got to know a lot of

the funeral directors. From an early age I knew I had a desire to do this."

Mowell's father

wanted him to get an education and also harbored hopes of him following

in his footsteps. Mowell attended Georgia State University for a year

and then went to Mercer for a year before deciding he was not satisfied

and would not go back in the fall. He got a job at Carmichael's Funeral

Home in East Point, where he got his apprenticeship, and then attended

Cincinnati College of Embalming where he graduated cum laude, won an award

for restorative art and passed his national boards.

When he returned

to Georgia in 1962, he had to take and pass the state boards, as they

did not recognize the national boards. In December of 1962, Mowell received

his license. For the next two years he worked for homes in Decatur and

Newnan, but it was time for a change. He wanted to go in business for

himself.

In February

of 1964, the Mowell funeral home in Fayetteville opened. Mowell's father

bought the house for his son and would later come to work for him. It

was the first full-service home in the city, meaning they did the embalming

on-site, which was rare at the time. The ground floor of the home was

the funeral home, while he and his family lived upstairs. Back then, funeral

homes also operated as ambulance businesses. While Mowell would often

go out and pick people up in the ambulance, they were often brought to

other funeral homes, which made for a very trying and lean first year.

"All a

funeral home has is its reputation, which we did not have in our first

year," said Mowell. "For many people, they will use the funeral

home the family has always used."

In the first

year, the Mowell funeral home had two funerals, one of which was for a

member of their own family. In comparison, they have had close to 200

funerals this year.

The home continued

to grow as Mowell built up a reputation in the community. In 1966, he

was elected to the position of county coroner and he continues to serve

that role today. Mowell's father got his funeral director's license in

1968 and within 10 years the home had expanded, adding a chapel and several

other rooms. The community was starting to grow, which meant new people

with new traditions and requirements for funeral services. In 1964, when

the home opened, Mowell estimates there were 8,000 people in the county,

compared to the 100,000 residents today.

The industry

itself was also changing, as corporations began buying independent funeral

homes and running them with shared equipment and employees. Mowell refused

a lucrative offer for his business and continued to offer his community

the services they needed.

"I could

have taken the offer and been very rich, but then what would I do?"

Mowell said. "This is my calling."

In 1982, Mowell

was invited to join the National Selected Morticians organization, which

is now called Selected Independent Funeral Homes and is an international

organization that holds its members up to the highest standards in the

world. Mowell considered it an honor to be invited to join the very select

group and by 1997 he was elected to the board. Three years later he was

elected president of the organization and has the distinction of holding

the office for two terms as the events of Sept. 11, 2001, delayed the

changing of the office at the annual meeting the following month.

Mowell has

expanded his funeral home service to Peachtree City and now has his son,

David, working with him and following in his footsteps. They have gone

from one car, which was a combined hearse and ambulance, to three hearses,

and from one station wagon that doubled as a flower van to four flower

vans. He and his wife, Faye, raised four children above the funeral home,

but today, no one lives there.

Mowell admits

that it hasn't always been easy working in a funeral home, as the phone

can and does ring at all hours of the day, 365 days a year. He even remembers

a Christmas morning or two that had to be delayed because duty called,

but he wouldn't change a thing.

While the government

has put more rules and regulations on the industry since the FTC Funeral

Rule of 1984, other changes Mowell has seen include the addition of municipal

EMS, which took him and other funeral home directors out of the ambulance

business, and the addition of people of many different ethnicities and

faiths coming to the county.

"All of

the services at the beginning were Protestant," said Mowell, who

believes he has performed services for nearly every denomination. Over

the years he has learned an enormous amount about the beliefs of others

and finds that generally, people are all the same.

Both Mowell

and George Clark, executive director of Selected Independent Funeral Homes,

have also seen a growing trend in the personalization of services, making

it more meaningful and reflecting the life of the deceased. Clark cited

one example which was for a race car driver and took place at a race track.

The ceremony took place at the finish line and the hearse did a final

lap around the track.

Mowell has

not conducted a service that odd, but he has seen a disturbing trend of

some people devaluing the importance of a funeral service, opting for

a cremation and no service. Mowell feels that this does not give people

closure and does not allow for the grief process to begin.

"The value

of a funeral service is far more than perceived," said Mowell. "It

gives people the opportunity to share their loss with the community. Shared

grief is diminished grief."

There are certainly

topics that are more cheerful than death, but Mowell remains upbeat and

positive in a job many would find depressing. He works with a staff of

family and friends and is assured that he and his colleagues offer the

best service possible to people at one of the lowest moments in their

life.

"We treat

others as we would want to be treated in this situation," said Mowell.

"We are a family and we treat clients like members of the family."

Mowell has

a plaque on the wall near the entrance of the funeral home, which features

a quote by Gladstone that states, "Show me the manner in which a

nation or community cares for its dead, and I will measure with mathematical

exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the law

of the land and their loyalty to high ideals." It is obvious that

Mowell holds the community in high esteem and only wishes to serve it

to the best of his abilities.