By Garrett Otto
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May 18, 2023
Last month, on a cold February morning, I attended the funeral Mass of a colleague. As I sat in a pew, listening to the priest’s homily, in which he referenced the deceased’s work for the community, my thoughts turned to another colleague – and friend – we lost a month earlier. Andrea was a legend in funeral service in New York City. The daughter of a popular Brooklyn funeral director, she followed in his footsteps at a time when female funeral directors were rare. As her father had done before her, she hewed to tradition and ritual, and reinforced those values in her practices. A signature of Andrea’s funerals was the shoulder carry: six pallbearers hoisting the casket atop their shoulders in a position of honor for a slow and solemn march down the center aisle of the church. It is a time-honored ritual that evokes a great deal of emotion and often brings tears to the eyes of the mourners.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.