Dowd Enjoys Challenges, Rewards As Funeral Director
Tracy Dowd of Ozark Funeral Home, with 23 years of experience as an embalmer and funeral director, loves her job.
Her desire to become a funeral director goes back to childhood. Her father died when her mother was pregnant with her, and they talked about death a lot, she said. She always wanted to be a funeral director.
“It was a man’s field back in the day,” she said. Only six women graduated mortuary college with her, and only two got jobs in the field. The other women’s parents owned funeral homes, she noted.
Dowd served her apprenticeship with Ozark Funeral Home and stayed with the Home for 10 years. Then she co-owned and operated Walker-Dowd Funeral Home for eight years. Now she has been back with Ozark Funeral Home for five years.
“I don’t know how to do anything else. I do love my job,”
she said.
Asked about the complexity of a funeral, she said, “People don’t realize what we do behind the scenes. My professor in college compared a funeral to a wedding. But you normally plan a wedding six months in advance. You do a funeral in three days.”
Activities going on behind the scenes include: “The phone calls, the death certificate, the paperwork, you have to wash the cars, DVD tributes.”
She also noted ( Ozark Funeral Home owner) “B.J. Goodwin runs a tight ship.”
“You’re on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” she said. “We take turns, but when I was at Walker-Dowd Funeral Home, I was it. I had one week’s vacation. You’re up at 2 a.m. running to Joplin or wherever to pick up someone’s loved one.”
Asked if customers ever get overwhelmed by the process, she said, “That’s what we’re there for — to guide them through that process. We try for families not to become overwhelmed.”
She noted that is part of the reason why pre-arrangement is so important. Planning a funeral with no idea what the person would have wanted can be overwhelming.
“Not everyone wants to preplan their own funeral,” she said. In contrast, “One lady was so in detail, I was supposed to bring the baked beans to the funeral dinner.”
Dowd said, “I just love working with the families. By the end of the funeral, you’re pretty much a part of the family.”
Another thing she loves about her job is that “every day is a different day,” she said.
“I like the background work, too,” she said. “I love embalming. Just trying to make their loved one as beautiful as you can.”
Asked about her plans, Dowd said, “Funeral directors work until they die. They don’t retire. I hope to retire someday, though.”