Casketeers shed light on their lives
What's not to like about The Casketeers? That of course is Francis and Kaiora Tipene, the wonderfully warm couple who, via their telly doco/reality show of the same name, have lifted the shroud masking death. In doing so they've revealed with honesty what goes on once a body's consigned to a funeral director's care.
A lot has been learnt from that award winning show that's hit the Netflix international jackpot and is now into its third series.
But there's still a lot more to the Tipenes' story to be told as this book, written in association with journalist/ editor Paul Little, reveals.
This warm-hearted couple with their instantly likeable personalities open up about their lives before The Casketeers, divulging what's made them the people we see and admire.
Of Ma¯ ori and Tongan parentage, Francis' growing up years were with his koro and kuia (grandparents) in remote Northland, theirs was a whare without power or water. We are talking here of relatively recent times, Francis is still in his 30s.
Life was centred around the wha¯ nau marae where the traditional rituals surrounding tangihanga (funerals) were instilled in him for his earliest years.
Kaiora's also a product of the North. Although not flash, her home was less basic than her husband's.
The combination gives a clue to the approach each has to the business they've founded and empathy they have with its predominantly Ma¯ ori and Pacific Island clientele.
Both stories are frankly told. By 17 and while still at boarding school, Francis had fathered a child, the first of six sons, five with Kaiora.
His upbringing was strictly Catholic, Kaiora's of the Mormon faith. A condition of their marriage was that Francis converted, despite his kuia's intense disapproval.
Following the birth of her fifth son, Francis Jnr, Kaiora suffered severe postnatal depression.
It's these no-holds-barred peeks into the Tipenes' background and their commitment to others at a time they're raw and grieving that combine to create a unique success story. What more needs to be said than repeat the cover's tagline: “What the business of death can teach the living.”