Curiosity, empathy, and suppression: J.A. Funk on what it takes to run a funeral home in 2021
John Allan Funk has been seeing dead people since he was 10 years old. His father began working in a funeral home when Funk was just a child. That funeral home was located in the very building that he now owns.
“I was a little 10- year old- boy,” Funk said. “It was very intriguing to me.”
That was 1965. In 2000, Funk was able to buy the building on Ash St. where he still works today.
Years ago, the building was struck by lightning and partially burned. Because of its steel frame, most of the building was still intact. “I bought it, did an extensive renovation, and opened in February of 2001,” Funk said. “That’s been 20 years.” Come November, Funk will have been in the mortuary business for 47 years.
Funk left Malvern for 20 years gaining work experience and education, but his hometown kept pulling him back.
“I went to Dallas to mortuary school and I worked at funeral homes in Benton, Little Rock, then Pine Bluff,” Funk said. “Then I decided it was time to come home.”
Being the head of a funeral home is always serious business, but things got even more serious when COVID- 19 hit. Funk had to implement several changes in his process in order to stay safe.
“We were going by the directives by the CDC and Arkansas State Health Department,” said Funk. “We had to limit capacity of patrons in the building, and most everybody understood that.”
J. A. Funk Funeral Home hosted graveside services all throughout the pandemic, but no visitations were held. “We served a number of families that lost loved ones to COVID which was “quite tragic, because most of them I knew and had known for a long time,” Funk said.
Funk knew the danger of the pandemic, but he and his staff were still dedicated in serving Malvern. “I was scared for myself and my employees because it was spreading so fast,” he said.
“We got our vaccinations in January, and I’m still kind of skeptical,” said Funk. Just two days ago, he put signs out on the funeral home’s doors instructing non- vaccinated visitors to mask up. “The cases are increasing,” Funk said. “Nobody has really argued about that because I’m trying to watch out for their safety as well as mine.”
While many businesses stopped their daily routines during the pandemic, Funk knew that it was imperative that he kept doing his job. Safety was one concern during the nationwide panic, of course, but another difficulty came in informing families of new ways of honoring their deceased.
“It was very difficult,” said Funk, “but it was just a matter of fact.” Funk printed out guidelines from the Arkansas State Health Department and the CDC and went over them in detail with bereaved families.
One may think that families may have put up a fight in order to best honor their loved ones, but that wasn’t the case. “I didn’t have any backlash from anybody at all,” Funk said. “This profession is different than anything else and that just goes along with it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is very much at the forefront of Funk’s mind. “It’s more dangerous than a lot of people are willing to believe,” he said. “All you have got to do is get vaccinated. You might get sick, but you are not going to get sick enough to be on a vent and die. Be wise and get a vaccination. Don’t let it be political, just let it be for your own safety and the safety of those around you, the people that you love.”
Funk has always known that there would be struggles in the day- to- day life of a funeral home operator, but he has nonetheless been drawn to the profession since a young age. The man that owned the funeral home in the mid1960s lived in the upstairs apartment in the home. He had kids that went to grade school with Funk, so naturally a young Funk would find himself over at the home often.
“I would find myself slipping down the stairs, nosing around,” Funk said. “I probably went places and saw things I shouldn’t have as a 10- year- old kid.”
Interest in the macabre wasn’t all that piqued Funk’s interest, however. In the 1960s, the funeral home still had a running emergency ambulance service.
“I would get to ride in the front of the ambulance as they were transporting someone to the hospital,” Funk elaborated. “There were no seat belts and no speed limits for an emergency vehicle in 1965, and I thought it was kind of fun.”
“One time this guy James was driving,” Funk said, “and my daddy was in the back keeping someone stabilized. I looked at one point going up old 67, you know it was two lanes and not really straight, and we were going ninety miles and hour. Boy, that was fun for a 10- year- old kid.”
Apart from thrilling excursions to the emergency room, Funk also gained a lot of other knowledge from hanging out at the home. “I would watch from a distance what they were doing in the preparation room,” he explained, “and I would listen to how they were dealing with the families as far as arrangements were concerned and I just thought ‘ I think I can do this’.”
Funk loves his job, but there is perhaps no other position that is as emotionally taxing as his. “I didn’t give myself the opportunity before I came back home to pause and think ‘ well what’s it going to do to you to deal with the people you’ve grown up with?’” Funk continued, “well buddy, it’ll hit you in the face like a frying pan, I guarantee you.”
“We grieve,” Funk said. “We’re humans, just like the rest of you. We have to learn to suppress our emotions when we’re dealing with someone we’re close to.”
“Trust me, there’s a time when we deal with those emotions,” said Funk. “It’s not in front of everybody, but we can hold it until we can’t hold it any longer. It hurts, it really does.”