'The act of rebellion for a funeral director is to seek something that's surrounded by life,' he said. But Wilde didn't want to follow his ancestors into the family business. It turns out, a lot has shifted including the stake he holds in his family business. Wilde's mother and father were like their community's own Romeo and Juliet when they married, their families ran competing funeral homes. I wanted to know what’s changed in Caleb’s life since we talked last year. He writes the popular blog Confessions of a Funeral Director, and recently completed postgraduate work at Winchester University, England, in the program, “Death, Religion and Culture.” He has been featured in top media outlets, including the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, and Time magazine, and on NPR, NBC, and ABC's 20/20. It’s been about a year since I visited Caleb at the Wilde Funeral Home in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania. 5 books64 followers Caleb Wilde is a partner at his family’s business, Wilde Funeral Home, in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, where he lives. About the Author:Ĭaleb Wilde is a partner at his family’s business, Wilde Funeral Home, in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, where he lives. Through stories like these, told with equal parts humor and poignancy, Wilde offers an intimate look into the business and a new perspective on living and dying. The community of people with different beliefs who came together at last at the funeral to support their loved one Formalin is 40 percent formaldehyde, says Caleb Wilde, author of Confessions of a Funeral Director and a sixth-generation funeral director in Pennsylvania.The nursing home that honored a woman’s life by standing in procession as her body was taken away.The embalming of a little girl that offered a gift back to her grieving family.The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial.A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed: He wanted to make a difference in the world, and how could he do that if all the people he worked with were… dead? Slowly, he discovered that caring for the deceased and their loved ones was making a difference-in other people’s lives to be sure, but it also seemed to be saving his own. He had planned to get as far away from the family business as possible. Sixth-generation funeral director Caleb Wilde understands this reticence and fear. A spirituality of death began to emerge as he observed: The family who lovingly dressed their deceased father for his burial The act of embalming a little girl that offered a gift back to her. While humans are biologically wired to evade death for as long as possible, we have become too adept at hiding from it, vilifying it, and when it can be avoided no longer, letting the professionals take over.
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