Published: July 11, 2008 09:39 pm            

Baril honored for his 40 years as a licensed funeral director

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON —A local funeral home director was awarded recently for his contribution to funeral service and to the Illinois community.

Raymond Baril, of Newell Funeral Home in Mt. Vernon and Waltonville, was honored as a 40 year licensee of funeral service at the Illinois Funeral Directors Association convention held in Schaumburg on Tuesday, June 24.

Baril said he began his career in funeral service at a young age. He was dating a girl whose father was good friends with a funeral director and commented that Baril had a “good personality.”

Though Baril wasn’t quite sure whether he possessed the personality or not, he decided to go to school. “I graduated in 1966 and started working September 1966 as an apprentice for Harold Myers [now Johnston’s].”

It was a difficult time for some students, he said, as the military draft had been implemented due to the Vietnam conflict. “You either got drafted or stayed in school.” And while Baril kept studying for his state board exam, the military kept assessing —and deferring — his draft papers.

Two years later, in 1968, Baril passed his exam and received his license. “The Army drafted me immediately.”

He would serve a year overseas in Vietnam in Graves Registration. “It was more escort work —making sure personal effects went with the deceased.” Baril received a hardship discharge in 1969, after his father was diagnosed with cancer. When he came back home, he went back to work for Myers, eventually buying the business.

He operated his own funeral home business from 1976 to 1984, when he sold the business to Johnston’s.

“I invested in a vending machine company, but still kept my license. I retired and went to work for Jason [Newell] in 2000.”

And though he is only employed on a part time basis, he says his goal is to serve families in times of sorrow.

“It’s a big gratification that you’re helping someone in their time of need,” he said. “We think of everything the family needs to know.” He added that in the funeral service industry, funeral directors strive to help families undergo less stress, so they can celebrate the life of their loved ones.

A celebration, he says, that some critics didn’t understand.

In the early 60’s, British journalist Jessica Mitford investigated the funeral home industry, which resulted in her work, “The American Way of Death” —a piece that Baril remembers well from school.

“Mitford was a detriment to the funeral home business. She looked at [funerals] from a different perspective. I think it was a denial on her part. Maybe some [directors] were ‘left handed’ —she was just so negative. She didn’t recognize the need to celebrate life.”

He said as a funeral director, making sure the family’s wishes are seen to is always a concern. “I’m always worried. When you have a funeral, you only have one chance to do it right [for a family]. Weddings can be done over —but for a family, the funeral has to be perfect.”

Baril added that he still receives comments or visits from families he has provided services for in the past. “Some people still come back and say, ‘I remember when you took care of my mom,’ or ‘I remember when you took care of my dad.’”

He said those compliments are the ones that let him know he’s helped a family.

Of his award, Baril says he was excited. “I was pretty impressed. We had a luncheon and there were others recognized also for 50 years of service. There were about 20 to 25 of us at Schaumburg.”

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association was founded in 1881 by funeral directors “seeking a common voice, a way to share information, ideas and methods and to protect themselves and consumers through legislation,” information states. The organization is considered as growing into “one of the biggest and most successful” state funeral directors associations in the country, with over 750 members statewide.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.