Record-Setting Phone Call at The Ira Kaufman Chapel

I recently received a phone call from Florida from a woman who sounded along in years.

She started with, “My mother is determined to pay her funeral expenses, so that the costs come from her own money, not from funds from my older sister and me.”

As we proceeded with the conversation, I asked if we had buried her father. Apparently we had. I looked up our records and noticed her father was born in 1899. Figuring that her father would have celebrated his 111th birthday, if he were still alive today, I asked how old her mother actually was. She is about ready to celebrate her 106th birthday.

Now very curious, I asked, “You mentioned your older sister. Slap me over the phone if this is an inappropriate question, but how old is your older sister?”

The caller answered, “My mother had my sister when she was 19, so she is now 86.” "Slap me over the phone if this, too, is an inappropriate question, but how old are you?” I inquired. Her response? “I just turned 84.”

She then took charge of the discussion. “As long as you are so inquisitive, I have a question for you. What was the age of the oldest person buried through your funeral home.”

I pulled up a record card for Jack Halperin and explained that, if her mother could hang on for another 19 months, she would assume the impressive distinction of being the oldest person buried through The Ira Kaufman Chapel. I then told her, “Even if your mother is not able to achieve the age of 108, one record I know will stand and I imagine will outlive me is that you and your sister will be the oldest siblings to arrange a service for their mother.”

Most people perceive my job as being very sad and depressing. Every time I think of this conversation, I can only smile. I had the feeling that, when we take this arrangement from pre-need to at-need, there will be a sense of appreciation for the extraordinary years granted to these ladies who have outlived the mortality tables while caring for their 106 year-old mother.