Keeping Tradition
Quest for flawless service But regardless of cultures old or new, there is no room for compromise: “This is one of the few businesses where you have to be perfect 100 percent of the time,” he said. “You don’t get a second shot at it. You have to get it right the first time, every time.” The Garretson family believes that grief support goes beyond assisting with the typical funeral arrangements. Staff will help the families with whatever has to be done, even if that includes taking someone to run last-minute errands. Garretson said that the goal is to “try to take everything off of their plate and just let them be with their family.” For that reason alone, Shook prides itself on being a truly full service funeral home. The service outreach can begin by accessing Shook’s website, shookfh.com, which offers guidance for various services, including local florists, hotels and lodging, monuments, nearby cemeteries, newspaper and media links, grief resources beyond those offered by Shook itself, and government resources. Some of Shook’s own grief support also extends to accommodating those perhaps too young to fully grieve, at least at an adult level. In 2011, the Garretsons decided to remove the downstairs smoking chapel and add a small children’s room with toys and a television for watching movies. “We felt that a children’s room would be best to suit the needs of the families.” said Roy Garretson. “It allows them to be here while their parents are nearby so that [parents] do not have the added worry about getting a babysitter during the services.” To assist parents with children cognizant of the mourning about them, so a table outside the room offers literature for families explaining how to answer children’s questions about death. Such concerns may be an outgrowth of a change of approach among grieving families, seeking to add personal touches, such as playing a favorite song of the deceased. Some families also like to place a token item near the casket that pays tribute to who the person was. Thomas Garretson recalled when Shook oversaw a funeral where the family had brought a Harley Davidson motorcycle into the home’s largest chapel because the deceased was a biker. He believes such accommodating 60 November 2015 • Clifton Merchant
A painting of the Shook Funeral Home, circa 1920.
service is part of the reason why such a large number of funeral homes are still operating as family businesses today. Big corporations might be predisposed not to address such personal touches of accommodation. Indeed, Shook is currently one of eight funeral homes operating in the City of Clifton, a fairly competitive number even for a city the size of Clifton. The competition is serious but friendly, Thomas Garretson said. “We have a mutual respect for each other,” Garretson noted. “A lot of funeral homes have had the same owners for generations, and they are very good operators. This also makes it good for the consumer, since it keeps the prices down in an expensive field.” The competition also pushes Shook to innovate, often through technological advances and offerings which carry both pros and cons. “Technology has been an asset and a liability,” Garretson said. It’s harder to maintain older buildings, and some of the core of the [Shook] building is from the 1890s. It has not been easy to install the proper wiring for Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities to be able to stream music and video.” Shook also offers computer set-up capability during services that will display a photo montage of pictures that they have provided. Another trend is to use Skype to stream the funeral services to those relatives who are unable to travel to Clifton. In that case, Shook Funeral Home is not just another local business in Clifton, but a helpful member of the community it serves, reaching out to Clifton expatriates and to hometown residents alike.