Biz New Orleans November 2018

by a big outside company.” (Lake TOP: Patrick Schoen, fifth generation of Lawn Metairie is part of a network the the Schoen family to run of licensed funeral home, cremation Jacob Schoen & Son and cemetery providers based out funeral home, shows a special lamp that of Texas that includes more than off features a red hue at 2,000 locations.) the bottom designed To stay competitive, Schoen to make the deceased look better. BOTTOM: focuses on what sets his family’s The business’s original business apart, which he says is not founders: (left to just a deeply rooted New Orleans right) Philip J. Schoen Sr., Jacob Schoen legacy, but the kind of hospitality and Henry Frantz. and friendliness the city is famed for.

“We do things differently here,” he says. “We know that and we’re proud of that. For the first 115 years, every funeral was done exactly the same way. Now, it’s all about personalization.”

Schoen says that in a city known for “putting the ‘fun’ in funeral,” the focus now, more than ever, is to have a final goodbye to a loved one serve as more of a celebration of life than a mourning of death.

“We host jazz bands and parties,” he says, “and then, of course, there are instances like with Mickey Easterling’s funeral, where we can get really creative.”

In a 2014 funeral that gained worldwide media attention for its outrageousness, New Orleans socialite Mickey Easterling was placed not in a casket, but per her request was sitting upright on a wrought-iron bench inside the Saenger Theatre.

“She was always the life of the party, so we created one big final party,” Schoen says. “She was surrounded by orchids with a champagne glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other.”

Out-of-the-ordinary requests have become much more common, Schoen says.

“We had one lady who just wanted to have her foot panel open at her funeral because she always had her toes done nice.”

No matter the request, Schoen says there’s nothing he and his staff of 15 won’t do.

“When I go to conferences and conventions, everyone wants to hear about what we’re doing, in New Orleans,” he says. “The jazz bands, the parties — they think we’re crazy, but to me it’s always about making sure our customers get exactly what they want, whatever that may be.”

When it comes to setting up his showroom of caskets and urns and such, however, Schoen says what he sees other funeral homes doing around the country is just too much.

“These rooms look like Mardi Gras hit — there’s just stuff everywhere,” he says. “In my view, people coming in here have enough on their minds. I don’t want to overwhelm them with too much choice.

I like to keep it simple. And you know what? It’s led to higher sales than many of those other guys.”

Schoen offers many of the most popular personalization methods — like metal decorative pieces that magnetically adhere to the sides of caskets and embroidered panels for interiors, but notes that bizneworleans.com / 61