Day in the life: Funeral director
Kelley Kates
Issue date: 10/26/09 Section: News
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Keith Slider, of Slider Funeral Home, has been in the business of embalming dead bodies since he was nine years old.
"It's the family business," Slider said.
His grandfather started the business and it has been passed down his family line.
Slider said he has directed his own funeral home in Kansas City, Kan. for about five years now.
A typical morning for Slider usually starts early when someone has passed and he must go pick up the body.
Afterwards, Slider meets with the family to make funeral arrangements, verify the insurance, order the casket and fill out the death certificate.
Once Slider has picked up the body and driven it to the funeral home, he can begin the embalming process as well as applying cosmetics and dressing the body.
Generally, embalming is a fairly easy process if the person died of natural causes, Slider said.
He embalms through the carotid artery and drains the body through the jugular vein, as does a vampire.
Slider said the process usually takes an hour to an hour and 45 minutes without any complications.
Following the draining, the body is sutured back up. However, Slider said sometimes swelling and clotting cause complications in this process.
As far as weird, scary or gross things happening while at the funeral home, Slider said he has seen so much that he never gets creeped out.
"Grossness is somewhat subjective because we deal with death here," he explained.
American culture tends to have a hard time dealing with common things that happen during death.
It is somewhat "tabooish" in our culture, Slider added.
"It takes a special person to do this 'cause everybody can't," Slider said. "I can't say anything has ever creeped me out."
Slider said he is so used to being around death he even walks around his funeral home in the dark.
kkates@unews.com
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