Funerals help the grieving celebrate a loved one’s life

Funerals become more personalized in recent years, about the life of the deceased

Published: October 29, 2014

By Dwain Hebda
Little Rock Correspondent

Brad Leggett (left) and his father Harry Leggett Jr., 80, pose with a portrait of Harry Leggett Sr. who founded Griffin Leggett in Little Rock in 1936. Brad Leggett founded Little Rock Funeral Home in 2005.

Funerals today come in far more shapes and sizes, according to Brad Leggett, owner and funeral director for Little Rock Funeral Home.

While the event perpetrating a funeral isn’t something to smile about, more final services are focusing less on grief and more on celebrating the life of the deceased.

“I think the amount of personalization is probably one of the most significant things,” Leggett said. “A few years ago, funerals were pretty much the same as they were in the 1960s where people grieved more, whereas now they use the term ‘life celebration.’”

Little Rock isn’t unique in this trend, according to a study looking into funeral tastes released in August by sociologists at Longmont University in Virginia. Among other things, the study identified that people today are more interested in individualization and a lighter mood than past generations.

“Most all the people in the funeral industry selected that vocation because they like helping people.” Brad Leggett of Little Rock Funeral Home

“One of the most significant changes is the video tributes,” Leggett said. “They can even have the video tribute online where people can see the life of the person. Or, bringing personal things to the funeral home or funeral service that were important to that person. Maybe they played golf, so they have their golf clubs on display or other things about their life.”

Such touches as a tribute video or long-distance “attendance” via Skype or other Internet-based viewing are relatively innocuous; other options change completely the standard idea of what a funeral is and how it looks.

Caskets can now be purchased in a virtually unlimited range of finishes, including that of one’s favorite sports team. Just this fall, the NFL ordered a New Orleans custom casket company to stop marketing a gold-and-black “Who Dat?” model to Saints fans. Or, for a few thousand bucks, you can slip into eternity surrounded by images of your favorite rock band — the KISS Kasket, for instance.

“Some people say, ‘I want to go out with a bang,’” said. Dr. Virginia Beard, co-researcher for the Longmont study. “This is the ‘me’ generation and a lot of people, especially Baby Boomers, want to honor the deceased with a customized funeral. That’s why we’re seeing things like caskets that look like footballs and [hearing] Bob Dylan instead of ‘Amazing Grace.’”

Leggett hasn’t had a lot of truly outrageous requests, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been substantial changes in the four generations his family has been in the business. Considering modern funerals aren’t that old to begin with, the Leggetts represent a large chunk of the industry’s timeline.

Embalming wasn’t in widespread use in America until the Civil War and the modern funeral home is a 20th century invention so by the time a young J. Harry Leggett Sr. started hanging around with his grandfather, an employee at See Funeral Home in Cabot, the industry was still in relative infancy.

In 1935, J. Harry had completed his training and took a job with Drummond Funeral Home in Little Rock. The next year, the young entrepreneur decided to go into business for himself, which he did with Paul Griffin to form Griffin Leggett Funeral Home. In time, it would become the dominant funeral company in Pulaski County.

Brad Leggett said in the early days, it wasn’t uncommon for funeral homes to become associated with certain faith communities and even today one can see clusters from congregations in the minority, such as Catholics are in Arkansas, at one home versus another. However, today that’s more a reflection of word of mouth referrals than it is the mortuary’s status as a de facto “Catholic” funeral home.

J. Harry sold the business in 1970 to his son, Harry Jr., who had been an employee there since he was 13. Under Harry Jr.’s leadership, the company bought several competitors and a monument company and began what is now Griffin Leggett/Rest Hills Cemetery. He also merged with Healey and Roth Funeral Home. Brad Leggett launched Little Rock Funeral Home in 2005.

For everything that has changed, including websites that let you plan your funeral right down to hors d’oeuvres and wine, the foundational elements of this business are the same as they ever were.

Leggett said the privilege of being tasked with one of the most delicate and significant events in families’ lives never wanes and therefore each account is handled with the utmost professionalism and respect.

“Most all the people in the funeral industry selected that vocation because they like helping people,” he said. “We do too; we’ll jump backwards to put everything together in a few days and follow up to make sure everything goes through like they want it. I think it’s just the sincerity of being a funeral director that makes you want to do the best you can to help.”

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