General Manager And Funeral Director
Werness Brother'S Funeral Chapels
From 1992-2002, I held funeral director and management positions with five funeral firms in the Twin City area. It was an absolute privilege to work with people and families in this way, and with other extremely dedicated and loving people who I worked alongside. A good funeral director must show poise, counsel as well as lead, all the while being emotional available and sensitive to the people we are serving. It also requires what I call “outward centeredness”, which is the desire and ability… Show more From 1992-2002, I held funeral director and management positions with five funeral firms in the Twin City area. It was an absolute privilege to work with people and families in this way, and with other extremely dedicated and loving people who I worked alongside. A good funeral director must show poise, counsel as well as lead, all the while being emotional available and sensitive to the people we are serving. It also requires what I call “outward centeredness”, which is the desire and ability to focus on OTHERS, no matter how stressful our day, regardless of what else we have going on in our lives or in serving other families, or how tired we might be at the time. Like in all good work, reliability is especially important in this, because as an FD, there are no do-overs when conducting and bringing people through a funeral.I moved to other firms for the reasons other people do – for more opportunity, more responsibility and better pay. My funeral service career culminated when I was General Manager for Werness Brothers Funeral Chapels, where I managed forty-one full and part time employees, and three locations in Edina, South Minneapolis and Bloomington.Throughout my career I made over 1000 funeral arrangements, lead as many funerals and counseled families, helping them find peace and God and to foster better family relationships. Doing this work was understandably taxing, and I was proud of the work I did. As a believer that people - as God's creation – matter, and that faith, forgiveness, and love are the most important things in life, this was the right work for me.The training, work and experiences I had as a funeral director has translated well into my current career as a Realtor. In both cases, I help people during an emotional life-changing event, where trust, skill, true caring and yes, reliability, is paramount to success. Show less