Funeral homes changing way they do things amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone in some way or another.

Funeral homes are not immune to those changes.

Visitations and public funerals have been canceled at multiple funeral homes in Stoddard County.

Greg Mathis, who owns Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter and Bernie with his wife Lisa, was among the first in the area to take proactive measures to protect visitors to his facilities.

“We jumped on it back in March,” Mathis said. “It got to the point where it was bothering me. Where you have a gathering, a large group of people, you put all the hand sanitizer out front but if someone coughs … We’ve had several pass away who would’ve had large funerals and visitations. It’s a no-win situation.”

Mathis went the extra mile by creating a commercial to let the public know of his business’ policy changes. He uploaded the commercial and another video concerning military honors to the funeral home’s Facebook page, and each received 15,000 views.

“That just shows that people want information,” he said.

In his commercial, he said, “This will in no way affect the families’ opportunity to say goodbye to a loved one. Our Dexter facility is equipped to webcast services to those not able to attend.”

A representative for Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Dexter said that the social distancing orders have caused the business to limit the number of people who attend funerals.

Dale Sifford, owner of Morgan-Sifford Funeral Home in Puxico, hasn’t noticed a huge change in the way his business operates.

“We’ve only had a couple of funerals,” he said. “One was a cremation and the other only had 10 or 11 people.”

Going forward, he said the funeral home will not hold visitations and will only do graveside services.

Another change occurred in March when the Missouri Veterans Commission and the Department of Defense temporarily suspended all military honors for veterans in the state of Missouri, according to Mathis.

Mathis’ son, Aaron, downloaded the 21-gun salute performed at Arlington National Cemetery.

“We will take our portable speaker system to the cemetery and at that point, the 21-gun salute, the firing of three volleys, will be done at the appropriate time,” Mathis said in a video.

Employee Joe Rice, who is a member the Missouri Air National Guard, makes a speech, offers a salute, presents the family with three shell casings symbolic of the three volleys and presents the flag, while abiding by social distancing guidelines.

While no active members or veterans organizations may perform the military honors ceremony, Rice may conduct the ceremony in civilian clothing.

In addition Mathis asked Dexter High School band director Scott Rybolt if he knew any buglers in the area. Rybolt found three who could play taps during the service.

“It’s not perfect but it works,” Mathis said. “Followed up with families and they have been satisfied.”