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“This is my baby. It started out with the ‘Ask the Undertaker’ show here where we try to educate families about pre-planning for services and speaking to your family members about what you want and don’t want. This allowed us to do this on a nationwide level. We want the deceased person to make all the decisions before they passed away. On the show, we have a combination of both. We’ve had people who’ve watched the show and told their family they wanted to be on the show and then they’ve passed.”

Golden Gate even hires professional mourners – people paid to mourn the dead. It’s a concept Beckwith says is not new or unique to his funeral home.

“We do have professional mourners. That’s something Golden Gate funeral home offices. Professional mourners are biblical. That’s been going on since the beginning of time.” Mourners are trained and paid up to $250 per service. (Not a bad side hustle, as Beckwith says mourners can do up to four funerals per day.)

Beckwith doesn’t see “Best Funeral Ever” as a promotional tool, because he didn’t need the promotion. He says Golden Gate is the top funeral home in the Dallas, Fort. Worth area and #1 in the state doing 2500 funerals a year. Beckwith hopes that if people take anything out of the elaborate services on his show, it’s that it’s important to let people know how you’d most want to be remembered.

“We want them to have their opinion about it, because if you don’t want to do this, tell your family. What that’s all about is that when you pass away, your family doesn’t have to make emotional decisions and worry about what your wishes were. It’s never too much for me, [when a funeral intrudes on my beliefs] I have staff that can handle it. No limitations.”

Is This a Funeral? On TLC ‘Best Funeral Ever’ It Is  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

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