Craft Talk by Greg Welch

  Greg said when he was younger he used to come up to Downey on dates and to look at the residential Christmas lights.  He had sung in choir in high school, so when he heard of the music ministry at the First Baptist Church in Downey, he joined, and there he met Dan Fox. 

He had heard, he said, that girls were in the choir too, so he said to himself, if I just come, the Lord will do the rest. Eventually, Greg as Dan Fox’s was best man in Dan’s wedding party.

Greg has been involved with the Downey YMCA for about 30 years and, as he said, in a compliment for Ann Ullstrom, it’s never been in better hands than it is now.  Greg has been a personal trainer at the Y, and here is a word to the cautious. If you should happen to bump into Greg’s biceps, don’t expect the resiliency of ordinary human flesh.  Greg’s upper arms are like rock-hard mountains.  You could get bruised there.

As a physiologist, Greg was attracted to the Y’s philosophy about older adults keeping in shape.  Keeping in shape is a concept of wellness, he stressed, and getting in shape is part of a wellness lifestyle.  In commercial establishments, aesthetics drives fitness, as an example of a different point of view.

Mayor Mario Guerra is a great example of someone who has put a public face on wellness and healthy life style, in Downey, having lost 60 pounds so far.
And muscle tone, rather than just weight loss, is what counts.  Walking around the Downey High School track on Wednesdays with the Mayor helps. Our new member John Zander is also going public, in his Downey Beat electronic newspaper, about joining the Y for a healthier life style.

 Going back a few years to his professional career, Greg said that he was married in 1982 to Barbara Risher, the daughter of Ray Risher, of Risher Mortuaries.  Ray was a Rotarian with 46 years of perfect attendance, and his daughter Barbara, was the first woman president of the Montebello Club, with 20 years perfect attendance, and past Governor of District 5300 Cal/Nevada 2003-04.  So becoming our newest Rotarian was inevitable for Greg.

  After they were married, Greg and Barbara lived upstairs from the mortuary for ten years.  As he says, it was very quiet.  His four children started life there, and Greg is proud of them all.  The oldest son graduated from Purdue and is an Air Force pilot and was an Eagle scout.  His oldest daughter achieved the Gold Award, the Girl Scouting equivalent of an Eagle Scout, and Barbara was active in mentoring her.

  Their younger son just graduated from the Fire Academy as first in his class, and younger daughter is in college on an ROTC scholarship.  On a church mission to Taiwan, she became interested in providing clean water for villages, and measuring for safe water, and that became the service project for her Gold award.

Back to his professional involvement with Risher Mortuary, Greg says he feels serving in a business like a mortuary is like joining Rotary: both are a sort of ministry, of service.  Helping families in time of need, when their emotions are likely to overrule their judgment in financial matters like funeral preparations, is an important part of his job.  He feels it is a mission to help the vulnerable.

  There are dishonest people and companies in the funeral industry, just as in many others, and those who take advantage of the bereaved.  Greg gave us some pointers.

  First, ask “Is this is a family-owned mortuary?”  If it is, good, you’re likely to get caring dedicated service.  If you are told it is a “Catholic-run” business, watch out, only The Archdiocese of Los Angeles owned mortuaries can call themselves “Catholic-run”.

  Other “iffy” areas include the cost of a funeral.  Some less than honest places offer a low-cost package, but then if you deviate from the package items, that is very costly.  Another technique, which operates in other industries as well, is to ‘sell up,” selling costly additions that are neither needed nor wanted.

Cremation is a great deal less costly than funerals, and a funeral home can handle either cremation or burial, and can take the remains to any cemetery you choose.  Any mortuary can go to any cemetery.  But at the time of bereavement, the bereaved will usually accept whatever the authority figure – the funeral director – says. 

  Another piece of advice from Greg is to plan ahead for yourself.  This is the best investment you can make. If you meet with a funeral director before your demise, you can make the choices that your family might only guess at. You can be less emotional about your own planning than your bereaved family would be.

And you can control the level of expense.  If you wish to pay in advance, this freezes the prices.  Inflation raises everything over the years, but at Risher, funds are held in a trust account and you will get what you asked for, no matter what the current price.

  If, however, you read an ad saying, “price only good for today,” run the other way, says Greg.  That is the sign of a fly-by-night operation.

 The qualified funeral director can help meet your wishes, no matter what countries are involved.  And if you wish to be buried at sea, or at a national cemetery, that can be arranged.  If you wish your “cremains” to be scattered, that can be done.  Carrying “cremains” on commercial aircraft is perfectly legal. 

In today’s world, traditional burials are becoming less common.  For one thing, land is not available as it used to be, for burial grounds.  You can still buy a burial plot even if a cemetery seems full, by going on the “secondary market,” and your funeral director can help there.

In Japan, for example, which has such a high population to land ration, it is now illegal to be buried.  Cremations are mandatory, and there are simply memorial services.

In summation, a good funeral director is like a good wedding planner.  They will come to your home if you wish, to make the arrangements.  The mortuary will arrange everything, from removal from the hospital to arranging for services at the church or place of your choice. 

They will make a funeral booklet for those who attend services, with a picture, poems, hymns and any other pertinent information you would like them to have.  Leave it all to the funeral planner.  And they have all sorts of exotic information that may help.  They can even arrange to make cremains jewelry for the mourners.