By Thomas A. Parmalee
Mike Clark, a lifelong funeral director and the managing funeral director at Church Funeral Services and Crematory in Louisiana, has been named the Unsung Hero of Funeral Service for August. The recognition program is sponsored by Ring Ring Marketing and FuneralVision.com.
As this month’s winner, Clark will receive a $100 gift card courtesy of Welton Hong, the founder and CEO of Ring Ring Marketing.
Church Funeral Services and Crematory has locations in Baton Rouge, St. Amant and Walker.
According to the firm’s website, it was founded by David Singletary and Alvin Villeneuve, who recognized a need to offer affordable funeral services to families. In 2009, they opened the business in St. Amant, choosing the name “Church” because all the funeral services were performed at the family’s place of worship or an offsite venue.
Around this time, cremation became more popular, so Singletary and Villeneuve established their own crematory. By providing quality service at an affordable price, the business took off. In 2011, they opened an arrangement office in Baton Rouge and, in 2013, an office in Walker.
In November 2016, Alvin died, and David was ready to retire and spend time with his family. On January 1, 2017, Church Funeral Services and Crematory completed a merger with Silver Lining Funeral Services, which was operated by Mike Clark and his brother, Greg.
The “Silver Lining” name, which is the LLC that Church now operates under, comes from a poem that Clark’s mother, Polly Townsend Clark, wrote, which you can find on the funeral home’s website.
A portion of the poem reads:
Behind each cloud there is a Silver Lining. After each storm, the sun shines brightly through. Each valley has nearby a mountain. Beyond this life, I now see Heaven in view. So, I’ll press on to the mark of my high calling. Just as Paul said that he would do. I know there is a crown of life a waiting for the called, chosen and the faithful few.
The Clark brothers are originally from Winnsboro Louisiana; Mike Clark has been an employee at Church since 2014.
While not born into funeral service, Clark began working in the business in high school in 1976, and after graduation, he attended Delgado College of Mortuary Science, completing his internship at House of Bultman Mortuary New Orleans. He became a licensed funeral director in 1982 and has been in the business ever since. His motto is “compassion is understanding the troubles of others.”
Clark said he began working in the business all those years ago because his father worked at a post office and knew someone who worked part time at a funeral home who needed some help. “That’s where it all started,” he said.
He went on to spend 10 years in New Orleans before moving to North Louisiana where he opened a funeral home with his brother, a flower shop and some other businesses, he said. He began working at Church in 2013.
A Lifelong Commitment
While Clark was the first member of his family to start working at a funeral home when he was in high school – two days shy of his fifteenth birthday – it wasn’t long before it became a family business of sorts.
The funeral home where he got his start was Winnsboro First National Funeral Home. “It sounded like a bank,” he said.
His mother retired after 30 years as a schoolteacher and became a licensed funeral director, and when his father retired from the post office, he began working in funeral service as well. His brother also got involved on the financial and administrative side of the business as he’s not a licensed funeral director, Clark said. His sister-in-law and a nephew also work in funeral service, he said.
Asked why he loves funeral service so much, Clark said, “Families come in and leave, and you realize they are leaving you in a better position than when you met them.”
Asked about something that has stuck with him, Church mentioned a woman he helped decades ago whose husband died. “She had a lot of difficulty and financial problems,” he said. “I was able to help walk her through how to get disability funds, Social Security and some benefits. It just really helped lessen the burden of living without her husband. She died about four or five years ago. But being able to help families beyond what we do as funeral directors over the years has really helped me get up every morning and do what I do. It goes way beyond just being a funeral director.”
Clark’s brother is the primary owner of the business, he said.
A Simple and Successful Model
Church Funeral Services & Crematory is nontraditional and independently owned. “We have three locations and do not maintain large rooftops,” Clark said. “There are no visitations or funerals at our facilities, which keeps our overhead down.”
Instead, families continue to hold services at a church, a venue, a residence – “anyplace other than one of our locations,” Church said. “Affordability is one of our big things, and we have a high-volume cremation rate.” That rate is about 78%, he said.
All told, the business serves about 1,400 families per year, which is almost double what it was serving when the Clark brothers acquired it in 2016.
Whitney Surbeck, a funeral director at the business, nominated Clark as an Unsung Hero.
“He is everyone’s ‘go to’ for anything funeral industry related,” she said. “He is a wealth of knowledge and always has your back. He is the manager and does everything needed.”
She added, “Mike has a soft spot in his heart for veterans. When a veteran passes away and has no family or the veteran is abandoned by their families, Mike goes above and beyond to make sure these veterans are properly laid to rest in a military cemetery with dignity instead of being disposed of by the state as an indigent.”
He has dedicated his entire life to serving others in need, she said. “It would be impossible to fill the void Mike would leave with his vast knowledge and heart for service,” she said.
Clark’s steadfast dedication to others makes him a great person to honor as an Unsung Hero of Funeral Service, Hong said. “Mr. Clark simply goes in to work every day and tries leaving the world a better place, which can be a tough job when you’re helping people at what is often the worst time of their life,” he said. “Ring Ring Marketing and FuneralVision.com are honored to honor him as our latest Unsung Hero.”
Thomas Parmalee, founder of FuneralVision.com, agreed, stating, “When I spoke with Mr. Clark, he told me that he was not looking for fanfare, but let me tell you, these are exactly the type of people the profession should be holding up and honoring for all they do,” he said. “Mr. Clark, I tip my hat to you for all that you’ve done and all that I know you’ll continue to do to help families in need.”
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