He spoke about how the gradual decline in religion over the decades has changed the role of funeral directors, from one of a mere functionary – who dealt with the disposal of the body while the church took care of the soul and grief – to one that now encompasses some kind of bereavement counselling; and how at the University of Minnesota, which he attended himself and where he later taught, the percentage of women in funeral training has gone from almost nothing to 85 per cent of the class.
