We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Caterer Zofchak recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lindsay , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I was attending college to become a teacher. It wasn’t really my passion, but I knew I needed a job. While in college, my maternal and paternal grandfathers passed away and my step-aunt. My uncle was a funeral director and he took care of my grandfather’s (his father’s) funeral arrangements. That was a changing point for me. When I saw what he did, how he took care of his father, and more importantly, my grandmother and family, was when I knew that’s what I wanted to do for a career.
I shifted gears and went from secondary education and transferred colleges to the only college in Michigan with a Mortuary program, Wayne State University. I graduated in 2005, with my Bachelor’s degree in Mortuary Science.
I served my apprenticeship with a wonderful family, Lynch & Son’s Funeral Directors and became a licensed Funeral Director. I learned so much from them. It was more than I ever imagined. They showed me how to “Serve the Living by Caring for the Dead” -Thomas Lynch) Our job is not a normal job, it is more of calling. Through my time with Lynch & Sons, I learned not only how to care for the dead, by preparing their bodies for visitations and funerals, embalming, dressing, cosmetics, placing them perfectly in their caskets. But, I learned so much more about serving the living. We have the ability to give the families the last image they have of their loved ones. Whether the death was sudden and unexpected or following a long illness and decades of life that have worn their tired bodies down, we are able to present the families with a lasting goodbye. Something they will carry with them until their time on this earth is done. A funeral also serves the purpose of acknowledging someone’s life, their accomplishments, their careers, their families and friends. It gives families a place to grieve amongst people who support and love them. It allows everyone to accept a new reality…someone has passed away, but yes, their life did matter and now we have to move on without them physically here.
I was presented a job offer shortly after I was licensed to work at the local funeral home in my small town. The town where there is an actual Main Street and everyone seems to know everyone. I will forever be grateful to the Lynch family for everything they taught me about not just funeral service, but how to deal with grieving people and how to love them and care for them when they need it the most. But it wasn’t until I walked into the door of Rossell Funeral Home, I knew I was home.
To be able to serve a community that I had grown up in, was the most rewarding feeling I have ever had. I was helping care for my friends families, people in my church, and people I had known by working in the local grocery store. Every family seemed to have a connection somehow. And not that every family does not deserve the upmost respect and dignity, but it had a different feeling when I started working in my own hometown. These are my townspeople, the people who helped shaped my life.
Every family I meet with helps me find my purpose in this life. I am here to gracefully tend to the people who trust us to handle their loved ones when a death occurs. What is going on in my life suddenly doesn’t matter as much when I have been entrusted to care for someone’s family member who has just passed. My children have grown to know the importance of my job when my phone rings at all hours, during family dinners, baseball games and holidays. Death knows no convenient time. It happens in the middle of the night, at sunrise, and at the end of a long workday. But what keeps me going is knowing that someone has trusted me to take care of their loved one. And sometimes its not always spoken, maybe a hug or a gentle squeeze of the hand to say thank you for taking care of my family is what gives me my purpose.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My professional career was going great. I worked in the same funeral home for over 14 years and loved my job. I had been able to raise my children working as a single mom for several years and loved serving my community. My boss who was a second generation funeral home owner decided it was time for him to retire, His children did not go into the family business and he wondered if I would be interested in buying the business. I had never gone into funeral service wanting to become an owner, that seemed way out of my league. But when the opportunity presented itself, I could not imagine working anywhere else and did not want someone to buy the business who did not care about it as much as I did. It had become home to me, and I wanted to serve the community I have loved since I was little.
It was not an easy process. Getting a loan as a single woman, raising three children and living paycheck to paycheck seemed impossible. Thankfully, through lots of tears, sleepless nights, and uncertainty, I was able to close and purchase the funeral home on June 4, 2021.
Rossell Funeral Home has a long history in Flushing. Funeral service began here in the 1900’s and although owners have changed, it has remained a constant in our small town for over a century. To me, the most unique aspect of my job is that it is always different. Every family that we serve has their own unique story to tell and we give people a space to honor that legacy. Our job has no schedule. We never know when we will be called, we just know that our day can change very quickly, and we must be ready. We are available to answer a phone call of someone who has passed 24 hours a day, 365 day a year. This constant is what families in our community have come to rely on and we are honored to be able to serve them when the need arises.
Our funeral home was originally built as a family home by a lumber barron in the 1800’s, named Frederick Niles. There is a block of buildings on Main Street called the Niles block, named after him as well. About three years, we got a dog for the funeral home, who we appropriately named Niles. He comes to work almost daily and greets families and “works” visitations and funeral services. The response has been huge. People love having a dog here. He is a wonderful addition to our staff and people request him for the services of their family members.
I love how closely we work with our community. I serve on the Flushing Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and enjoy how active our funeral home is with community. We participate in not only Chamber events, such as the Harvest Fest, Summerfest, and Candlewalk, church events, but also events in the local schools such as the Raider Rally and supporting athletic and academic events. All of our staff lives in Flushing or close by, making our funeral home more like a family than a traditional business.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My mom spent her career as a Social Worker in a busy inner-city hospital in the next town over. She always told me that people might not remember her name, they may not remember what she said to them at a difficult time, but what they would remember is that someone was kind to them. That always stuck with me and so I think kindness is the number one quality on my list. Everyone has a different background, a different story to share, but kindness when serving a family during their most difficult days is truthfully all that matters. Some families test your patience, some families are struggling more than others, some families make our jobs seem easy, but each family that walks through the doors of my funeral home are treated with the same kindness and respect. People do not want to come to a funeral home. They come to us in their darkest times, they are scared, overwhelmed, tired, emotionally distraught, and our kindness is what they need. No judgement, no negativity, just knowing that we are there for them in a time they really need it.
My dad was famous for one liners, “get some grit to you,” “the only job you start at the top is digging ditches,” and “you know how they make steel? Heat and pressure.” He gave me the courage to know I was equal to any task I set my mind to. I learned the value of hard work and never backing down. Funeral service is not for the faint of heart. It is emotionally impacting, it is heavy lifting, both mentally and physically, it is long hours, nights, weekends, holidays, things you see in the job that you wish you could unsee. But learning that hard work never hurt anyone gets me though the tough times. I like to hope that all the events and family time I have missed because of my job, my children, once they are older, will realize the place we have in the community. It is a hard job. But it is full of rewards, and I feel honored and humbled to be able to care for the families we serve. I feel like my hard work has helped pave the way for being able to take over owning the business.
You cannot be in funeral service without being dedicated. We are dedicated to the families who placed their trust in us. I have learned that at a moment’s notice, that whatever plans I may have had, might change. Our meeting with a family may take longer than we anticipated, we may have to come in on our days off. The 24/7/365 takes a great amount of dedication to this business.
These are the reasons I feel like kindness, hard work and dedication are the most important qualities in my journey.
The one bit of advice I would give to anyone starting out is to know this is not a normal business. There is no 9-5, Monday through Friday work week. But we need good people to follow our footsteps. We need people with tender hearts and who strong willed, hard workers and dedicated who want to take care of people who have died, but their families as well. Most people shutter at the thought of dealing with a dead body. But it is a noble profession that can be very rewarding. We are doing a job no one wants to do, and we do it with grace and dignity.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
It is easy to feel overwhelmed sometimes in this job. And it’s not always just the nature of business, but also the stress of owning your own business and learning things I’ve never had to deal with as an employee before. There is so much to owning a business that you do not realize until you are knee deep in it. No amount of Mortuary School can prepare you for owning a funeral home. In fact, none of that is discussed in school. The nature of this job can also be overwhelming. The busy times, the slow times, the lack of schedule, dealing with people in their most difficult hours can be overwhelming. Add to that, being a wife, a mother, and friend, things can tend to add up quickly.
I know I can never change the most difficult part of funeral service, which to me is the unpredictability. But I have a wonderful staff who all understands the nature of this business. We try to be respectful of time off. We all know we can rely on each other when needed.
My husband is a great asset to me. He helps me where he can around the funeral home and with our children. I have learned its okay to ask for help and that its okay to need some time alone. Sometimes that just means getting my nails done, watching a favorite show, or taking a walk. I often say that I feel needed all the time. The families I serve, my children, my husband, and other obligations all take a portion of my time so sometimes I struggle feeling like I am not doing any one thing at 100 percent. I have learned to give myself grace. To not expect perfection like I used from everything and everyone, especially myself. This business has taught me that family is the only thing that matters and to lean on the people who love you and care about you. I have also learned I am only one person and cannot do it all.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: lc_caterer
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lindsay.c.christopher
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Biography Photography
