Mike Savage
This week's newsmaker is funeral director Mike Savage from Legacy Funerals.
1 Describe yourself in three words:
Dedicated, people person, servant heart.
2 What made you become a funeral director?
It was a God call for me in 1991, and the company that I was working for in Tauranga was closing down. Although, in the beginning I was on call for a funeral home here in Tauranga, it was my opening into the funeral industry.
3 What is the most rewarding thing about your job?
Ministering and serving people in their time of grief and loss and with many of them a continuing relationship that I cherish.
4 What are some of the challenges?
The ability to be able to minister to family members when the dynamics and grief is so vastly different. Assuring them that their contribution and opinions are worthwhile.
5 What is your personal preference, cremation or burial?
Personal preference is burial.
6 When you were a child, what did you think happened when people died?
Being brought up in a Christian home, my parents taught me that people go to heaven when they die.
7 What's your favourite scary movie?
Jaws, mainly because I got an ear-ache from my wife and a friend of ours who were screaming during the movie.
8 Describe some of your strangest encounters:
I wouldn't describe these encounters as being strange, but there have been many opportunities in my ministry to move into family homes, work places, building and construction sites, vehicles, to bless them after a person has died, a wonderful moment for me.
9 How do you unwind after a stressful/challenging day?
After my evening meal, sit on the couch, find a sports channel on TV, probably fall off to sleep, go to bed and thank God for the privilege of serving him that day.
10 What's a common misconception about funeral directors?
That we don't smile or have a sense of humour, dress in flash suits and drive American hearses.
