Craig and Laura Cleveland are celebrating 30 years of business in Whanganui. Photo / Bevan Conley
“We’re not going anywhere.”
That was what Whanganui funeral director Craig Cleveland said when asked about rumours surrounding his potential retirement.
Cleveland and his wife Laura are the owners of the Cleveland Funeral Home in Ingestre St and, despite rumours of their retirement circulating in the community, he is adamant the pair will not be retiring any time soon.
“I don’t see myself retiring in the near future at all.”
The Clevelands have just celebrated their 30th anniversary of owning the business and are excited about the future of the funeral home, which was established in 1907 and has been owned by various Whanganui families since.
When the funeral home came up for sale in May 1994, Cleveland was working as a funeral director and jumped at the chance to own his funeral home.
“To actually have the opportunity to buy a funeral home in my hometown, that type of thing didn’t happen. So, we took the bull by the horns and bought it.”
Laura was not a funeral director before the pair bought the business but became qualified soon after.
“It was the first time in the Funeral Directors’ Association’s history that a husband and wife had worked together as funeral home owners for 30 years.”
Over the past 30 years, Craig became the only funeral director in Whanganui to be both a qualified funeral director and a qualified embalmer.
Recently, their daughter Michelle and son Rhys have also bought into the business and are working as junior funeral directors, and Cleveland said he was chuffed the business would stay in the family.
In the 30 years he had owned the business, he had seen a lot of changes in funeral directing, especially since Covid-19.
Live-streaming funerals all over the world was now a popular option, and Cleveland said they were able to do that in-house, along with other important things like creating photo tributes and printing service sheets.
Cleveland, who has been a funeral director for 37 years, said no two days were ever the same.
“There’s no typical day in the life of a funeral director. That’s one of the strong points.”
As funeral directors, they helped with the legal side of things, such as registering the death, but also the family’s more personal decisions, such as whether they wanted a burial or cremation.
The funerals, which needed to be put together in about three to four days, could be very simple or complex depending on the family’s needs, but getting to know the families and finding a way to achieve their goals was one of Cleveland’s favourite parts of the job.
“Often people say, ‘I couldn’t do your job, you’re dealing with the deceased all the time’. Well, no, we’re not - we’re dealing with families.”
Another thing he loved about funeral directing was getting to know the stories of the deceased.
“I just love being a funeral director. To be part of helping someone put a life back together.”
Cleveland said he and Laura would eventually retire but, for now, they were completely dedicated to their business and did not see that happening any time soon.
“What we’ve got is a really good lifestyle and work balance, and long may it continue.”
Gang patches can no longer be worn in public.