38: Deb Evans

Funeral Home Assistant

Deborah Evans has been a funeral home assistant for 15 years, a profession that she felt a calling towards. The funeral home, naturally, was open throughout the entire pandemic, and Deborah has been working about 45-50 hours a week. Her main role is that she provides for the families’ needs as they arrive each day, which can be hard to predict because their needs can really change from moment to moment. The way that the funeral home operated had to change a lot to meet federal COVID safety guidelines, specifically when they restricted to allowing only ten people in the building at a time. It was such a challenge for families because they were forced to choose which ten loved ones could come to the funeral. Not every death was a COVID death either, but those deaths were still affected by COVID even though they weren’t caused by it because it changed how the funeral could happen. Everybody was in the same boat, and the staff had to find creative ways to keep people safe. They did the best they could, and the families were very grateful.

Deborah lives with her husband, who also continued to work throughout the shutdown. She personally knows about six to eight people who contracted COVID, though she did not get it herself. Though working at the funeral home during the pandemic could be emotionally difficult, there wasn’t anywhere else that Deborah wanted to be during that time. Being so busy never left Deborah with a moment to feel afraid or to think too much about what was happening. People needed her, and she needed them to keep her strong. Her bond with her coworkers became a lot stronger because they worked so many hours together and shared such strong emotions and grief for the families. That shared experience created such a powerful connection and trust. For Deborah, the most rewarding part of the job was being able to provide families with some final moments with their loved ones, many of whom they had not even been able to see when they were sick with COVID. The funeral gave them a chance to finally see and say goodbye to their loved ones. She was so glad to be able to facilitate those moments of closure. Being able to help people through moments of such tragedy really gave Deborah a feeling of agency in such a frightening and uncertain time.