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For several months our firm worked directly with the television station as a consultant. It was determined that the longstanding tradition of newspapers providing death notices and obituaries meant that senior citizens were especially affected by the lack of the daily publication. The oldest members of our communities were less likely to be able to retrieve the information from the Internet alone.
The project included building a brand new mechanism to allow funeral directors to upload specific elements of an obituary directly to the television station for airing in a secure way. The program also included more complete obituary information to be placed on a webpage. As the project moved forward, WNEM then used our firm as the initial conduit to help promote and demonstrate this new service to our colleagues across the WNEM broadcast area.
In August of 2009, the project went live as the first death notices appeared on air.
Over the past several months Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc. in Saginaw has taken steps to upgrade their service offerings to their clients. Many of these new offerings come from requests made by consumers. While making a recent upgrade to the obituary section of their website, www.WakemanFuneralHome.com, it was determined to be the ideal time to integrate other new technologies into their service offerings.
The firm has established a whole new suite of technological services and is now available to their clients.
“These new services include individual, personalized Interactive Websites, which is in addition to our primary website,” said Funeral Director and Co-owner of Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc., Rodney C. Wakeman. “The Interactive Websites have five separate modules to encourage family and friend interaction, all to perpetuate the memory of the loved one,” he added.
“Once the site has been established it can be accessed via the Obituary page of our website where the public can view it,” said Brian D. Wakeman, Co-owner and Manager of the firm.
“If, however, the family wishes to keep interaction with the site private, only among family members, it can be done,” said Rodney Wakeman. “Otherwise, family, friends, business people, community contacts – anyone who knew the deceased can interact with the site accordingly,” he explained.
Some of the features include lighting a candle and providing a short message in memory of the deceased, uploading photos to a personalized Photo Album, writing a memory in the Share Memories module and accessing a Video Tribute – a slideshow of photos set to music if one was requested by the family.
“Soon, a Family Tree module will be available, allowing family members to build a family tree,” said Rodney Wakeman. “The family is given administrative control of the site. Any additions and deletions are administered by the family,” Wakeman added.
In addition to these services and at the foundation of this newly-offered technology, the funeral home is providing Webcasting through video streaming over the Internet.
“Technology is everywhere,” said Rodney Wakeman. “We are now uniquely positioned to further help our clients with the loss of their loved one through the use of this specialized technology,” he added.
“Consumers use technology in most every application in their lives; from televisions to computers to cell phones. Technology is no longer a luxury. It is a must-have. To include technology, even Webcasting, as an integral part of a funeral has already been identified by families as the piece that had tied absent family members together and brought them into the important family event," Wakeman noted.
“The same technologically savvy consumers who seek computers, cell phones and the like also have funerals. It is natural to incorporate what is already in our daily lives onto these services,” Brian Wakeman added.
The firm has used the new services for a number of funerals already. Each time the funeral directors have explained to their families what they are capable of doing for them they have been extremely receptive of it.
“It has been our experience that once our clients understand its purpose and how the technology can be applied to the service, they fervently embrace it,” Rodney Wakeman explained. “Nearly each family we have talked to about the technology had a situation where relatives or close friends were unable to make it to the service. When we told them of the Webcasting service and that we could record the funeral and upload it to a website for later viewing, the families were relieved to know the others could still participate,” Wakeman said.
"In one situation, a widow’s grandson, who is in the US Military stationed in Iraq, was unable to attend the funeral of his grandfather. In that instance we provided a live Webcast of the service in the event the grandson could log on at that hour and watch in real time. Otherwise he could view the recorded delayed webcast when it was more convenient," explained Rodney Wakeman.
“It is clear we are exceeding our clients’ expectations,” Brian Wakeman added.
“Some of these features have come from client suggestions. This is clearly business responding to consumer demand,” Wakeman noted.
The funeral home has embraced technology for many years. In 2001, Wakeman Funeral Home was the first funeral firm in Saginaw to offer a website for consumers, and the first funeral home to offer obituary listings online to their clients.
"The step up to Webcasting and the Interactive Webpage was just a matter of time – time to make certain we are providing a quality service to our clients,” concluded Rodney Wakeman.
Brian and Rodney Wakeman together own and operate Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc. They purchased the firm from their father, Harold, upon his retirement in 1999. The firm was established in 1911 by Balthus Gugel then purchased from the Gugel family by Harold Wakeman in 1965 before selling to his sons. Harold passed away in March 2008.
To view a sample of the Webcasting service you may log on to the Obituary section of the funeral home’s website at www.WakemanFuneralHome.com. You may also reach them at (989) 752-8531 for more direct information.
A sample of this new technology is available by viewing our video version of this press release here.
March 20, 2008
Former Saginaw funeral director Harold C. Wakeman dies in Florida
Source: The Saginaw News
