Articles Of Interest
The Abbotts: Father And Daughter Funeral Directors
Aaron Abbott’s first experience with funeral homes was when his father worked part time at a funeral home in their community. Aaron and his brother would help with services and doing removals. Before long he realized that being a funeral director was something he wanted to pursue as a career.
After high school, Aaron got his bachelor’s degree from Penn State University and went on to graduate from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. He joined the Buch Family of Funeral Homes in 2002. Over the last several decades, Aaron has benefitted from having Ted Beck as a mentor and now Aaron is passing that learning legacy along to his daughter who works alongside of him. Allissa earned her funeral directors license in 2019.
Growing up, Allissa was always aware of the sacrifices her father made to be a funeral director. “As kids, we always knew that when the phone rang, it meant that dad was going to work,” she said. “No matter what time of day or night. At one point, when my brother was little, he took to hiding the car keys whenever the phone rang because he didn’t want dad to leave.”
“We always took two cars wherever we went,” explained Aaron. “That way I could always leave if I got a call. Thankfully, we have several funeral directors to share the workload, so I was still able to coach and attend the kid’s events when they were growing up.”
Her friends at school wanted to know why her father always wore a business suit, not matter where he was. Allissa explained that he was an undertaker. Her answer confused the schoolkids even more because the only “undertaker” they knew about was a WWE professional wrestler.
Every year in November, the Buch Family of Funeral Homes offers a Holiday Grief Support program. When she was around fourteen, Allissa started helping out with the event, greeting people and interacting with the public. “I realized that being a funeral director was not all sad and weird stuff,” recalled Allissa. “I like interacting with people and I also get to use the science side of my brain. Every day is different. We’re always thinking ahead and planning for contingencies in case something doesn’t go as planned.”
“Allissa has always been very mature for her age,” said Aaron. “Her growing up around a funeral home really helped her get up to speed when she was studying to become a funeral director. I think the hardest part after she became a licensed director was when she first started meeting with families. She had the same problem I did when I started. We look very young. So, folks would wonder when the funeral director was going to show up.”
“I followed the same guidance that Ted gave me when I was starting out,” continued Aaron. “I let her know I had the confidence in her to let her handle it on her own, without looking over her shoulder. She’s smart and will do a good job to establish trust with the families we serve.”
Now, after twenty years, Aaron has become a shareholder and serves as Chief Executive Officer for the funeral homes. Just as Allissa is learning new skills, Aaron is gaining a better understanding of the business side of things. “We’ve got a good system in place,” said Aaron. “I have a good teacher in Ted and my goal is to pass what I’ve learned along to Allissa, so that the next generation at the Buch Family of Funeral Homes can continue to serve our community.”
