Sam Reed (SR)

SR: I remember one time in the first grade my teacher, she was going around to everyone and asked us want we wanted to be so she got to me and she said, ’Sammy Reed’ –they all called me Sammy instead of Samuel– ’What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And I said ’I want to be an undertaker.’ And everybody thought that was crazy. But I was always fascinated with the way a dead person looked when you went to see them. Coming up you would listen to the elders talk about a person that was killed in a car wreck and they was messed up and everything but when you got to the funeral you would hear them say, ’Whoa, Grandma looked great, she looked at peace.’ And and I wanted to know how to do that. And whenever I had a pet die, you know I always would bury the pet on the side of the creek bank. I would have my little sisters they would pick flowers and we would stand around and have a little funeral you know. So I just knew this is what I was destined to do, to deal with the dead. I always get this: ’You don’t look like an undertaker. ’ And I say, ’Well what does an undertaker look like?’ They said, ’They look dead, and they look old and they drink a lot.’ And I say, ’Well, I’m not dead, I don’t think I look old even for my age, and I say I don’t drink.’ [laugh] You know a lot people think that because uh we’re morticians and we’re in the business of dealing with this on a day to day basis that we’re cold. But we react the same way when we lose a loved one, I mean it’s no different. And the best part is meeting the needs of the families. Their load should be just a little bit lighter. And that’s what I strive to do everyday, to make people feel better.