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Changing with the times

By Adam Testa, The Southern

Sunday, July 15, 2007 6:23 AM CDT

DU QUOIN - Frank Maxton did not have much of a summer vacation after his senior year in high school.

The Du Quoin native enjoyed a week of summer and then moved to Indianapolis to attend mortuary school. In 1957, Maxton followed in his father's footsteps and became a licensed funeral director.

Through his 50 years as a director, Maxton, 73, has seen many changes.

"Back when I started, we were still taking bodies back to the home," he said.

Funeral services then moved to churches, and finally, funeral homes became the place for memorial services. Cremation also is much more common now, he said.

Geoffrey Hurd, president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, said serving the business for 50 years is an honor.

"Funeral business has changed a lot in the past 50 years," he said.

The IFDA honors between 20 and 30 people per year for 50 years in the business. Maxton was recognized at an IFDA convention banquet last month.

After finishing mortuary school, Maxton worked in Chester, Herrin, Marion and Clifton. In 1967, he returned home to Du Quoin.

"This is where I was born and raised," he said. "It's a good town and the people are good. I feel like I can provide a service to them."

The job as a funeral director has its ups and its downs, Maxton said. The most rewarding part of the job is "seeing the satisfaction that you see in a family's face when you provided them with a service they wanted and helping them out in one of the most difficult times in their life," he said.

The difficult part of the job is the hours, he said. Funeral directors are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For 16 years, Maxton also served as the Perry County coroner, which added another full-time job to his workload.

Maxton does not plan on retiring any time soon. He said some clients already have set up their trust funds to pay for their future services.

"I'd like to stick around and fulfill those, but the future is uncertain," he said.

adam.testa@thesouthern.com / 351-5031