CCAirwaves

100th Episode

• The Catholic Cemeteries Association

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This special edition reflects on our journey with Andrej Lah, Director of Cemeteries, and much more! Join us for this landmark celebration as we look back at the stories that have shaped our series.


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Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for joining us. Welcome back to CC Airwaves. My name is Paige Mattillo, and today we're celebrating a major milestone our 100th episode. We've come a long way since our first episode, which aired on January 3rd 2020. And over the past four years, we've had the pleasure of hosting over 30 guests from across the United States. A huge thank you goes out to our listeners for your unwavering support. From day one, our audience has grown to include listeners from around the world, including Germany, canada, singapore, croatia, australia, ireland and many more. In today's episode, we have some exciting segments lined up. We'll be interviewing our Director of Cemeteries, andre Law, sharing an inspiring message from heaven and telling the story of a notable figure buried at one of our cemeteries. Stay tuned for an episode filled with reflections, insights and celebrations of our journey together. Insights and celebrations of our journey together. I'm excited to have Andre Law, our Director of Cemeteries. Andre, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2:

Thank you and congratulations on the 100th episode.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, what a milestone. I know it's wonderful, so why don't you kick things off and just start by telling us how you got here?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a very interesting and could be a long story, but I'll shorten it up by just telling you that you know, in law school I thought I was going to change the world. I ended up working for a couple of judges and I realized that the world of the justice system doesn't really want to change. So I was struggling with where do I go next, because I really didn't know that my legal career was going to go the direction that I had initially intended. And I ended up finding out, through a very strange set of circumstances, that the Diocese of Cleveland was looking for an attorney in their legal office and I got an application in. I was told that they were not accepting anymore.

Speaker 2:

I, as you guys know me well, enough, I can be very persistent and I pushed and the next thing I know I walked into the Chancery Building of the Diocese of Cleveland on December 4th 1991. And I spent some time in the legal office. I was transferred to the finance office where I got to work very closely with the financial legal secretary at the time, father Wright, who was an amazing mentor who eventually also became my priest and my friend. And that relationship, really it was such a wonderful friendship. And when he was leaving the diocese finance office to take over as director of cemeteries, he asked me if I'd want to come with him and help him with our cemeteries At that time. You know our cemeteries needed a lot of help. They were in, there were things that needed fixing and we came here to make those repairs. And then in 2009, bishop Lennon asked me to be the CEO slash director of cemeteries when Father retired. And here I am.

Speaker 1:

And here you are All these years later.

Speaker 2:

It's funny when I think of my time with the Diocese of Cleveland, and I never anticipated or expected that I would have dedicated my career to the church, but the church has a way of bringing you in and God has a way of encouraging you to stay Anytime. I thought about you know where do I go next? Is this really where I want to be? Somehow or another? You know, and, um, somehow or another. Uh, you know, and, and you know, I'll just leave it at. Really, I put it all in God's hands and, um, it's amazing, when you trust God with your life, how it can uh it, it really can. Your road can. It's not easy. It's uh, it, it. It has a lot of uh there's. There's a lot of potholes along the way and a lot of brick walls you have to break down, but when you trust God to guide you and it all just seems to work out in a way that you never really would have anticipated had you thought it through, you just kind of follow where he takes you, and I guess that's the best way to describe why I'm here right now, today, sitting here talking to you at our 100th episode of the CCA podcast and recognizing where my career has been. I mean, I'll be 62 years old here in November and I was 29 when I walked into the Diocese of Cleveland Chance Rebuilding.

Speaker 2:

So it's amazing to reflect on those years working with the church. What I can say is I've always found the church to be this perfect thing, this perfect entity created by Christ, this perfect entity created by Christ. And you know, as we worship God, unfortunately we as human beings, you know, we muck it up every now and again and the perfect, flawless diamond gets some smudge on it, but you know, you just wipe it away and the perfect diamond always remains. And because you know, this institution was created, the church was created by Christ, the institution was created by us. So, and that's, and that's really. Once you grasp that understanding that the church itself is, is, it was Christ and and the church is Christ and the church is God, and you understand that the institutional church is human, it becomes very easy to differentiate between the flaws of the human and the perfection of the divine. So why am I here?

Speaker 1:

That's why that makes sense. I mean, I think it's funny because I remember I think it was my first month and I you always ask me this periodically. You always go. What do people think when you tell them you work in a cemetery? And I didn't think that I'd end up here either. I mean, if you asked me in college, I don't think I would have said that I was working for the Catholic cemeteries either. But you know, you're right, you put things in God's hands and he leads you where you're supposed to go. So I understand your journey completely.

Speaker 2:

And it's funny when you it is, it is exactly right. I mean when you do just trust that, you just throw it in his hands and you just allow your life to you know, I mean, it still requires work. There will be pitfalls, there will be struggles.

Speaker 2:

There will be moments when you just want to, you know, bury your head in the sand or, just you know, crawl up into a ball and, just you know, just walk away from everything. But you know that your mission is to serve and to serve others, and I think the most important thing that this ministry has offered me is an opportunity to be there for people. And it's not easy, because you'll always have people that criticize you. You'll always have people that think that you're the worst human being that ever lived, because you have to make hard decisions and you know hard decisions that require sometimes impacting someone's emotions.

Speaker 2:

And you know when you deny something or you don't allow somebody to do what they want on a memorial or a headstone, or you know when they want to be on a memorial or a headstone, or you know when they want to be, you know, have something situated a certain way or the decorations that we don't allow or that.

Speaker 2:

You know why we allow this or why we don't allow that, and you really do you are really subjected to a lot of criticism because of those hard decisions that you have to make. And again, and of course it's never easy when you're talking to a mom who's lost her son, or a father who you know who's lost his child, or you know son, daughter, whatever it might be, or you know a spouse I mean there's so many. I mean I I could sit here for hours just talking about the situations that we've dealt with. But you know, my, my goal always is to make sure that when we when I do deal with a family that is in in struggling with the death of a loved one and and they're impacted by a decision that was very hard to make, decision that was very hard to make, it really, you know, ultimately we focus solely on how do we somehow guide them through their grief and where our rules and regulations are complied with, but in a way that it doesn't make the situation worse.

Speaker 1:

And it's not always. We don't always succeed in that.

Speaker 2:

But we certainly try. We certainly never forget who we are as a Catholic organization, that we are a ministry of our church, that our bishop has expectations of us. When we treat people, that we treat them with the kindness that Christ would want us, we treat them with the uh, with the kindness that Christ would want us to to, to treat them with and, uh, you know, just recognizing that that everybody, everybody is grieves in a certain way, and just try our best to to be there for them as they mourn the passing of someone they cared about deeply.

Speaker 2:

And that's so, that's so, so those are the hard times that you know that, that when we're when we're confronted by those difficult situations and it's gut-wrenching when you have to tell a mom no, or a father no, or you know a spouse or whatever it was it is.

Speaker 2:

It can be a real gut-wrenching experience. But you know you have no choice because you're trying to, you're trying to blend, you know, all those different requests and requirements and with the rules and to ensure that you know you don't have chaos, because there's. You know we have 750,000 people buried in our cemeteries, you know and every year we still, you know we're burying 5,000,.

Speaker 2:

You know people and you know so that's 5,000, you know people and you know so that's 5,000 more families that every year that are impacted by the death of a loved one, that also have to find themselves in a situation where our rules and regulations sometimes can be difficult to accept. But the other side of the coin is chaos, and we can't have chaos, we can't have just everybody doing whatever they want.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, I mean, there's safety concerns with certain decorations that can put the field in harm's way.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely Well, and you know it's funny that you mentioned the safety concerns. I remember when we prohibited the pins in the crosses.

Speaker 3:

You remember those, Joel, when they had the Right, right, I do so the the old wooden crosses would have stakes they'd have stakes and then during the winter the ground freezes.

Speaker 2:

You try to remove them and those stakes are stuck in the ground because they break off right and so then you've got, you know, three, four inches of a, of a, almost like a nail sticking out of the ground, and we did actually have an employee who put one through his foot, and so you know.

Speaker 1:

So then we started a rule that says no more.

Speaker 2:

And well, everybody got upset because they had bought these crosses. And I'm like, well, you know, those would be, we grandfathered the old ones in, but anything new, and so that. And then people would always, you know, then you'd get people saying, well, mine was grandfathered in because I bought it and it's like it looks brand new. It's like, so you know, eventually we just got to that point after a couple of years where the rule was in place. We knew that these crosses at some point we're going to be replaced anyway. So it, we eventually got to that point where we didn't allow them at all. But again, as you said, it's the requirement of maintaining the safety of our employees and it's just like the metal stuff and the chips and the different rocks that people put around their monuments. It's the same thing. I mean we don't sit around just trying to figure. Sometimes you get the impression like they think that there's this guy in that corner office wringing his hands, wondering, you know how can I make this more difficult?

Speaker 1:

how can I make?

Speaker 2:

life more difficult for this poor, grieving you know mom or or dad, and I'm like you know. No, as a matter of fact, we really, really do struggle with a lot of the decisions we make, uh, and it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's you know, what do we? What kind of pricing do we do?

Speaker 2:

You know, and we do. We spend an enormous amount of time on pricing and one of the part of that conversation is you know, how do we cover our costs without burdening our families? Because we recognize that this is a very, very expensive, expensive thing. And funerals, the funeral part, is extremely costly. And then on our end I mean, and and you kind of get that you know, well, I could dig that hole, for I could dig that hole for that, you know, in 20 minutes. And I'm like, well, a lot of people don't think about everything, that that is all the work that has to be done to get to that point where you're actually digging that hole. But also then you're thinking, you know they ignore all the development costs that go into putting together a section, and then all the, you know all the time that is spent to make sure that when you dig that hole you're digging the right hole and that you know you're making sure you're digging the right hole, and and that you know you're making sure. And then, after the, after the everything's done, you know, to the supplies, that you need to make sure that the grass is growing, cause you know and it is amazing how you know how hard it is to get grass to grow in a cemetery Once you start ripping up all that stuff. And I mean, you know, and we spend quite a bit of money on the materials, we really do, we have topsoil made at Holy Cross, I mean.

Speaker 2:

So it's just people don't really understand all the behind the scenes and what we do, and my goal personally is to minimize the behind-the-scenes impact so that I want families, when they come into the cemetery, to focus on one thing their relationship with the person that is buried here, to allow themselves the time to remember and not focus on why are there weeds on my grave? Why is the grass not growing? We spend so much time on spraying and cleaning and doing all these things, but you know, there's only one place where perfection exists and it's not here. That's heaven. But we certainly do strive to bring as much of that perfection to our cemeteries as we can, because we recognize that this is where people come to reconnect with their loved ones, to immerse themselves in those memories, and I want them to only be focused on their memory of the loved one, not on some other issues. You know, whether it's in a mausoleum or whether it's out there in the field.

Speaker 1:

So, Andre, how has the Catholic cemeteries changed since you started here? I'm sure there's so many changes. I mean we just heard about one with decoration policy.

Speaker 3:

Besides all the gray hair.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I did have dark hair when I started. Well, I think the most important thing is that we have focused on just making sure that our cemeteries are amongst the best kept properties of any other cemetery. You know, like I said I guess you know just to kind of follow up with what I just said I want people to come here and have a little bit of that you know, I want a little bit of that wow factor Like wow, what a beautiful place, you know, and I think for the most part we've succeeded.

Speaker 2:

You know, unfortunately, once you go through the entrance and you see all the things we've done and the plantings and the landscape and everything, and then you go to your grave and there's crabgrass on the grave, well, that kind of takes away from that. But in that light, we've sprayed a lot and we do a lot of those things. But I think how things have changed. You know, there was a period of time where Catholic cemeteries, they had lost the vision of the ministry and I don't know when specifically that happened, because for all that time, in our Cleveland cemeteries anyway, I mean, there was a lot of that very, very ministry-driven focus and at some point, whether it was maybe the, maybe in the 80s or the into the 90s, it almost just seemed like, well, things were just moving along the way they always this is well, this is how it's always been and there was less of a focus on providing our families with, you know, beautiful pieces of prop, you know beautiful places where they could go and remember their loved ones.

Speaker 2:

So I think one of the things that I focused on, and Father Wright, when we got here, was beautification, that we had to take these wonderful properties and bring them back to the beauty that existed around the time many of them were established and in through the, you know, those early decades, and kind of bringing them all back to a place of beauty. You know, I think one of the things that I am most proud of is what happened at Holy Cross Akron, for example. Holy Cross Akron, for example, where what was a big, swampy kind of it just really wasn't attractive at all, I mean, and now, my gosh, when I go down there, it's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 3:

It was like a giant puddle. Yeah, oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

It really was. It was brown and Brown and ugly.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, almost like. It just was like the end point of wherever the water was coming from. It just ended up there like in this just big puddle.

Speaker 2:

Oh and junk.

Speaker 3:

Remember all the junk that used to come in there.

Speaker 2:

All the tires, tires, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Tires. Oh my gosh, what was this.

Speaker 1:

It was weird, it was likeires. Oh my gosh, it's like people, would you?

Speaker 2:

know what was this? It was weird. It was like we there was just so much junk and it's like, oh my God, and there was really. There wasn't much landscape, there weren't any trees.

Speaker 3:

No, not at all. And now you?

Speaker 2:

go down there, my gosh. You can't even. You can barely see other side because of the, the trees that have grown in and what we did with planting of those um. I know that when, at one point I think, we planted uh, about 15 000 trees in our cemeteries um, yeah, I do remember the the tree initiative.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my gosh, we went crazy on planting trees, which, but we needed to because it, you know. I mean, what do people want? And when they come to a cemetery, they want it to be beautiful, they wanted they it to be forested and park-like and and to be a place where they, they can reconnect. This place Calvary Cemetery here in Cleveland, it was it. It really was in such bad shape and and now people come here they go. Oh my gosh, this place is beautiful. And you know, but many of them, I mean Holy Cross, that whole entrance, what we did there. I mean, we took what was just a plain old big pile of just a flat grassy area and we reestablished this creek. I don't know why, I don't know what was so popular putting creeks in pipes but we reopened it and daylighted it and now there's. You know. So now you have, you know, I mean, if you drive down Brook Park Road, if you drove down Brook Park Road 20 years ago and looked over into Holy Cross, it was just a flat nothing.

Speaker 3:

It was just flat blah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there was nothing.

Speaker 3:

And then they daylighted the stream. Almost 1,500 feet of stream Gave it some landscaping around it and some vegetation. Now it looks beautiful.

Speaker 2:

I know, and it continues to grow. The other day I was there and I was walking toward that area where it's kind of we left a lot of it to kind of go natural and there was about three or four deer that were just kind of lying there and they jumped up because I was approaching.

Speaker 2:

And so that's what's nice, is, I mean. And so I know, at All Souls, I got a little bit of pushback on the area up front where we used to cut it all the time, and so it was nice and cut and everything, and I'm like, well, why are we cutting this huge area of grass when it's, you know, this should be? If we had let it go 20 years ago, it would be a forest today. So, and I guess we, you know, it's just one of those things where I finally came to the realization that you know, what we've done at other properties, we should do that here as well. So, trying to really make it so, when you drive into a Catholic cemetery, you should be able to reconnect with, you know, god's gift of nature to us all, and when you pull into a Catholic cemetery, it should take you away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and so that you're only focused on one thing you know remembering the person that you, that you, you know you left here, that you buried here, you know, and there's always that well, they're really not there. I know that their physical, their physical remains, are buried in a dignified, beautiful place. Their soul, we pray, is in heaven and we believe. But Catholic cemeteries are all part of that belief, the belief in the resurrection, the belief in our relationship with God, the significance that this person played in our lives. That's why we treat their body with the dignity and respect of placing them in sacred ground. And that sacred ground should look amazing. It should really look beautiful. And so, as a result, here we are.

Speaker 2:

You know, if you would have told me 25 years ago that we would be amongst the top cemeteries in the country, I would have probably looked at you and said I don't see how that'll ever happen. But now I get calls from cemeteries all across the country asking hey, what are you doing with this or what are you doing with that? And I'm like how did you hear about us? Well, maybe a supplier or someone else said hey, if you want to go see a cemetery and a well-run cemetery, go to Cleveland. And again, I mean, there's always things we could do. And you know, one of the things that probably frustrates me the most is when I go out. I see all the things that still need to be done and you could still only tackle one thing at a time.

Speaker 2:

So you know, but I've never lost sight of where we were, where we are and where we need to be, to ensure that our families will always have these beautiful properties, that they can trust that the Catholic cemeteries will always be there for them, because we do this for our this is for our families, this is our church's way of telling our families that we love them and we care about them and that we recognize this beautiful ministry of the church and it really is a relationship that we have with our dead.

Speaker 2:

One of the corporal work of mercy corporal works of mercy is, you know, the burial of the dead, and it's, you know, these are things that were given to us, these are gifts that were given to us by Christ. And look at, you know, in the Jewish tradition, the importance of burial. I mean, it was so important, as Christ died on that cross, to retrieve his body, anointed as much as they could to get him into the tomb before sundown, and that tradition continues on in what we do and it was critical that he be properly buried. Now we know it was only temporary, but you know we also believe that it's temporary for us as well. It's just more than three days.

Speaker 3:

A little more, just a little bit.

Speaker 1:

But I mean we also do more than just landscaping to improve the cemeteries. I mean we have the new section signs, so those are beautiful and I I've already gotten a lot of compliments on those from social media and just people I've talked to who actually go to the cemeteries. I already told you about a mother who had told me that she was visiting her son here and that she thought that it was so helpful to actually see those. That's great to know, so wonderful.

Speaker 2:

Well, and again, you're absolutely right, you being here, is what we've accomplished in our cemeteries. I mean, if you would have told me 20 years ago, 25 years ago, that someday we would have a 100th episode of a podcast.

Speaker 3:

First we'd ask what's a podcast, what's a?

Speaker 2:

podcast or just a program any kind of program. I would have looked at you like, why would we do something like that?

Speaker 2:

But I think we've really focused so much on the ministry aspects of what we do that has encouraged us to do things like this podcast to let people know what's going on, to give them some guidance in dealing with their grief and to ensure or assure them of our care for their loved ones and to make sure that they understand that we are very aware of our responsibility and that you know we take that for responsibility very seriously. We take that for responsibility very seriously. So it's yeah, it's yes, you sitting here is something that is a huge accomplishment for us?

Speaker 2:

because of what? But again, you quite frankly, paige, you get the mission. You understand what we're all about and you know, I know Joel has always been part of that. He's always you know, I guess really you know. I talked about the landscape and everything and you brought me back for a moment and, reflecting on our staff, we have built a team of people around here and we've always been fortunate enough to have good people.

Speaker 2:

but, you know, sometimes you really have to focus on, you know, ministry, and I think we have built a team of people throughout our organization, whether it's.

Speaker 2:

Eddie, who's you know comes in, you know to clean the floors, or whether it's you know someone in my position or you know anybody throughout. I mean, if you ask anybody, um, they have a very clear understanding of, of, their responsibility, of their of, of, and they, they know that this is a ministry Um and um and they know the importance of of being with out there to serve our families, and I get a lot of nice compliments from people about how wonderful, oh, your staff was so wonderful. They dropped everything and helped me find this or helped me find that. So I think it comes down to they get it. We, you know, our crew, our team gets it.

Speaker 1:

I like that answer mainly because I love everyone that I work with here at Calvary, mainly because I love everyone that I work with here at Calvary, including. Joel. Hey Joel, what's up? Paige? So can you tell us about? I know you talked a little bit about the landscaping and how you built the cemeteries back up. Well, it was not me, it was. When you say I, the whole crew. Yeah, it really was.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I just wanted to be very clear. This was a team effort, man. I mean we, you know, I may have been the one that kind of set things in motion, but it really. We have just such an amazing group of people that are dedicated to service to our families and I think that's the thing that I. I think, if you ask me what is the thing that you appreciate most about our Catholic cemeteries, it's the people, because, without you know, quite frankly, they make me look good.

Speaker 1:

So what is your proudest achievement then?

Speaker 2:

Oh, my gosh.

Speaker 1:

I know I have all the good questions.

Speaker 2:

My proudest achievement would probably be the creation of the team the building of the team and making sure that our staff is taken care of that. These are that we've taken what was once a kind of like eh job. I know that when I first started here, these were not considered to be great jobs.

Speaker 2:

These were, they weren't careers even though a lot of people stayed here for a long time and what my goal was to turn these into that you could actually make a career here, that you could learn, that you could grow better, but where you appreciate the job, where you appreciate what management is focused on. My proudest achievement would be the way we have built an amazing program for our staff, that they can count on us to always look out for them when it comes to whether it's a pay package that is very competitive, competitive or just making sure that every single employee, regardless of station, is treated with the dignity and respect that each person is entitled to. Now, it doesn't mean that you don't have to give back and work. There certainly are expectations that you you know you gotta we require hard work here.

Speaker 2:

Joel knows expectations that you you know you got to earn that, you got to earn that paycheck every two weeks, but but I think I think, in that regard, that's probably the thing that I, at the end of, at the end of my career here and at the end of my days, I think I will always reflect on the fact that, by focusing on the needs of our families, making sure that you know I mean we have men and women here who work, that have children, they have families, they have responsibilities and to make sure that they can meet those obligations, that they can pay for their groceries and pay for their gas and that they can take a vacation I think those are the things that you know I would say would be my proudest achievement is turning taking what was once not a very well-regarded employment situation into something that is what it is today, where you know, they know, they know that the boss cares about their life, so that would be my proudest achievement.

Speaker 1:

That's a wonderful answer. And your answer kind of gave me another question that isn't on the list. So what is people's first reactions when you tell them that you work at a cemetery? Because you know it's not really, I would say you know a usual job that people hear of. So, joel, you can answer too.

Speaker 2:

I get a lot of oh well, that's interesting. And then I kind of go into I says, well, I don't really give them a lot of time to go into filling in the blanks in their head. I tell them that you know what we do, the operation, how many properties you know. I kind of give them the oh well, we have 35 miles of roads, we have 160 employees.

Speaker 2:

We have, you know, we manufacture headstones and memorials. We have a full shop. We have, you know, 10 mechanics on staff. So I kind of and they look at me like you guys do all of that.

Speaker 1:

That's a lot.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, you know people only see the cemetery from the perspective of the moment they spent here burying a loved one and quite frankly, that's good. Or Hollywood.

Speaker 3:

Or.

Speaker 2:

Hollywood or Hollywood yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the way Hollywood does it.

Speaker 2:

Hollywood doesn't give us a lot of credit. Cemeteries are spooky, creepy, whatever they are.

Speaker 1:

I have a blog post coming out about that soon, but they're not.

Speaker 2:

I mean, they're amazing properties, they're beautiful and the history that's here. And then, on top of that, there is the business aspect of it, and you have to run the cemeteries like any other business. We have to, you know. We have to generate income to pay those salaries and to pay, you know, in order to make sure that we can accomplish those things that I just talked about, that I'm most proud of, we have to make money, and so you have to be very responsible with these resources. Without and that's the thing so how do you make? How do you make money that you can pay your people well and that you can pay the bills and that you can take care of the infrastructure and do all those things without ever forgetting that you're a ministry of the Catholic?

Speaker 1:

church and never forgetting the mission.

Speaker 2:

And that's and that. So that's kind of that difficult thing and I think we've. I think we have attained that difficult balance between running it as a business and never forgetting the ministry part.

Speaker 1:

I would agree. I mean I've only been here for two years, but I mean I see that I mean we have the blog, we have the grief support groups, we have the free events that people can go to. I mean Walk to Remember is coming up this Sunday, and then I mean there are all these things that we do to support the families, but I mean we also do, obviously, incorporate the business side of it. So I can definitely see that.

Speaker 3:

Andre mentioned Father Wright and when Father Wright approached me about working at the cemeteries hey, you ever think about working?

Speaker 1:

at the cemeteries Apparently. Father Wright was just a recruiter, is what I'm hearing, my first reaction was what?

Speaker 3:

digging him Again going? Back to that whole notion. Yes, and you don't really think about or at least I didn't at the time, I mean I was 29. I didn't think about, like, what all goes into actually upkeeping and running a cemetery. And then you get into it and you see, I mean it's the record keeping, it's just answering the phone call and giving out a burial location, it is the backhoes and the dump trucks and the Cushmans and steel-toed boots. I mean it's all that and you learn that as you're here and you get immersed into it.

Speaker 3:

And, yeah, it's a lot more than just digging a grave, yeah, and even even that you know, andre even mentioned that earlier yeah, you know most people are like, well, I could dig that hole, you could, but are you going to get it deep enough? Are you going to stay within the confines of the grave size, right, are you going to all of those things?

Speaker 1:

There's so much that goes into it.

Speaker 3:

It is so involved. People think it's so simple, but it's really not. It's not.

Speaker 1:

I would say that my friends also had the same reaction when I started working here. They also thought that I would be digging graves, not running a podcast. And then, whenever I tell people about this podcast, they always ask what we talk about and I tell them. I give them the whole spiel because, you know, I think that it's really important and I really love doing the podcast. It's one of my favorite things, so I'm glad it really provides a lot of.

Speaker 2:

You're providing a lot of information to our families, so that they have maybe a clearer understanding of what we do.

Speaker 2:

You know, I appreciate you mentioning the boot program, because that was you know. That was I mean, if you really want an idea of how we think about our staff and how we you know whether it's myself or any one of the management team how we feel about the people that you know. Ultimately, the staff here is. They are my responsibility and it is my responsibility to ensure that they have the best tools, the best equipment and the best compensation that we can possibly give. Obviously, there's always those parameters and we really do try to bring in a lot of outside sources and to develop the statistics so that we are very competitive depending on the job classification. But the steel-toed boots probably are the thing that most reflect how I feel.

Speaker 2:

Early on when I started so it has to be 20 plus years. Well, when I started I started going around and unfortunately we were in a very difficult financial period. There were some serious financial difficulties at that time, so it took a little bit of while. It took some time to get through some of that stuff. But I remember talking to a particular employee who's still with us, so I mean he's been here that long and I was talking to him and it was rainy and I looked down and his boots were. They were steel-toed boots, they had to be, but they were held together with duct tape. And I thought to myself is this where we are, where you know someone that we rely on to be out there in the miserable cold weather? And I looked at him and he just said to me he saw me looking at his boots and he said, yeah, well, you know, I'm trying to get that last bit of life out of him, andre, I'm thinking to myself, you know, we can't allow this. And it wasn't that long after.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I was determined that we were going to have, you know, programs. So now we've reached a point where we pay for Red Wing boots. They receive, you know, the truck comes here and they get a winter pair and a summer pair. And you know, we figure, because they get two pair of boots, they usually last every two seasons, but if they go bad, we'll, we'll get them another pair. So the the red wing boot truck comes and they get that, they get to go in and they pick themselves a nice pair of, uh, red wing boots. And then we started, you know, um, one of the guys was asking if we could provide them with rain gear. And so we did. We bought top-line rain gear, not just something. The rain gear that we give our guys isn't something that you get in a little plastic baggie, that's you know.

Speaker 1:

From the dollar store.

Speaker 2:

No man, this rain gear is top quality, whether it's the jackets, the sweatshirt, whatever the equipment that they need to make them, you know, comfortable in their day, because you know what, quite honestly, I've done construction in my life and I remember wearing crappy, beat-up boots and being soaked to the point where you are just you know, your feet are prunes and I worked outside so I know what it's like.

Speaker 2:

I think everybody who's responsible for people who work outside needs to spend time working outside so they can understand what it's like to stand in a hot shower and, as hot as that water can get, your body is still not warming up because your core temperature has has has crashed because you were working outside in miserable cold weather. And people who work outside, um, you know. And so when you have had that experience in your life and you and you are responsible for people who work outside, that is something that you're always thinking about is are they okay? Are they? You know? Hey, don't make sure they get inside and warm up or, on a hot day, make sure they go inside and cool off, make sure they have plenty of water.

Speaker 2:

So you're always thinking about making sure that the staff, that they're okay, that they're not put at risk. So that's, you know, that kind of ties into what my proudest achievement is Just the way we and that particular employee that's still with us with the boots he's every now and again when I see him, you know, we have a quick conversation and he just always appreciates everything that we've done for our staff, because he remembers what it was like before when very little was done to take care of our staff, and that's it makes me sad that there's that there were people here back in that day when, you know, when that effort wasn't put into it and I don't blame anybody, it's just there was a mentality that that's just the way it was and you know you have to have a different experience, maybe from an outsider's perspective, to bring that, so that you know you're focused on the needs of your people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I mean, people are everything when it comes to a business.

Speaker 3:

They really are, especially this one.

Speaker 1:

So one last question to end this off what legacy would you like to leave as CEO?

Speaker 2:

Wow.

Speaker 1:

I saved the last good one for last. I saved the last good one for last.

Speaker 2:

That's a tough one because I really don't think a lot about legacy, but I live my life very, very frankly. I I leave behind here. I hope that people remember that I cared for them and that I cared enough to put, you know, my needs aside for their needs, and my only thing that I, you know, the legacy I want is that when I stand before God, he may roll his eyes a bit, but he doesn't point me in the other direction. So that is, that is. I think that that is when you, when you live your life with, with heaven as your primary focus, um, it's, it's. It guides you in a way that is very different than a lot of us.

Speaker 2:

And again, it doesn't matter where you are in life, whether you're the one that's out there digging the grave or whether you're building cars in Detroit and your responsibility is to put the transmission in or whatever it is. You're welding this or putting that together. Every career, every job, everything we do. When you live it in such a way that you're focused on being part of the community and part of a faith that guides you toward God, I think legacy becomes. That's where your legacy lies is that you live your life with a focus on heaven and so that when the end comes, so a lot of people live their lives with their focus on legacy is to have their name on a library, or their name on this, or to have their name on whatever you know, whatever it is, I mean, and that's great, that's good? I certainly would never.

Speaker 2:

I'm not judging anybody for how they want their legacy to be. You know, whether it's putting their name on a library, whatever I mean, those are important things, because a lot of those you know. When you have your name on a hospital, what'd you do? You built a hospital that serves people, and so that's a wonderful, beautiful legacy. But if that legacy loses sight of heaven, then what was it really for? Okay, I mean, putting your name on a building is beautiful and it serves and it does a lot of great things, but what good is it if, if you don't achieve heaven? So that's, that's what legacy should be and that's what we should all be focused on.

Speaker 1:

So Well, I think that is a great note to end on. So thank you, Andre, for joining us, sharing your insights and stories with us. Joel, thank you for joining us for the moment that you did.

Speaker 3:

This guy's gold, bring him down here. Episodes 101 to 200 write themselves.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you, I appreciate that.

Speaker 3:

Now, shifting gears. We're going to delve into one of our favorite segments Messages from Heaven. This part of the show always gives us a moment to reflect and connect with something beyond us. Today, we have a particularly touching story that reminds us of the profound impact of love and legacy.

Speaker 1:

This story was submitted by Michaela S. Ever since my mom passed away in 2015,. By Michaela S. Ever since my mom passed away in 2015,. I found comfort in the little signs that she stole with me, watching over the big moments of my life. It started with me finding dimes on the sidewalk, a symbol I've come to associate with her presence. On my first day of college, I found a dime outside my classroom. On my first day with my now fiance, he found a shiny dime on the ground and handed it to me. Again and again. It kept happening. I suppose you could have chalked it up as a coincidence and moved on. But the most striking moment happened on the day I went to get my marriage license. It was a significant step and it served as a reminder. My mom wouldn't be present at the wedding. My fiance and I filled out the necessary paperwork and left it on the table while we stepped out for a bit. When we returned there, it was a dime sitting on top of the license. No one had been in the room and there was no way it could have been there before. It was as if my mom had just dropped by to show her approval and to remind me she was still part of my life. That dime felt like a hug from her. On the day of my wedding we left an empty seat for her and put a dime on it.

Speaker 1:

A short but beautiful story. It serves as a reminder that a departed loved one's love and spirit continue to be part of all the important milestones in our life guiding us from beyond. It's truly remarkable how signs and symbols can comfort us in profound ways. Let's move on to another intriguing segment of today's episode. We're going to delve into the life and legacy of a notable figure buried at one of our cemeteries Ed Delahunty. Ed's story is not only inspiring but also a testament to the mark an individual can leave on a community. Join us as we explore his contributions and the lasting impact he has made. Cleveland is home to some of the best athletic teams in the country, even though the Browns are making that kind of hard to believe right now. Cleveland is also home to some famous and notable athletes such as Ed Delahunty. Cleveland is also home to some famous and notable athletes such as Ed Delahunty. His story is one of great success, proving how hard work and dedication pay off.

Speaker 1:

Born in Cleveland on October 30, 1867, delahunty had a rather normal childhood, attending Central High School in Cleveland and attending St Joseph's College. Delahunty stayed local for the majority of his early years. When he was 20 years old, delahunty signed on to play with a minor league team in Wheeling, west Virginia. It wasn't long before Delahunty was traded and by the end of 1887, he was sent to Philadelphia, pa, to play with the Phillies. In the spring of 1888, he officially began his career in the major leagues, starting on second base. Over the next five years, he would begin to build his batting average, so much so that in 1892, he hit a ball so hard it broke the pitcher's ankle. By 1893, he had a listing of 19 home runs and 146 runners batted in, and his performance was only getting better. It wasn't until 1899 that Delahunty won his first batting title, boasting a .400 batting average for three years. However, this wasn't his first notable achievement. In 1896, he became the second person to hit four home runs in a single game, and that same year he also hit 10 consecutive times while at

Speaker 1:

bat. Delahunty began to play for the Washington Senators in 1902, where he won another batting title, making him the only person to hold a batting title in both the National and American Leagues. Delahunty played for the Senators until his untimely death in 1903. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland in Section 10, lot 135B, grave 7. At the time of his death, della Hunty had recorded 101 home runs, 1,464 runners batted in, 522 doubles, 185 triples and 455 stolen bases. One can only imagine what he could have accomplished had he continued his

Speaker 1:

career. And that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you for joining us on this special journey through heartfelt messages from beyond and celebrating the lives of remarkable individuals like Ed Delahunty. It's stories like these that remind us of the connections and legacies that shape our experiences and our communities. Before we go, just a reminder we're always looking for more guests for the Inspiring Stories of Healing and Hope series, and we're also looking for more messages from heaven or experts in the field of grief in order to join us on the podcast. So if you or anyone you know has a story or is interested in joining us, please email us at podcast at C-L-E-C-E-M dot org. Thank you.