6 minute read
President’s Message
By Brian Dingmann, MFDA Board President
Thank you to all of you for trusting in MFDA to represent, collaborate, and celebrate with you.
This issue’s President’s Message is a reprint of Brian Dingmann’s speech at the 2022 MFDA Convention.
Welcome. I am Brian Dingmann. I am a 2001 graduate of the University of Minnesota - Program of Mortuary Science, I celebrate 20 years as a licensed mortician this month and I am honored to be this year’s MFDA President.
Why we serve
We all got involved in funeral service in different ways and we all had different life experiences that led us to our roles of service to our communities. Growing up, I watched my parents, Art and Marlene, operate small town funeral homes in Annandale, Kimball and Maple Lake. I saw the time and energy that they placed into their work. All the times that they worked long after I had gone to bed. All the times that they worked through the weekend or holiday. All the times that they were pulled away from a family function due to the death of someone that we didn’t even know. What I saw as a kid was all the hard work and long hours they committed to the funeral home, and I completely missed the bigger picture. However, as a teenager, there was one single event that happened that changed my outlook on what they do and who they are. My dad and I crossed paths with a woman, and I saw my father ask, with full sincerity, how she was doing. She spoke briefly with him, allowed a single tear to fall, then thanked him from her heart. She then hugged my dad. He embraced her hug and replied with some softly spoken words. If you know my dad, he’s not a hugger. So, even as a teenager, I saw that something more than a hug just happened in the aisle of Jack and Jills grocery store. I don’t remember who the woman was, but I do remember the way I felt in that moment. It was at that time, that I started to place the pieces of the puzzle together. I saw a depth to funeral service that was more than needing to work at inconvenient times. I saw that funeral service was about love and care for our community and to those that call that community home. From that moment on, I wanted to know more. We all have our story of why we entered this noble profession. I hope we make the time to share those stories and to celebrate our common love of this field.
What is funeral service
So, what really is this profession? I believe that funeral service is more than just an industry. It is real-life people: morticians, support staff, grief specialists, product and service suppliers, and the list goes on and on. Funeral Service is people that come together with full hearts; and that give freely of those hearts to the families and the communities that we are so privileged to serve. Today, I still love funeral service, it is one of my greatest passions in life. We get to come to work every day and make a difference for others. We get to come to work and learn the stories of the lives of the people that have built our communities. We get to come to work and help our community to remember it’s past, express its grief, and heal for the future. We get to come to work, and see the love that exists in this world.
Why MFDA
Where does MFDA come in all of this? The goal of the Minnesota Funeral Director’s Association is to enhance and support funeral service excellence through its programs, legislative representation, and service to Minnesotans. We strive to be here to provide the pillars of MFDA. To educate, advocate, collaborate, communicate, and celebrate funeral service. Over the past number of years, we have had many successes to celebrate, especially when it comes to our advocacy efforts. Many of you may or may not be aware of the nationwide movement to remove licensing and other barriers to employment, not only from funeral service, but in many industries. MFDA has been ready and available to explain the importance of the mortician’s role whenever this discussion happens in Minnesota. MFDA has spent substantial time, energy, and resources in St. Paul to make sure that funeral service has a voice and a seat at the table when legislation is introduced
Want to renew your MFDA membership online?
Visit www.mnfuneral.org and sign-in to your MFDA members-only account. Need your log-in info? Contact Miki Tufto at 763-416-0124 or mtufto@mnfuneral.org.
that affects our industry, especially when it comes to licensure changes. The past couple of years, we have defended the right of our communities to hold services to remember, mourn and celebrate the lives of those that died during Covid. We challenged the executive orders issued, interpreted what the orders meant to funeral establishments, and communicated those interpretations to morticians. We have introduced legislation and will introduce additional legislation to assist funeral homes. By pro-actively introducing legislation, we ensure that we are able to monitor what language is placed into statute, thus protecting those we serve from well-intended, but often flawed legislation. We have a full-time lobbyist that is at the capital as a regular resource to law makers to make sure they understand the positive and negative consequences of proposed changes to the industry. This association has been here to defend and to empower funeral service and we will continue to do so.
Thank you!
I need to wrap things up. So let me conclude by saying thank you. Thank you to my parents for introducing this great calling to me. Thank you for serving our communities with all your heart, and for allowing me to find my own way to funeral service. Thank you to my partner in business and my partner in life, Dana. You are the glue that holds it all together, allowing our family and our business to succeed. Thank you to my co-worker, Mike Messina, for constantly challenging Dana and I to improve ourselves and our company. Thank you to my kids, Isabelle, Elias and Anneliese. I know the challenge of growing up in a family of funeral directors. Thank you for your understanding when the death of a member of our community pulls your mom and I away from our time with you. Thank you to all those that have been mentors to me and to others. You are the ones that truly guide this profession. There are too many of you to even mention today. However, when I do think of my mentors in funeral service. Those who have provided guidance, growth, support, and encouragement; almost all of those people, I met through the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association. So, it is only appropriate that I also thank the MFDA for providing not only me, but all morticians looking for personal and professional growth, the opportunity to meet, connect, and learn, with one another; and to celebrate with each other. Finally, thank you to all of you, valued members of our state association, for trusting in MFDA to represent you, to collaborate with you, and to celebrate with you. I look forward to the year to come and thank you again for the opportunity to serve as president of the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association.
