Former Mortician reveals the five things she taught from the dead (exclusive)

Annie Owen has a sickly job – literally.

When Owen Was in high school, she was interested in pursuing a career in the funeral service. Her father initially told me it was not a job for women, but it did not deter her.

After studying to get her bachelor’s degree in funeral science, she took a job as an apprentice in her hometown and later became a mortgage and funeral director.

“It was difficult because many cases or families I worked with, I knew because it is such a small town,” she says exclusively. “You don’t know what to expect when you get a call. I focused on the idea of ​​helping families and people, but you have to be prepared to see many things that you are not prepared to see.”

“One night, my best friend’s father got a heart attack in front of me, and he died,” she continues. “I was on conversation, and it was one of the first times ever I realized how difficult this job was, but it turned out to be a good lesson for me. I was glad I could be there for my best friend, and I could go through that trip with her.”

Being there for others in their needs time is fulfilling, but can also be emotionally dropped. Owen shares that you “learn very quickly how to suppress your feelings so you can take care of other people.”

“It’s not about us, it’s about their feelings,” shares Owen. “Whatever we can do for the family to make it easier for them. But over time it must be a lot for me. The older I get as a funeral director, I feel that I take it home a lot more than I did in the beginning.”

While working in the funeral service, Owen has “stagged himself for solemn moments”, and it has certainly “been a lot” of them. Yet she is always surprised at how much “joy there is to celebrate someone’s life.”

“I had so many families over the years who have wonderful stories. I get to hear the stories about the person’s life. I have so many fun stories that people have told me,” says Owen. “When the families gather, they can do it in a way that is not as depressing as you think it would be.”

Owen hopes to stop some misconceptions about those working in the death industry, including the belief that they are “shady” and “unhappy”.

“There are some bad apples. But most of us have such integrity. We strive to have integrity in this business,” she shares. “There is a misconception that if a director does something illegal, we all do behind the scenes.”

“The majority of the funeral directors strive to follow the law, and morally you want to put your head at night and know that you did a good job for the family and respectful for the deceased,” she adds.

Owen shares that the HBO show Six meters below is the “most realistic behind the scenes you will ever see.” She says the movie My girl, Most of the time also represents funeral directors “in a good light.”

Some of these misconceptions, along with her desire to share stories about the people she has encountered, inspired her to start her series, “5 things I will not do because I have been a mortuary” on Tiktok.

Owen shares lists of things that she refuses to do because of what she has seen – like swimming in lakes, joyriding on the back of pickup cars, taking other people’s medication, ride motorcycles without protecting people in traffic.

“I think we can learn a lot from the dead, that they have a story to tell, whether (or not) it is a precautionary story,” she says. “It was when I started my tictoch, I thought, ‘What are some stories that I can tell you that people will learn from?’ When I started the series, there are real events that have happened, as I have seen and I have seen the devastation.

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Owen shares other stories, including personal stories about people who have passed away, to remember them and raise awareness of their deaths.

“When I tell the stories, I sit down and think about the families I have met over the years. I miss many of the families I met. I had a close relationship with many people when I worked with families,” she shares.

“This process has enabled me to sit down and go through all the memories I have had, and many of them are heartwarming and wonderful because I have met so many wonderful families, and that is what keeps us going.”

While the death subject can be uncomfortable for many, Owen encourages people to find the beauty of honoring those who came in front of us.

“People who do not think they can do this job miss such a beautiful part of life, even though it is death. Celebrating someone’s life is a really wonderful experience, and it is an honor to be there with the family,” shares Owen. “It is an honor all these years to get to know these families and learn the stories of the dead, about the people we have buried.”