“Yesterday, we live-streamed a Buddhist service to Vietnam. Over 30 people in Vietnam signed on to it to see and be part of it in real-time,” recounted John Carmon during a recent interview. He is the president of Carmon Community Funeral Homes.
“We’ve been live-streaming services for over twenty years, starting with deployed servicemen who couldn’t come home for a loved one’s funeral,” he added.
“It’s just one of the many unique offerings they provide mourners,” he said.
“We have a full-time support network with our Mary’s Place program in Windsor, which is our center for grieving children and families,” he said. “Support groups meet there.”
Two full-time employees prearrange funerals.
“Our six-person graphics department in Windsor designs programs, which in some cultures are like a book or story of the person who died with QR codes that give online access to other pictures. It is extremely important,” Carmon noted.
He said about 80 percent of families choose digital photo tributes, which can include entire albums.
Their Lodge Community Chapel and Reception Hall in Windsor seats over 500 mourners and has hosted numerous West Indian services, he added.
They also handle repatriation to a deceased’s birthplace or family home, recently transporting bodies to Greece, India, Jamaica and Ethiopia. It’s a complicated process involving consulates and airlines, said Carmon.
Nine funeral homes in Avon, South Windsor, Hartford, Vernon, Rockville, Windsor, Suffield, Poquonock and Granby comprise the Carmon Community Funeral Homes.
In 1979, the group purchased Nicholson Funeral Home in Suffield. In the early ‘90s, it added the large lower level in the back. It recently finished renovating the entire facility, according to Jed Dery, managing director of Nicholson and a Suffield resident. Jason Jamrog, another director, lives ½ mile away, while Director Beth Therian lives in West Suffield.
Catering to many cultures
Carmon and Dery said that understanding and following the customs of local communities has been critical to its success.
Take cremations, for example, which now comprises about 60% of all funerals, according to Dery. He said many cultures, such as Buddhist and Hindu families, participate in the process. “They bring the casket to our Windsor crematory, help place it in the cremation chamber, and actually start the cremation process,” said Dery. “It’s a sacred rite that rests with the oldest son or child,” added Carmon. “Families come to us from all over the state because of that ability.”
Dery said Carmon funeral homes have also handled green or natural burials. The deceased are not embalmed or put in a casket but buried in a biodegradable shroud or box. According to the internet, only six Connecticut cemeteries, all south of Harford, allow green burials.
100 employees
Carmon said the nine funeral homes employ a total of 100 full and part-time employees. “We have a lot of high-quality people,” he said, including professional assistants who help when needed. Some are former clergy and insurance company retirees. They greet mourners and hang up their coats, park cars, help the elderly and serve as pallbearers.
Although Nicholson & Carmon is one of the smaller of the nine Carmon funeral homes, it still holds 80 to 90 funerals annually, said Dery. The demand for weekend funerals is among the trickiest issues, he explained. Families must accommodate college students and working relatives who can’t free up time during the week. He said Nicholson can handle two funerals simultaneously but prefers offering only one at a time.
Dery said in closing and speaking for all the directors, “We are honored to serve the people of Suffield.”
The Suffield Observer is thankful for Nicholson & Carmon’s longstanding support.
Carmon Community Funeral Home’s executives include (L to R) Jed Dery, Nicholson & Carmon Managing Director, Director Frank Carmon IV, President John Carmon and Nicholson & Nicholson & Carmon Directors Beth Therian and Jason Jamrog.