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Fort Dodge’s funeral homes faced, met unique COVID challenges

In their wildest dreams, Conrad Laufersweiler, Mack Bruce and Robert Gunderson couldn’t have imagined the challenges that would beset the Fort Dodge funeral homes that still carry their names.

The dying separated from their families in their final hours. Viewings and services limited to no more than 10. No vocalists to sing a favorite hymn. Wearing of protective masks. Physical separation of seating. No hugs, no handshakes. No after-services luncheons. Services delayed from months to a year or more. Zooming and livestreaming of services.

No businesses have escaped the impact of the COVID-19 virus, but it created special challenges to the funeral home business – and more importantly, to the families of those who died over the past 20 months who turned to them in their hour of grief. The pandemic and the restrictions it caused for funeral services have been easing, but the business is forever changed.

All this is certainly true for the three funeral homes located in Fort Dodge – Laufersweiler- Sievers Funeral Home, founded in 1856 by Conrad Laufersweiler and the oldest family-owned funeral home in Iowa; Historic Bruce Funeral Home, founded by Byron Wilder in 1938 and taking its name when Mack Bruce took over Wilder’s interest and ran it from 1945 to 1972; and Gunderson Funeral Home, started in 1966 by Robert Gunderson after he worked seven years for Laufersweiler.

“For us, our normal started to unfold very quickly – from 50 people at a funeral and seemingly in a day or few days, 50 to 25 and 25 to a maximum of 10 allowed at a funeral,” said Phil Gunderson, who joined his father in the business in 1982 and worked with him until his death in 1989. “It was a dynamic change, trying to sort out what we needed to do and what we needed to have to help people at time of death.

“At first, people didn’t really understand. Only 10 people in the building, we distanced chairs to six feet apart. Funerals suddenly became very limited what options families could have…People stayed in cars and only a handful of immediate family at graveside. What was really the hardest thing was seeing those who went through that end of life alone. Dying alone, having to grieve alone, not having family come and gather, friends come and support like we have in the past. All those who have come to funerals, visitations through their whole lives, to support others, in their deaths or deaths of loved ones and never able to have that same support for themselves.”

Luke Laufersweiler, who with his brother, Mark, represents Laufersweiler’s fifth generation of family owners, recalled that in March 2020, “Nobody thought it would be this long. In April, services were private with 10 people. It was sacred to the immediate family, intimate and sacred, but it wasn’t normal, like what they wanted it to be. But we never took flak. That was a good part of it, we didn’t have any choice – people were super supportive, they knew we had rules, even if they were rules nobody wanted.”

Jamie Brundage, managing partner of Historic Bruce Funeral Home, which she has co-owned since 2019 with Jayme Lentz (who owns other funeral homes in Algona, Humboldt, Spirit Lake, West Bend, Mallard, Gilmore City, Burt and Livermore), said the most difficult period was at the beginning, as guidelines from the Iowa Funeral Directors Association “sometimes changed from hour to hour.”

“We didn’t see the crazy numbers like the hot spots such as New York, but we were still impacted,” Brundage said. “In the beginning, the biggest challenge was keeping up with the restrictions and guidelines which were sometimes changing on an hourly basis. Our biggest priority was to keep everyone safe while still allowing our families the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved one. It was very difficult in the beginning when only 10 people were allowed to be in our facility at one given time. Visitations were done by rotating small groups, with disinfecting in between. For the most part, families were very understanding.”

It was not long before the three Fort Dodge funeral homes turned to Zoom calls, video recording and livestreaming to reach a wider audience.

“We quickly became video people,” Luke Laufersweiler said. “We’re so much more used to it now, that it is part of almost every funeral. We also learned we need to videotape services. When there’s an Internet glitch and the livestream is interrupted, we would get a flood of calls immediately. The only good thing that has come from COVID is connections through technology. It fits perfectly into our mission. Our No. 1 job is to serve people…it just made us offer more to help families. Our mission is to serve, and I think it took it up a notch.”

“Technology became a huge factor in overcoming some of the restrictions,” Brundage said. “Livestreaming a service became an important option for families, and this is something I don’t see going away. Not every family wanted the service to be livestreamed, but a large majority did.We livestream from our Facebook page, but we’re looking into better options. Beyond COVID reasons, I think it’s more a convenience thing. There are some in families who live out of state that gives them an option. They can watch it a year from now.”.

Gunderson said his funeral home is doing more video memorials, “which for families have become more commonplace. Video streaming or recording – we offer that, most want it, but not everybody does. That’s been helpful, but it doesn’t replace being here and supporting people. That’s understandable. It’s one of those big adjustments in our culture.”

Among the first local funeral services to be livestreamed were those at Corpus Christi Catholic Church for retired Fort Dodge Police Chief Kevin Doty in April 2020, a month after the pandemic began. The streaming was handled for Gunderson by Rusty McNeil, TV/radio production coordinator for Iowa Central Community College, and several of his students.

COVID restrictions did not allow police officers who were part of the processional to attend in person, McNeil said. “I still remember seeing officers outside watching the service on their phones because they couldn’t be in attendance. I knew we had made a difference.”

Gunderson said that during the initial months of the pandemic, Iowa Central “filled a critical need in technology/Wi-Fi connectivity in offsite locations, including churches and venues.”

Regulations for funeral homes have eased – and as of today, there are no restrictions in place. Brundage said, “We leave it up to each individual if they want to wear a mask or not. We continue to have masks available for those who wish to wear one.

“I get a sense that people want to be back together, because they were denied that before, so I think if they are able to be here, and comfortable, they will be here.”

At the September 2021 funeral of Tim Flaherty, one of Fort Dodge’s best-known residents and longtime manager of the local Hy-Vee store, more than 3,000 attended his wake and about 1,100 were at Holy Trinity Catholic Church for his funeral Mass, said Mark Laufersweiler, one of his closest friends. The family requested that masks be worn, although not legally required, and almost all complied. The service was videotaped and livestreamed.

What will the “New Normal” look like for funeral services?

Today, funeral and memorial services are more like they were before the pandemic, Gunderson said, with a sense of caution and self-awareness by both funeral directors and those attending. “I envision that going forward, there will awareness of handwashing, sanitizer and distancing, and self-protection. Funerals and memorialization have purpose and value in recognizing celebration of a life lived and come to an end. It is the beginning of coping with grief at the time of loss.”

Said Brundage: “I don’t believe things will go back to the way they were. I think the changes in the funeral industry post-COVID will be the new normal and the added use of technology will continue to grow.”

Among the changes Gunderson envisions for the future: more people choosing cremation; shortened times of visitation at funeral homes and churches; more catering of lunches rather than church volunteers handling them.

“We are here to help people at the time of death and those initial days,” Gunderson said, “through those worst moments, and try to guide them so they can cope with and help them deal with their grief and loss and provide them their services to help them with their grief. The things we do here are not about us, but to have people put their trust in us to help them in their worst possible moments.”

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