OMG!!! Men of Mortuaries?
OCTOBER 1, 2007 TAGS:
By Joyce Gemperlein
Their pecs and abs are to die for.
The 2008 Men of Mortuaries Calendar proves that at least a few of the males who speak soothingly, carry Kleenex and know the decay rates of various casket materials have quite a bod under their staid, funereal gray suits.
Who would have thought? Aren’t undertakers old, gray of complexion, gaunt and, well, creepy?
Four hundred morticians and funeral directors from across the country who defy that stereotype sent applications to Kenneth McKenzie’s funeral home in Long Beach, Ca., to vie for a month in the calendar, which will be released this week. Beefcakes all (or so they think), they sent pictures, bios, statements about why they chose the funeral industry as a career and $250 entrance fees.
McKenzie and his sister, Katherine Alyce McKenzie-Meadows, and a mixed-race panel -- composed of a gay older man, a gay young man, a straight older man , a straight younger man, a young straight woman and an older straight woman “to hear all voices,” McKenzie says – culled the brawnier from the scrawnier and got the number down to 25.
This is the second edition of the calendar, which has a purpose beyond providing eye candy.
McKenzie sold approximately 20,000 copies of his first effort, a 2007 calendar, as a way of raising money for KAMM Cares, a nonprofit organization (the acronym is from his sister’s name) he founded to distribute money to women like his sister who were going through breast cancer treatment. The money, granted to women who apply for it, pays for child care costs, groceries and other expenses incurred while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
The premier issue of the calendar in 2007 presented 12 of the 200 men who applied after seeing a small advertisement that McKenzie placed in a funeral home trade magazine. The number of applicants jumped this year due to publicity in newspapers and on television talk shows.
McKenzie, who is Mr. June in the 2009 calendar because that is the month in which his father died, says he was inspired to begin KAMM Cares by his sister’s illness.
“Actually, she brought up the idea. She saw calendars of cops and firemen and wondered where the mortuary men were. I think she was still looped on the drugs she was taking for the cancer!” McKenzie joked.
The 25 semifinalists for the 2008 calendar competed for it by spending six months working out and eating properly, then traveling to California to try out in person. Unable to get the number down to 12, McKenzie added January and February 2009 to the calendar to accommodate 14 hunks. They range in age from 22 to 50, and none are wearing shirts.
Each photo is accompanied by a bit of information on the featured mortician. Mr. December, for example, is a former Marine who enjoys cooking and is shown glistening, bare-chested and wearing a chef’s hat. “Frank enjoys working with wood,” is the information given for Mr. October, who appears to be sanding a board – again topless.
Each subject also comments on the experiences of a loved one with breast cancer or the worthiness of the calendar effort.
In addition to raising money for breast cancer victims, McKenzie sees the calendars as a humorous way to dispel the notion that morticians “are gray-haired and hunchbacked with no personality.”
“Who is buying them? Who isn’t? Men, women, funeral directors, people inside and outside the industry,” says McKenzie.
McKenzie was disappointed that no men of color applied for the 2008 calendar, and hopes that changes next year. And within two years he intends to present fetching pictures of women in his industry: the Females of Funeral Homes.
(To order a 2008 calendar, go to www.menofmortuaries.com )
Joyce Gemperlein, a writer who lives outside Washington, D.C., last wrote for Obit on burials at sea.
Their pecs and abs are to die for.
The 2008 Men of Mortuaries Calendar proves that at least a few of the males who speak soothingly, carry Kleenex and know the decay rates of various casket materials have quite a bod under their staid, funereal gray suits.
Who would have thought? Aren’t undertakers old, gray of complexion, gaunt and, well, creepy?
Four hundred morticians and funeral directors from across the country who defy that stereotype sent applications to Kenneth McKenzie’s funeral home in Long Beach, Ca., to vie for a month in the calendar, which will be released this week. Beefcakes all (or so they think), they sent pictures, bios, statements about why they chose the funeral industry as a career and $250 entrance fees.
McKenzie and his sister, Katherine Alyce McKenzie-Meadows, and a mixed-race panel -- composed of a gay older man, a gay young man, a straight older man , a straight younger man, a young straight woman and an older straight woman “to hear all voices,” McKenzie says – culled the brawnier from the scrawnier and got the number down to 25.
This is the second edition of the calendar, which has a purpose beyond providing eye candy.
McKenzie sold approximately 20,000 copies of his first effort, a 2007 calendar, as a way of raising money for KAMM Cares, a nonprofit organization (the acronym is from his sister’s name) he founded to distribute money to women like his sister who were going through breast cancer treatment. The money, granted to women who apply for it, pays for child care costs, groceries and other expenses incurred while undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
The premier issue of the calendar in 2007 presented 12 of the 200 men who applied after seeing a small advertisement that McKenzie placed in a funeral home trade magazine. The number of applicants jumped this year due to publicity in newspapers and on television talk shows.McKenzie, who is Mr. June in the 2009 calendar because that is the month in which his father died, says he was inspired to begin KAMM Cares by his sister’s illness.
“Actually, she brought up the idea. She saw calendars of cops and firemen and wondered where the mortuary men were. I think she was still looped on the drugs she was taking for the cancer!” McKenzie joked.
The 25 semifinalists for the 2008 calendar competed for it by spending six months working out and eating properly, then traveling to California to try out in person. Unable to get the number down to 12, McKenzie added January and February 2009 to the calendar to accommodate 14 hunks. They range in age from 22 to 50, and none are wearing shirts.
Each photo is accompanied by a bit of information on the featured mortician. Mr. December, for example, is a former Marine who enjoys cooking and is shown glistening, bare-chested and wearing a chef’s hat. “Frank enjoys working with wood,” is the information given for Mr. October, who appears to be sanding a board – again topless.
Each subject also comments on the experiences of a loved one with breast cancer or the worthiness of the calendar effort.
In addition to raising money for breast cancer victims, McKenzie sees the calendars as a humorous way to dispel the notion that morticians “are gray-haired and hunchbacked with no personality.”
“Who is buying them? Who isn’t? Men, women, funeral directors, people inside and outside the industry,” says McKenzie.
McKenzie was disappointed that no men of color applied for the 2008 calendar, and hopes that changes next year. And within two years he intends to present fetching pictures of women in his industry: the Females of Funeral Homes.
(To order a 2008 calendar, go to www.menofmortuaries.com )
Joyce Gemperlein, a writer who lives outside Washington, D.C., last wrote for Obit on burials at sea.
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COMMENTS (2) TO ADD A COMMENT, PLEASE FIRST SIGN IN OR REGISTER.
Laurie Robinson wrote on October 31, 2008 12:13pm
Ok boys I have too hand it too you, very nice. Very, very nice. WOW!! [Report Comment]
Brianna wrote on March 26, 2008 3:06pm
'I never knew that morticians could be so... handsome. I've always wanted to be a mortician. (I'm still in high school.) I think I have an even better reason to become a mortician. ' [Report Comment]
