By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Dunn Funeral Home’s motto is “Our family serving yours.”
The Bowling Green-based business has expanded its definition of “our family,” first when they merged with Peinert Funeral Homes in Tontogany, Waterville and Whitehouse, and most recently with the addition of two new staff members. Britt McWilliams joined the family business in 2023, and Janina Shope is the newest hire.
McWilliams and Shope’s positions as funeral directors and embalmers, along with the funeral home’s Vice President Brittany Dunn-Wilson, are part of a trend of women taking on leadership roles in a previously male-dominated industry.
According to the National Funeral Directors Association website, the face of funeral service is becoming more female. In 2023, 76% of the new enrollees in mortuary science programs were women, compared to 5% in 1970.
“When my Uncle Steve attended the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in 1971, there were no women in his class,” Dunn-Wilson said. “By the time my dad (Tim) attended in 1986, there were two or three women in his class, and in my class, women were about 50%.”
Shope, who graduated in April, said there was one male in her 22-member graduating class.
The changing demographics in the funeral industry are more than statistics. They are a general shift that is evolving as the needs of families change.
Varied beginnings
For Dunn-Wilson, joining the funeral industry was a natural progression. Funeral service is in her DNA, having grown up around the family business that was started in 1975 by her grandfather, Donald Dunn, great-uncle Marvin Dunn, and uncle Stephen Dunn. Her father, Tim Dunn, joined the business in 1986 and serves as president, with Brittany joining him in 2012 and his son, Tyler in 2017.
Dunn-Wilson, a 2006 Bowling Green High School graduate, planned to join the family business, but her path started at Oakland University in Michigan. She played volleyball all four years and earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, “in case I got into the industry and decided it wasn’t for me,” she said.
She graduated from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in 2012 and earned her funeral home director license in 2013.
“Luckily, it did work out. I grew up here, lived upstairs, so it had been a part of my family,” she added. “I feel fortunate that my grandpa, uncles and dad have all laid the groundwork for where we’re at today.”
McWilliams and Shope, first-generation licensed funeral directors, circuitously found their way to the industry.
McWilliams grew up in Indiana, just 30 minutes from Cincinnati, and graduated from high school in 2014. After working in Indiana and Cincinnati hospitals for a few years, she was introduced to the funeral home industry after a personal loss in her family where she sat in on making funeral arrangements.
“At the time, I had no idea I was 30 minutes away from a mortuary college they call ‘the Harvard of mortuary science,’” McWilliams said. “I did my research and went back to earn my associate’s degree before starting my bachelor’s degree in mortuary science.”
She landed at Dunn Funeral Home via Cincinnati after she met Tim and Tyler Dunn during a job fair at the college.
Shope’s experiences were similar to Dunn-Wilson’s, except without the family connection to the industry. She was born and raised in Bowling Green, was homeschooled until high school, and graduated from BGHS in 2016.
After high school, she moved to California, where she took some community college courses before returning to her hometown. “I really liked caregiving, so I started in early childhood education, but then I met someone who had just graduated from the mortuary school, who told me about the education requirements and what the job actually entails.”
Shope completed her associate degree in pre-mortuary science from Terra State Community College and enrolled at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, where she was president of the Delta Gamma Pi sorority. She graduated summa cum laude in April and was recognized for academic excellence, highest scholastic standing, exemplary student citizenship and outstanding potential for business and management skills.
At Dunn Funeral Home, Shope will complete her apprenticeship before becoming fully licensed.
Caregiving: The common bond
All three women agree that their proclivity for caregiving is at the core of their decision to go into the funeral industry.
“That caregiving aspect is what transferred over for me,” Shope said. “Guiding people through a process is what we do here as funeral directors. We are kind of guiding people through that unfamiliar experience.”
Caregiving and nurturing are major factors in women coming into the industry, McWilliams said.
“I don’t want to say that men aren’t compassionate, because they can be. But often, women are more naturally caretakers and nurturers,” Dunn-Wilson said. “For some people, the process is a little less intimidating with a woman, where maybe they can be more vulnerable and emotional.”
Families today are more likely to want very personalized services that are different from the more traditional funeral format – two days of visitation, a service and burial. Funerals and services today tell the loved one’s life through videos and music, photographs and memorabilia.
Women entering the field are bringing comfort with technology and a willingness to embrace new tools that make services accessible, responsive and seamless for today’s families, according to the NFDA website.
“We bring that attention to detail and planning” into each service, Dunn-Wilson said. “It’s definitely a calling to do this work.”
As more women assume leadership positions, other women can see themselves in these positions, Shope said. “We are seen as capable and able to do just as much as a man would when we’re provided with the proper tools and training.”
As funeral directors and embalmers, the women are handling the physical aspects of the job and working with families on the arrangements, Dunn-Wilson said. “Being duly licensed makes for well-rounded individuals, because all aspects of the business are important.”
At first, McWilliams preferred doing the embalming. “I was nervous sitting with families, grieving and taking that all in,” McWilliams said. “But now I love meeting with families, helping them and making one of their hardest days that much easier.”
For Shope, it was opposite. She wasn’t interested in the embalming aspect until she gained more experience. “I’ve gained such an appreciation for what it means to provide a more peaceful, final image for those families.”
“Our goal is to make the overall experience as helpful and smooth as we can,” Dunn-Wilson said. “We are so fortunate to have added Britt and Jani to the family. The community can feel comfortable that all of us at Dunn’s are comfortable in what we are doing.”
