2017-2018 Bill 4151: National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association - South Carolina

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 H. 4151 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 House Resolution 9 Sponsors: Reps. King and Parks 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\gm\24992vr17.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on April 19, 2017 13 Adopted by the House on April 19, 2017 14 15 Summary: National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 4/19/2017 House Introduced and adopted ( House Journalpage 54) 22 23 View the latest legislative information at the website 24 25 26 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 27 28 4/19/2017 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A HOUSE RESOLUTION 10 11 TO WELCOME THE NATIONAL FUNERAL DIRECTORS 12 AND MORTICIANS ASSOCIATION TO MYRTLE BEACH 13 FOR ITS 80TH NATIONAL CONVENTION AND 14 EXPOSITION. 15 16 Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is delighted 17 to welcome the National Funeral Directors and Morticians 18 Association (NFD&MA) to the Palmetto State for its 80th National 19 Convention and Exposition from July 29 to August 3, 2017; and 20 21 Whereas, dedicated to promoting the common professional and 22 business interests of its members, NFD&MA is a membership 23 association of funeral directors, morticians, and embalmers; and 24 25 Whereas, NFD&MA fosters research, conducts workshops and 26 seminars, investigates funeral practices, and develops and 27 maintains standards of conduct that improve its members’ business 28 conditions and uphold high standards of service to benefit the 29 public; and 30 31 Whereas, the association also provides a continuing program of 32 service of developing, disseminates information beneficial to 33 members, and represents the common interests of its members 34 before legislative, administrative, and judicial bodies; and 35 36 Whereas, NFD&MA was organized in 1924 by a group of licensed 37 funeral directors as the Independent National Funeral Directors 38 Association. Under the leadership of R. R. Reed, these funeral 39 directors set out to maintain high professional standards to aid the 40 public and their own business community; and 41

[4151] 2 1 Whereas, in 1926, the name was changed to the Progressive 2 National Funeral Directors Association, and in 1940, the National 3 Colored Undertakers Association and those members still part of 4 the Independent National Funeral Directors Association merged to 5 become the National Negro Funeral Directors Association; and 6 7 Whereas, in 1949, Robert “Bob” Miller, a Chicago funeral home 8 owner, was elected the first General Secretary of the association, 9 and in 1957, its present name was adopted, the National Funeral 10 Directors and Morticians Association; and 11 12 Whereas, AfricanAmerican funeral directors have had significant 13 involvement with historical events for centuries. In the 1800s, they 14 furnished volunteers from the Free African Society to assist whites 15 who were stricken with Yellow Fever during the epidemic; and 16 17 Whereas, in 1978, African-American funeral directors traveled to 18 Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to recover the bodies of the 19 victims of the Reverend Jim Jones Mass Casualty from Guyana. 20 NFD&MA member and past national treasurer, Andrew W. Nix, 21 Jr., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, had the government contract 22 and was charged with handling human remains of the 913 lives 23 lost. The funeral directors who responded to the crisis helped to 24 transport the bodies to AfricanAmerican funeral homes for burial; 25 and 26 27 Whereas, Georgia’s state association of the NFD&MA, the 28 Georgia Funeral Service Practitioners, assisted when over four 29 hundred caskets were displaced from cemeteries throughout 30 Albany, Georgia, during mass flooding in 1994; and 31 32 Whereas, Oklahoma’s state association of the NFD&MA, the State 33 Embalmers and Funeral Directors Association of Oklahoma, 34 coordinated efforts with others after the 1995 Oklahoma City 35 bombing that killed 168 people; and 36 37 Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of 38 Representatives are grateful for the substantial contributions that 39 NFD&MA has made to local communities across the nation and 40 for the meaningful impact its members have on a daily basis in the 41 lives of our citizens. Now, therefore, 42 43 Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

[4151] 3 1 2 That the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, 3 by this resolution, welcomes the National Funeral Directors and 4 Morticians Association to Myrtle Beach for its 80th National 5 Convention and Exposition. 6 7 Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to 8 the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association. 9 XX 10

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