Indiana Daily Student

Monday, March 19, 2018 Editors Dominick Jean, Hannah Bouff ord and Jesse Naranjo 2 idsnews.com FEATURE [email protected] The man in black

NOBLE GUYON | IDS Funeral director Cory Graham, 27, takes a moment to sit down and rub his eyes after preaching at a funeral service at Stuart Mortuary in Indianapolis on Saturday. This funeral was Graham’s second and last of the day after being up until 4:30 a.m. performing house calls the night before. Cory Graham grew up surrounded by death. Now, as a funeral director during the most violent time in Indianapolis’ history, he works with death for a living.

By Jack Evans [email protected] | @JackHEvans

INDIANAPOLIS — Th e un- thought it was the only funer- mourn and celebrate life, to neighbors’ cats. got to close the caskets. dertaker would not watch al home in the world. accept inevitability and to re- He understands death as When friends went to fu- the local news anymore. He In recent years, as homi- ject the bleakness of the void. a part of life. He sees it as his nerals, he off ered to go with hated how the broadcasters cides in Indianapolis have Graham’s demeanor suits chance to help people in need them. At the cemetery, he talked of nothing but death. surged, many victims have the job. He has the gentle, — the despondent, the con- would walk up to the fresh He hated each mention of come into Stuart’s care. Th e knowing smile of a Sunday- fused, the angry. grave and stare down into the the city’s rising homicide toll killings — 149 in 2016, 154 school teacher. In the stillness But the killings are some- earth. and how the anchors seemed in 2017, most of them shoot- of the mortuary, he seems to thing else. Th e victims seem His mother didn’t imag- excited about the city setting ings — have rocked neigh- always speak at the exact right to get younger and younger. ine him becoming a morti- a new record in blood. He borhoods across the city and volume. And he has known so many cian, but she noticed his grace hated how a news item could around the funeral home. Th ough he’s a young man, of them. More than a dozen. around death, his knack for reduce a victim to a cause of Th ere was Phyllis Ander- just 27, he has a well-honed He’s lost count. helping others grieve. death: the number of bullets son, 65, shot in her east-side intuition when it comes to Every time he sees a young “Even though I don’t be- torn into them, the place their apartment, her granddaugh- helping people grieve and victim, he takes stock of his lieve he quite, as a child, un- body fell. ter arrested. Th ere were mourn. He knows when to fortune — that he gets to be derstood it, he still had that Most of the victims were Daquan Proctor, 23, and Jonte laugh, when to lower his the one outside the casket, compassion," she says. "He men, like the undertaker, and Williams, 18, both killed in voice, when to off er prayer. that he’s still able to use his prayed a lot." young and black, like the un- a double-shooting after an And sometimes, he says, he experiences with death to His maturity also showed dertaker. Some of them were argument with a third man. sees death in advance. help others. in his friendships with older friends, people he’d grown up Th ere was Jason McNeal, “I don’t want to say I had boys and young men who with. He knew they had emo- 25, who police found shot in the luck of the draw,” he says. took him under their wings. tions, motivations, lives too a parked car on the far east Often he looked down “But I had this opportunity, Th ere was Justin, seven years complex to fi t in a news brief. side, and Matthew McGee, 13, and I took it.” older, who took on Cory in Often he looked down at who died outside a Long John at a victim, laid out in a pickup basketball and Don- a victim, laid out in a casket, Silver’s while 10 other kids casket, wounds concealed * * * key Kong on Super Nintendo. wounds concealed by make- watched. by makeup or strategically Later, there was Doc, nine up or strategically arranged All this, in just 30 days last arranged clothing, and had When Debra Graham saw years older, who coached clothing, and had the same fall. her infant son, she thought he Cory through his fi rst real thought. Indianapolis Mayor Joe the same thought. would die. heartbreak. He told him the Th at could be me. Hogsett declared the city to Cory stopped breathing pain would only make him be in the midst of a public That could be me. as doctors pulled him from stronger. * * * safety crisis at the end of 2015, the womb. Th ey diagnosed As Cory grew, he saw but nothing has stopped the him with a breathing disorder death in many of its cloaks. It Sometimes the call comes carnage. In 2017, one person and told Debra he had a slim swelled in tumors in his gran- on a holiday, on a weekend, in died in the city in a homicide, Weeks before his grand- chance of survival. Th en the ny’s belly and head, felled an the middle of the night. Cory on average, about every two mother died, he saw her slip doctors suggested a last-ditch uncle with a brain aneurysm. Graham has woken at 3 a.m. and a half days. away in a dream, then pre- option, a then-new treatment It chased the bullets that tore to retrieve a body more times Community leaders and dicted, almost to the minute, called extracorporeal mem- into friends and acquaintanc- than he can recall. Sometimes residents have struggled to the time she'd die. He had a brane oxygenation, in which es and family members. it takes him through restrict- pinpoint the causes. Ralph troubled friend on his mind an artifi cial heart-lung ma- When Cory was 12, Justin ed access doors into chilly Lemmon, a local police chap- all one day, then heard of his chine would keep him alive. was shot and killed. Cory was morgues, where he fi nds boys lain for two decades, sees death the next. He ran into But at Riley Hospital for too young to know the con- and men with bodies cool arguments settled with guns another friend on the street Children at IU Health, when text of the murder, only that and shrouded and broken by where fi stfi ghts would have and saw a darkness over him. Debra looked down and saw someone went to jail and that bullets. once done the job. James Dix- Six hours later and seven the tubes coming from Cory’s Justin had been “set up.” Graham works at Stuart on, a funeral home owner on blocks down, the man died. head and neck, she felt more At Justin’s funeral, a min- Mortuary, a family-owned the west side, sees Old Testa- He took the premonitions as despair than hope. ister urged the young man's institution just north of down- ment sin — envy, greed, wrath signs from God. “Do you think he’ll die?” friends to point their lives in town. A painting of thorn- — combined with modern “I wouldn’t call it a sixth she asked her sister. the right direction. Maybe crowned Christ hangs by the weaponry. Any given shooter sense,” Graham’s mother, “Let’s pray on it,” her sister they could meet their friend front door. Th e mortuary’s a Cain, any victim an Abel. Debra, says. “I would call it an said. in the afterlife. slogan: “‘Open to Serve’ since “Nothing has changed,” anointing.” As he grew, he tagged By the time Cory got to 1948.” Dixon says. From childhood on, Gra- along when his grandparents Broad Ripple High School, As a teenager considering Amid the turmoil, Stuart ham seemed destined to wind went to Stuart to make funeral some of his peers were fi ght- the funeral business, Gra- Mortuary stands as a rock. up as an undertaker. As a boy, arrangements for his aunts ing, stealing or getting into ham shadowed undertakers Like the church, a funeral he watched, intrigued, as fu- and uncles. He grew fond of drugs. Some were his friends at Stuart. His family entrusted home provides constancy, neral processions passed. He the services, curious about or mentors. So much of the so many loved ones to the a place to confront death in presided over funeral services the work of the funeral home mortuary that as a child, he the strength of numbers, to for his mother’s goldfi sh and employees, these people who SEE GRAHAM, PAGE 3

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130 Franklin Hall • 601 E. Kirkwood Ave. • Bloomington, IN 47405-1223 NEWS Monday, March 19, 2018 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com 3

» GRAHAM man’s dog helps Walker track CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 down violent criminals. It’s titled “Lucky.” crime seemed to stem from In Graham’s bedroom is a boredom, a lack of direction. dresser with an attached mir- His geography teacher, Ms. ror, and taped to the mirror Chandler, cared about these is a collage of more than 100 kids. She gave them rides obituaries, the kind handed home. She let them sleep at out as pamphlets at funerals. her house when they needed Th ey memorialize friends, somewhere to stay. family members, coworkers Th en one day she showed — people who, for one rea- up in one of Cory's dreams of son or another, were special death. When he recounted to him. He has collected them the dream to her, she tried to for as long as he can remem- reassure him. ber. “Death means the end of Mornings before work, he something,” she said. Maybe rises and pulls a black K&G her career had reached an suit from his closet. If a family end. Maybe it was time to re- is wearing a loved one’s favor- tire. ite color to a funeral, he picks Th en Ms. Chandler got a tie of that color. He looks in sick, and he visited her in the the mirror to tie it and sees the hospital, saw her with one leg obituaries. missing. Two months later, He tells himself: “Th is is another teacher called. “She why I do what I do.” stopped breathing, but she’s OK,” she said. “We’re waiting * * * for you.” But by the time he reached the hospital, she was Even after he became a gone. funeral director, death still In the eulogy he delivered found ways to surprise him. at her funeral, Cory talked One rainy day in 2015, he about how she helped even sat in his offi ce preparing an the unruliest kids, how she obituary. His phone rang. He acted like a mom to the ones heard an uncle’s voice on the who didn’t get love at home. other end. Afterward, a funeral director “Doc is gone,” his uncle approached him. He’d been said. impressed with Cory’s eff ort “What do you mean?” to memorialize his teacher. “He’s not with us no more. Maybe, the man suggested, He was killed today.” Cory should consider his line Graham sank to his knees. of work. Th is is a joke, he thought. Some family and friends He rushed to his car, found it strange when he drove to an intersection near decided to go to mortuary the Children’s Museum. school. Orange-brown leaves clung Debra didn’t believe to the rain-soaked road. Po- Cory would make it through lice cruiser lights refl ected in the program — could he re- puddles. ally handle embalming those Th is is a joke. How could PHOTOS BY NOBLE GUYON | IDS bodies? But Graham says the this man, who taught him Top Cory Graham, center, talks with funeral attendees after a funeral service at Temple of Praise Assembly in Indianapolis. Graham said that directing funerals outside of Stuart can be more diffi cult at times, as the director has less control over the environment. bodies never made his stom- how to handle life like a man, ach turn — he was awed by be dead in the street? Left Tim Burnett vacuums the fl oor before the start of another funeral at Stuart Mortuary. The staff members at Stuart go to work immediately the funerary process. When Graham pushed through a after a funeral is over, prepping the chapel for the next service, which often is within an hour. Debra saw him, clad in all- crowd, toward a ribbon of yel- Right Graham sits outside a Cracker Barrel in Indianapolis discussing his favorite sports teams after attending church on Nov. 12, 2017. The black cap and gown, walk low police tape. Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts are Graham’s favorite teams to watch. Because he works so much, Graham doesn’t always get to watch the across a stage in a Louisville Th is is real. games. church to get his diploma, Pressed against the police she knew he’d made the right line, Graham thought of the Stuart Mortuary is summoned themselves where the details waiting room. Th en someday on an app on his phone. choice. last time he saw Doc. Th ey’d for service is always the same vary most, as they did in two that trumpet will blow and, Th e pastor came to Romans “Th ere’s more to him than gone to a bachelor party. At and always diff erent. Mortu- Stuart Mortuary funerals one as the Bible says, “the dead in 13:11: … our salvation is near- even I know,” she says. some point in the night, Doc ary employees plan for logis- day in November. Christ will rise fi rst.” er now than when we fi rst be- Graham became an un- had said something that stuck tics: If the body is in a house, One casket held a young He goes to church at lieved. dertaker just as violence in in Graham’s brain. is it upstairs? How is it posi- woman gunned down in Christ Our Healer Ministries, Graham believed he had Indianapolis surged. Th e “Forget all the negative tioned? How big or heavy is it? her prime, the other an old as he has for the past 12 years. already found his. He could year he graduated mortuary things and focus on the posi- Will they need extra hands or woman taken by illness. For It’s the kind of church where have been in the ground, like school, 2012, the city recorded tives you have,” Doc had told equipment? the fi rst, hundreds of mourn- a band stretches modern so many in his city. But his 101 criminal homicides. Since him. “You woke up this morn- Th ey clean and embalm ers, some in T-shirts bearing gospel songs to 20 minutes, faith, his family, his job — then, the number has risen ing. Th at’s a positive thing.” the body. Th ey dress it, do hair the victim’s nickname, packed where the pastor sweats they had combined to form every year. By the end of 2015, In- and makeup. For a homicide a church, leaving latecomers through his shirt. Dapper a path that could carry him Other job opportunities dianapolis had recorded 144 victim, they might add a layer to stand in the back. For the women in pantsuits share safely through the shadow of and career paths have nagged criminal homicides. Doc’s of clothing or button an extra second, only a few people pews with rough-handed death. at him from time to time. He’s death was one of them. shirt button to hide an injury, showed up, dotting the chairs men in crewneck sweatshirts. “Look at your neighbor, entertained a move into poli- Doc’s family made ar- might search for the perfect in the mortuary’s small cha- and say, ‘I’m saved!’” tics — he could see himself as rangements with another makeup blend to help conceal pel, the one with a crooked Graham turned to the per- mayor someday. Last fall, he mortuary. Graham didn’t a wound. painting of a ship coming son next to him and grinned: was off ered a job at a Chicago arrange his friend’s funeral, Th ey call it restorative into harbor, and the service The job feels busier now “I’m saved!” funeral home and weighed didn’t hide the bullet holes to work. Th ey cannot revive the ended with just 11 signatures than ever before. When the rapture comes, the idea of a change. make him presentable for the dead, but they can off er some- on the guest registry. In one, Graham believes, those true But he believes God put casket. He let other funeral thing that imitates life. a band played and preachers believers will rise fi rst. But him in this time and place for directors comfort him. For Th e hands-on work has al- recited passages about walk- One Sunday, he settled he thinks any of those dead a reason, so he stays. once, he let the emotions of a ways bothered Graham more ing through the valley of the into a pew near the back 50 souls can get forgiveness up He still lives in the funeral overtake him. than the rest of the job. Old shadow of death and a young minutes into the service, just until the last minute. In his 120-year-old white-and-brick Standing over Doc’s cas- women make him think of artist delivered a poem so as the focus shifted from the version of the afterlife, even house he grew up in, a place ket, he looked down and told his granny. Homicide victims loaded with detail that even guitar-organ-drums combo’s the sinners have hope. that’s been in his family for him he loved him, thanked make him think of lost friends, a stranger clenched his jaws rocking catharsis to the pas- more than 60 years. Th e num- him for his friendship. Doc like Justin and Doc. against sobs. In the other, Gra- tor’s sermon on the inherent * * * ber of residents has always wore jeans and a T-shirt, the He considers himself good ham himself gave the eulogy, fl aws of man: that people been fl uid — he lives there same simple outfi t he wore at keeping his personal life cobbled together with what- tend to serve themselves When Graham leaves Stu- with his mom and grand- every day. He would’ve liked out of his day-to-day work, at ever details he could glean, fi rst, that they don’t consider art Mortuary at the end of the father and a rotating group how he looked, Graham putting others’ needs fi rst. But and the whole aff air ended in consequences until they’re day, he climbs into the front of cousins and friends and thought. these moments of collision 20 minutes. caught, that they depend on seat of his black Kia, and time neighbors. At least as long as His mind returned again between the present and past It isn't unusual for Graham God to deliver salvation. stops. In the silence he talks he’s been alive, it’s been a safe to his last conversation with unsettle him. to work several funerals in a “It is His goodness and to God. Sometimes he speaks place for anyone who needed Doc. “You woke up this morn- For every funeral, the core day. Th e job feels busier now His grace and His mercy that out loud, and sometimes he it. ing…” He didn’t think Doc of his job remains the same: than ever before. have kept me here!” the pas- hears God talk back. Most nights, after work, knew his end was near, didn’t Make sure everything runs tor declared, and Graham Outside, sirens sound he returns to the house and think it was anything more smoothly. Give out hugs and * * * raised his hands and clapped through the streets. A lifetime sits in front of the television. than a coincidence. But may- handshakes. Get the casket in praise. in the city has taught him to “Walker, Texas Ranger” has be it was something Graham from the funeral home to the Graham thinks he knows “Look at your neighbor tune them out, to not wonder been one of his favorite shows needed to hear. church or chapel, then to its exactly what will happen to and say, ‘I’ve been a mess!’” where they’re going. since childhood. He loves its fi nal destination. Get to the him when he dies. His soul the pastor ordered. He might sit there for an stories of justice, especially his * * * cemetery on time, or the fam- will separate from his body “I’ve been a mess!” hour or two, cherishing the favorite episode, the one from ily could incur a late fee. and go off to some place As the pastor cited scrip- only time he ever gets away season four where a homeless What happens after It is in the services of rest, a sort of heavenly ture, Graham followed along from the living and the dead.

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