Now, Live on the Net: Funeral Rites

SYRACUSE, N.Y. —  So far, Fred Fergerson hasn’t had any takers for his new service. But just wait.

Fergerson, a second-generation funeral director, is offering to broadcast funerals on the Internet.

If that sounds like something out of the “Twilight Zone,” it really isn’t. Fergerson said he decided to do it out of compassion--for loved ones and friends who cannot attend funeral services in person, so they won’t feel left out.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a big demand for it,” said Fergerson, who is providing the service for free. “But we’ve got it if anybody wants it.”

“I went all over the Internet on search engines,” said the 52-year-old Fergerson, whose father started the business in 1948. “Nobody’s doing it. To my knowledge, we’re the only ones.”

Probably not for long. Fergerson said a New York City parlor is set to go online, and industry experts think others will follow.

“What you are dealing with here is the front end of a trend. Death is different now than it was 50 years ago because family, friends and relatives are more scattered,” said Kelly Smith of the Wisconsin-based National Funeral Directors Assn. “The need for this kind of service is greater. If we reach the point where the computer is the tie that binds the family, more directors will use the Internet.”

Just how quickly the trend will develop is unknown. It all depends on mortality and how quickly those in the funeral business get online.

“The funeral service profession is somewhat behind the curve when compared with other businesses in providing consumers with e-commerce services,” Smith said. “A large majority of funeral service consumers are not yet asking for it because most of them are of a generation different from the computer generation, mostly the World War II generation and mid to late baby boomers.”

Visitors to the new video page on Fergerson’s Web site (www.FergersonFuneralHome.com) can click on Gallery and see the front entrance to the funeral home and traffic passing by in the distance.

Fergerson said he tested the system recently, broadcasting a hearse procession as it left the funeral home. He uses a fixed camera installed at the entrance to the funeral home and says he also can broadcast from inside or take the camera to a cemetery for a graveside service if a grieving family so wishes. He’s working on adding audio.

The idea came out of the blue-- after the recent death of an old high school friend’s father. His friend, who lives on the West Coast, returned to Syracuse to make advance funeral arrangements but couldn’t come back when his dad died.

“I started thinking about it,” said Fergerson, who added that he was a computer whiz in college. “If we could get this camera working, we could do it worldwide. I didn’t have it working at that point. It took three days of configuring to get it the way I wanted it.”

During the testing and setup period, Fergerson said he inadvertently left the camera on during a funeral. That’s when he found out the system was ready.

“My brother in Maine saw it,” Fergerson said. “I gave him the link for it.”

Fergerson said he has three laptops he can give to those who are unable to attend a funeral for whatever reason. He said he has good control over the setup and can limit who sees it.

But just the thought of it all had Nicholas P. Bush furrowing his brow.

“It gets very impersonal at some point, and I still think tradition holds the best process of grieving,” said Bush, also a second-generation funeral director in nearby Rome, N.Y. “And that means being present for viewing and ceremony. I don’t see it at this point, but if it was something where the public was interested on a regular basis, then I guess I would.”