too sweet to die

cryptofwrestling:

Very old bottle of Hydrol embalming fluid…

This reminds me. Here’s an interview I did in 2005 with a friend who runs his family’s funeral home:

Are you an expert at old lady hairdos?

The joke around our house is that the men can do our wives’ hair and makeup for them, but only if they lie down and close their eyes. I’m not an expert, but I’m getting better. Of course, this being the South, many women have their own hairdressers come in and prepare them before the service. This one hairdresser, let’s call her Truvy, does the hair for almost all the old ladies who die in our small town.

Truvy has her own little kit (in a fishing tacklebox) with all of her own combs, lipsticks and whatnot. She comes in and sits in a chair as she fixes their hair and she talks to them the whole time. Just last week, I heard her telling this one lady who died what everyone was bringing to the potluck dinner after the funeral.