Glenville Funeral Home

11/26/2025

Thinking of those with an empty chair this Thanksgiving.

💔 EMPTY CHAIR 💔

As families gather for Thanksgiving this week, it is very easy to get caught up in the excitement and joy of your own life.

Why wouldn’t you… odds are you’ve got a couple days off from work, you’re together with the people you love and the food, conversation and friendship is wonderful.

Just don’t forget that someone you know, a friend or perhaps a coworker, will be facing the reality of an empty chair at the table this year.

It could be a grandparent or parent who passed away since last Thanksgiving. Even worse, it might be the untimely death of someone much younger.  God forbid it involves the loss of a child.

For those individuals, the holidays this year are going to be very hard to get through.

It doesn’t help that every other commercial on TV shows family gathering and everyone smiling and getting along.

Sadly, I’m seeing more and more that families are being torn apart for other reasons.

Sometimes downright stupid reasons.

People argue and mean words fly and they find it difficult to forgive.

Those empty chairs hurt as well. 

They don’t show you this in the Hallmark movies, but for a lot of families, Thanksgiving and Christmas are no picnic. They only serve to amplify a void that exists in someone’s life.

Every night on the news, I read stories about car crashes, fires and shootings. A name flashes across the screen, maybe a picture showing the victim.

We in the media move on to the next story, the next day, leaving behind a family with a very big piece of the puzzle missing from their lives.

So enjoy the turkey and stuffing.

Watch endless football.

Make fun of your uncle Charlie when he stuffs his face and falls asleep in the living room easy chair.

Do all that 10 times over if it makes you happy.

Just don’t forget that someone you know, right now, might be going through a tough time this Thanksgiving and a simple phone call or text message from you, saying that you’re thinking of them could go a long way in making a difficult day a little easier.

You can’t fill that empty chair, but you can help fill an empty heart ❤️

11/26/2025

In Loving Memory of Maureen Murray

View Maureen Murray's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/22/2025

In loving memory of Michael James Kelly. May he rest in peace.

View Michael James Kelly's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/21/2025

Funeral Service for Adele M. Weller

11/20/2025

In Loving Memory of Edmund G***k Dearstyne

View Edmund G***k Dearstyne's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/20/2025

In loving memory of Michael S . Gamache.

A devoted husband, father, son, brother, and friend, spread his wings after a courageous battle with cancer. May he rest in peace.

View Michael S. Gamache's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/20/2025

In loving memory of Adele M. Weller. May she rest in peace.

View Adele M. Weller's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/19/2025

In Loving Memory of Patricia Ann Lyons

View Patricia Ann Lyons's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/19/2025

In Loving Memory of Ronald E. Provost

View Ronald E. Provost's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/18/2025

In loving memory of Maria T. Wierzbowski. May she rest peace.

View Maria T. Wierzbowski's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/16/2025

In loving memory of Kathy West Daniels. May she rest in peace.

View Kathy West Daniels's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

11/14/2025

Famous Funerals and the Funeral Directors Behind the Curtain.

Lately my Roman Empire has been thinking about the pressure that must sit on the shoulders of the funeral directors who serve the world’s most famous names. The public sees the headlines… but somewhere behind the scenes is a funeral director holding it all together with probably 3 hours of sleep.

Here’s a quick list of famous names who have passed — and what their funerals were really like:

🌹 Marilyn Monroe
• Funeral: Held at Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles. Private, tightly controlled, and emotionally intense — Joe DiMaggio banned Hollywood execs and kept it intimate.
• Burial: Crypt 24 in the Corridor of Memories.
❗️Imagine coordinating that level of security and emotion in an era without cell phones.

🎸 Elvis Presley
• Funeral: A massive public event at Graceland in 1977. Over 80,000 people lined the streets. Media swarmed. Fans fainted.
• Burial: Meditation Garden at Graceland. The funeral directors managing this had to balance crowd control, national media, and cultural grief all at once.

👑 Princess Diana
• Funeral: Watched by 2.5 billion people. Coordinating the cortege alone — the horse-drawn gun carriage, heads of state, global royalty — was a masterclass in precision.
• Burial: Althorp Estate, on a private island. The pressure? Probably unimaginable…

🎤 Aretha Franklin
• Funeral: A full-day, star-studded celebration of life in Detroit with multiple outfit changes, celebrity performances, and worldwide livestreams.
• Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.
✨ This was basically the Super Bowl of funerals — logistically elaborate, culturally significant, emotionally charged.

🎙️Charlie Kirk’s funeral
• Funeral: Highly publicized, politically charged, and scrutinized from every angle. No matter what one’s stance is, the funeral director had to navigate media, security protocols, heightened emotions, and a nation’s divided attention.

In moments like this, funeral directors become quiet anchors in chaos — balancing dignity, logistics, and respect under pressure few will ever understand.