Video: Millennial Morticians with ABQ Brews

L to R: Joshua McManigal, Luke Rogers, Kilian Rempen, Michael Garcia

What do Millennials think about funerals and funeral planning? In this panel discussion, four 30-something funeral professionals talk about what’s happening on the front lines of our 100% mortality rate and how their generation is responding.

The panelists from left to right are:

• Joshua McManigal, a general manager with Daniels Family Funeral Services and Sandia Memory Gardens, Albuquerque.
• Luke Rogers with French Funerals & Cremations and Sunset Memorial Park, in Albuquerque. He’s a 5th generation funeral director.
• Kilian Rempen, Marketing Manager at Passages International, a company that provides eco-friendly and biodegradable caskets and cremation products to the funeral industry, based in Albuquerque.
• Michael Garcia with Salazar Funeral Homes in Albuquerque.

Jade Richardson Bock, with Donate Life New Mexico, makes a guest appearance to talk about organ and tissue donation.

Topics discussed include:

• What Millennials think of funeral planning (hint-they don’t).
• Organ donation requirements (less than 1% of people who die become organ donors).
• The most memorable memorial services they have been involved with.
• The most common misconceptions Millennials have about funerals and memorial services.
• Changing ideas about the environmental impact of funerals.

Held as part of the Before I Die New Mexico Festival, this panel discussion took place in Albuquerque on November 7, 2019, at Tractor Brewing Company’s Wells Park location.

The third annual Before I Die NM Festival was held November 3 to 10, 2019. It offered upbeat activities to think about, talk about and do something about our inevitable mortality. A record-breaking 1,800 people participated in these events, which took place in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos and Espanola, New Mexico. Activities included Death Café conversations, field trips to cemeteries, funeral homes and crematoria, movies, panel discussions, and a wide range of speakers. A fourth annual festival will be held in October/November of 2020.

Festival Sponsors

A big thank you to our sponsors who made the 2019 Before I Die New Mexico Festival possible, and most of the events free:

• A Good Goodbye – Pioneering death educator Gail Rubin puts the “fun” in funeral planning. AGoodGoodbye.com
• Daniels Family Funerals & Cremations; DeVargas Funeral Home & Crematory; Fairview Memorial Park; and Gabaldon Mortuary;
• FRENCH Funerals and Cremations and Sunset Memorial Park – FrenchFunerals.com;
• Morris Hall PLLC – an estate planning law firm MorrisTrust.com;
• MyFinalChecklist.com – the end-of-life planning system you need to finally get it together for those you will leave behind;
• The Green Burial Council – a nonprofit organization that inspires and advocates for environmentally sustainable, natural death care. GreenBurialCouncil.org
• Passages International – Albuquerque-based providers of eco-friendly funeral and cremation products. PassagesInternational.com
• Everdays – an app that connects you with the people that matter most during life’s important moments. Everdays.com