CHEERFUL isn’t the first word you’d pick to describe a funeral parlour.
Yet to young funeral director in the making Tom Gibson, that’s exactly the word he chooses when talking about the local furneral home where he works one day a week.
“It’s pretty cheerful and relaxed here,” the 16-year-old says with a shrug.
“There’s a lot of paperwork…it’s not different from any other business really.”
Growing up with a funeral director father meant Tom quickly came to terms with death, and by Year 7 he’d made up his mind to enter the family business.
“School’s not for everyone — I don’t struggle at school but I don’t really want to be there,” Tom says.
“I thought, Dad’s a funeral director, it’s pretty cool, pretty different. I’ll follow him.”
Every Monday at 8am Tom heads up to Swan Hill’s Taverna Funerals, as part of a Murray Mallee Training Company initiative.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of today’s (Wednesday, September 2) The Guardian…
