State

August 24, 1935 THE STATE Page Nine 450,000 Coffins THAT'S « l«l of coffins, bill I lie Bur¬ lington Coffin Coni|>;inav lias manu¬ factured I liat many during' the .»0 years off its existence. They had a big anniversary celebration last week. YOU should have been at the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Burlington Coffin Com¬ pany Inst week. We had the best time! There were approximately three hundred funeral directors and their wives present. They canto from all parts of North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. Most of them arrived early Wednesday morning and re- mained over until Thursday evening. The Burlington Coffin Company has been making coffins and caskets for half a century. Maybe you don’t know the difference between a coffiu and a casket, so perhaps we'd better tell you about that first. No More Coffins Coffins a rcn ’t made any more. A coffiu is an atVair shaped something like a violin box. You know— broad in the upper part and then tapering down to where your legs and feet are supposed to rest. A casket is a box without any twist in the sides. Sort of a streamline effect. Practically everything i' a casket these days. And you'd l*c surprised at the num¬ ber of different styles of caskets that there are. Mr. .1. b. Scott, head of the Burlington Coffin Company, told us the other day that his Company turns out more than fifty different models. They're really eharming and delight¬ ful in appearance. We know, because we went all through the plant and in¬ spected every last one of them. But to get back to the Burlington Coffin Company: Started by Tom Moore The organization was started fifty years ago by Mr. Tom Moore, who now lives in Washington, D. C., and who is having a special casket, built for himself at the plant. We saw it. Later ••и, Mr. J. L. Scott became the manager of the plant, and he has been connected with it for forty years. There are two men Mr. S. A. Steele and Mr. James A. Montgomery— who have been there ever since the place opened up. Mr. Scott told us that the average time of service of all the em¬ ployees is 20 years. There neve r have been an у 1 a b о r troubles. Mr. Montgomery figured it out for us that during the half- century that the com¬ pany has been in business, they have turned out approximately 450.000 coffins and caskets. If all of these coffins were placed end to end, they would st retell front Monteo to Mur¬ phy. a distance of over 600 miles. Different Kinds of Wood Chestnut is the wood most frequent¬ ly used, although at times there is a demand for cellar and oak. Between forty and fifty men are employed in the plant, and every man has his own particular duty to perform. It really is very interesting to see how the lum¬ ber is sawed up. how the caskets are put together and how they arc fitted on the inside. Mr. Shoffner, who also has been with the company a long time, allowed us every detail of con¬ struction. It was sort of nice, looking at the caskets and thinking that you might be gazing at the very one which might !"• used for you. There are many |>cople who are over¬ size and who may be worried about whether a casket could be obtained quickly in the event of sudden death. But they don't need to worry any longer. Mr. Shoffner explained all that to us. For instance, suppose your Aunt Susie were to die. We’ll say that she weighed 117 pounds. Naturally the undertaker in your town wouldn't have in stock a casket large enough to comfortably take care of Aunt Susie. So what does he dot Service in a Hurry He ’phones the Burlington Coffin Company at Burlington and gives Them Aunt Susie’s measurements. They immediately get busy, and with¬ in a few hours the casket has been completed, has been placed upon one of their trucks and is being rushed to vour town. We ll I *et Aunt Susie would be tickled silly if she knew that she was getting that, kind of service. Anyway, when Mr. Scott realized a couple of weeks ago that the company had been in business for fifty years, he decided the event ought to be given J. L. Scott, who guides the destinies of the Burlington Coffin Company. He’s been with the company for forty years and is still going strong. sonic publicity. So he invited all the funeral directors he could think of to come to Burlington as guests of the company. There were barbecued din¬ ners. bountiful suppers, vaudeville, fireworks and a lot of other kinds of entertainment. Tuesday night of last week the plant was throw n open to the public and guess what I . . . Approxi¬ mately five thousand people went through the place, taking just as keen delight and showing just as lively ap¬ preciation in the caskets as though they were attending n horse show, or a (lower show. A Most Interesting Display The display of caskets really was wonderful. You can buy them now-a- da.vs with all kind- of fancy trim¬ mings. in ease your taste runs in that direction, or you cun get ’em plain — w hichever you prefei. Wo saw ono — battleship gray on the outside, with beautifully carved handles, and fitted on the inside in white satin — that was a regular lulu. Mr. Shoffner told us that quite u few people these days were getting their coffins made in advance. There are several advantages in doing this. You can pick out your own design and your own trimmings and get every¬ thing arranged the way you like it. But if you wait until it’s too late, then ( Continue J on page twenty-two)