Death Education at Green-Wood: A Day in the Life of a Gravedigger

As a 185-year-old institution, The Green-Wood Cemetery has long served as a place to connect with death, dying, and remembrance—a role that’s strengthened through its robust slate of free death education programs. This season, three new installments of the “Day in the Life” series illuminate the field of end-of-life care through frank conversations with industry professionals on the intricacies of their trade.

Returning this month, the series kicks off with a panel of long-time Green-Wood employees (a gravedigger, crematory operator, and operations manager), followed by a virtual conversation with three death positive thought leaders in June, and a post-mortem restorative specialist (a.k.a. “mortuary make-up artist”) in July—all of whom are poised to answer burning questions about the death care field. The popular series—which launched in 2021—previously featured death doulas and mortuary science students.

“As a living cemetery, Green-Wood brings people closer to understanding not just the dying process, but about decision-making for the end of life, about loss and grief, and about bereavement, an innovative approach that resonates more deeply amid the pandemic,” says Gabrielle Gatto, Green-Wood’s coordinator of public programs, who curates all of the Cemetery’s death education offerings. “Death education—including our “Day in the Life” series—is all about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable universal truth of dying.”

Green-Wood’s free public programs in death education aim to demystify a wide range of topics relating to end of life, incorporate understanding everyday practices like funerals and cremation, and explore historical and cultural approaches to death. Green-Wood offers practical programs in death preparedness (including workshops on grief), lectures by academic experts in the death-positive field, programs that examine death through the lens of different cultures, and Death Cafes (informal, guided conversations about death). Other popular programs include a death education book club, “Mortality & Me,” and a workshop where people can share about personal items they associate with loss, “Show & Tale”. Green-Wood hosts between twenty and thirty free death education programs annually, including both in-person and virtual options. For more information, visit www.green-wood.com/death-education.

Details on upcoming events

A Day in the Life of a Gravedigger

Tuesday, May 23rd from 6:00-7:30pm

In-person program (in Green-Wood’s Modern Chapel)

At this program, attendees will get the inside scoop from professionals at the Cemetery. If you’ve ever visited Green-Wood, you’ve no doubt seen its crew in action completing a myriad of tasks to keep the active cemetery in operation. The event will focus on the daily routine of a gravedigger, a crematory operator, and an operations manager: Gus Padilla, Frank “Mutzy” Morelli, and Frank “Bernie” Bernadini.

Cemetery workers are essential to ensure that cremations and burials are done safely and respectfully to aid in the end-of-life rituals for all of the families they serve. This evening, they will share their unique perspective on working in a death care space and guide you to a better understanding of their day-to-day jobs. A short Q & A will follow the moderated panel, so bring all those questions you’ve been dying to ask.

A Day in the Life of a Death Positive Thought Leader

Tuesday, June 6th from 6:00-7:00pm

Virtual program

At this program, attendees will be joined by an all-star panel of movers and shakers in the death care industry: Melissa Meadow, Amber Carvaly, and Sandra Baker. Their work has served as a conversation catalyst for the changing landscape of death care, providing thought-provoking topics for those both in and outside of the field.

Melissa Meadow, also known as the “Modern Mortician” is a licensed funeral director and (non-practicing) embalmer who has been in the death care field since 1996. She is one of five professionals pioneering the first not-for-profit Funeral Home and Conservation Burial Park for People and Pets with The End Foundation. Amber Carvaly has been a licensed funeral director for almost a decade. With Caitlin Doughty, she co-founded and ran Undertaking LA, a mortuary in Los Angeles, where she found herself teaching Kim Kardashian how to do makeup for the dead. As a culinary grief educator, Carvaly now runs Mortician in the Kitchen which focuses on the role food can play in grief. Sandra Baker is a licensed funeral director, a founder at The End Foundation, and an advocate for end-of-life options.

A Day in the Life of a Post-Mortem Restorative Specialist

Saturday, July 29th, from 3:30-4:45pm

In-person program (in Green-Wood’s Modern Chapel)

Every day, we look in the mirror and prepare ourselves, but who will we trust for our final reflection of our personal physical identity when our time comes? On this evening, Green-Wood explores another facet of the funerary world with embalmer, funeral director, and professional educator, Amanda King, CFSP.

As a post-mortem restorative specialist, it’s King’s job to restore the appearance of a body to what that person looked like in life to ensure a more peaceful goodbye for their loved ones. She’ll share the various restorative techniques she uses and how she manages to achieve a natural appearance, despite a variety of ways a person may die, including “traumatic deaths.” Green-Wood will then take a look at up-close examples of Amanda’s work, and afterwards, we’ll lead an engaging Q & A session.

Amanda King has extensive training in postmortem reconstructive work and is an educator who specializes in and teaches reconstructive work and cosmetic application. Currently, she is a funeral director and embalmer for B.C. Bailey Funeral Home in Connecticut, does freelance work as AMEK Graphics, and is an embalming specialist with Frigid Fluid Company.

For all upcoming programs in death education at Green-Wood, visit www.green-wood.com/death-education/.

The Green-Wood Cemetery is a living cemetery that brings people closer to the world as it is and was, by memorializing the dead and bringing to life the art, history, and natural beauty of New York City. Founded in 1838 and now a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood was one of the first rural cemeteries in America. By the early 1860s, it had earned an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the prestigious place to be buried, attracting 500,000 visitors a year, second only to Niagara Falls as the nation’s greatest tourist attraction. Crowds flocked there to enjoy family outings, carriage rides, and sculpture viewing in the finest of first-generation American landscapes. Green-Wood’s popularity helped inspire the creation of public parks, including New York City’s Central and Prospect Parks.