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HOME > History > History Club > Art Dingmann Program
History of Funeral
Care
Presentation to the Annandale
History Club
February 6, 2006
Art Dingmann
Art Dingmann is the owner of Dingmann Funeral Care in Annandale,
Kimball, and Maple Lake. He said that in the 1800s funeral directors were called
undertakers, because they would undertake the care of the dead.
Undertakers were connected with the making of the casket, usually a box,
and therefore were the owners of a hardware store, lumber yard, sawmill or
furniture store. Up until 1960, the
Dunton family of Annandale were owners of a hardware store and funeral parlor.
Body preparation and visitation (called wakes) were held in the
home. Wakes are so named because
people stayed awake all night near the dead.
Embalming was not done prior to the Civil War. Cooling boards with ice
beneath were used for preservation of the body.
During the Civil War preservation was necessary to send bodies home, so
surgeons did embalming. Embalming
preserves and disinfects tissues. Previously,
many diseases of the dead affected the living (TB, influenza).
Also bodies with communicable diseases in the cemetery affected the
living through ground water.
Embalming keeps the body for weeks or months, maybe six months.
Present day medical school students and funeral director students use
cadavers for up to five years. Early
preservation used powders or arsenic, and early embalming was done with arsenic
fluid. Today the main ingredient in
embalming fluid is formaldehyde. During
WWII, bodies shipped home probably were embalmed.
Ship casualties were dropped overboard.
Circumstances of war dictated what was done.
Art's grandfather was a blacksmith in Clear Lake, Minnesota.
He was an undertaker and cared for the dead in the late 1800s.
He had a horse drawn hearse. Art's
father came back and worked in the hardware and funeral home in Clear Lake.
Five Dingmann brothers were in the business.
Four brothers were drafted during the war.
Art's dad was older. He
moved to Kimball and ran the hardware store, implement business and funeral
home, which was started in the 1930s. The
brothers spouses ran the business in Clear Lake during the war years.
Art's father was Francis, known as F.E. or Franz Dingmann. He
ended up owning the funeral home in Kimball.
Art graduated from Kimball High School in 1969 and the University of
Minnesota in 1973.
E. H. Dunton was also funeral director in Annandale.
His son Edwin "Tubber" Dunton later owned the funeral home.
In 1929 banks were having trouble. McDonald's
bank closed (located in the present
day lawyers' office). McDonald and
Sawyer teamed up in a bank where Zahler's Studio is now located.
The empty bank was turned into a funeral home in 1929.
Prior to that the prep room was in the back of the hardware store and
then the body was taken back to the home for the wake.
Eventually the funeral home evolved to where the wake took place.
1930-1950 some wakes were still held in the home, but there was the
option to have it at the funeral home. The
hardware store was at one time known as Dunton-Radcliffe Hardware.
The funeral home was called E. H. Dunton & Sons.
Tubber Dunton ran an ambulance until 1960.
There was a cot in the hearse. Hearses
had dual use. They put a red light
on top and it became an ambulance.
There was a connection between the Dunton and Muller families.
Mrs. Edwin Dunton was sister to Ray Muller's mother.
Ray Muller's mother and dad were funeral directors in Maple Lake.
Ray's mother did the embalming. His
grandmother was the first woman embalmer in the state.
Prior to 1955 the funeral director license and embalmer's licenses were
separate.
When Dub Ferrell of Annandale was a student at the University of
Minnesota, he saw an ad for a funeral home looking for help.
Gill Brothers in Richfield needed someone to live in the building.
Phones needed to be answered 24/7. This
was prior to answering services. Dub
and another person worked part time, answered phones and did other work in
exchange for a place to live. This
is how he became interested in being a funeral director.
In 1960 Dub Ferrell bought the Dunton funeral business in
Annandale and operated it in the lawyers' building until 1970 when he built a new
building. The present funeral home
is 36 years old. Art Dingmann
purchased the Annandale business in 1980. He
purchased the Kimball and Maple Lake funeral homes in 1976.
His brother Doug Dingmann operates the funeral homes in Clear Lake and
Sauk Rapids. Art said that it is
very expensive to get into the funeral business.
Corporations pay big bucks for established funeral homes.
It's hard to get into the business unless you have some family
connections because equipment and buildings are very expensive.
Questions:
What is the hardest part of the business? Art said that the most
difficult part is seeing the grief of the living (mothers who lose their
children and grieving spouses who have lost a long time mate).
Dealing with the dead body doesn't compare to that, although there are
unpleasant conditions at times. The
funeral profession loses a lot of people that get burned out.
Business in a small town is 24/7, holidays included.
It's common to be awakened at 2:00 a.m.
There are many second career people with degrees in something else
becoming non-traditional students and going into the funeral business.
Who orders an autopsy? Every
county has a medical examiner or coroner. They
decide. Any death of a younger
person in good health, there's going to be an autopsy.
Accidents and suspicion of foul play require autopsies.
The current coroner is Dr. Janis Amatuzio, Anoka County.
The autopsies are done at Mercy Hospital.
Not long ago, many doctors were coroners.
Dr. Bendix was a great one. Now
there are specialized forensic pathologists.
There aren't nearly as many autopsies now as years ago.
At one time, hospitals were rated on the percentage of autopsies they
did. Wright County has deputy
coroners, people with medical backgrounds or investigative backgrounds.
They go to the scene of the death and take blood samples, photos and ask
questions. They make judgments
whether an autopsy is necessary. Usually
registered hospice or nursing home deaths don't require a coroner, unless
there is a fall. The coroner's
office is notified, but they don't have to come to the scene.
Sometimes autopsies were done at funeral homes.
Now hospitals have the equipment needed for x-rays and tests.
The county pays for autopsies they deem necessary.
If families want a second independent opinion, they pay for that
themselves.
Is embalming needed for cremations?
Embalming is required for bodies that are publicly viewed, have
communicable diseases, or disposition is more than 72 hours away.
Cremains do not have to be buried in the ground.
There are 30% cremations in the Annandale facility.
Cremations are done at the Sauk Rapids Crematorium
A Titanium label with number attached to the body, witnessed by a family
member, is required. One body is
cremated at a time. Most cremains
are buried in a cemetery. Woodlawn
allows two on top of previous burials or two in one purchased lot.
Art Dingmann recommends burial of cremains instead of scattering, so
families have a place to visit. Cremations
may be less costly, but it depends on the services provided.
Generally, there is not much difference in price if there is a
visitation.
How long have vaults been required? Vaults have been required since the mid-1960s. Vaults keep the earth from sinking as with wood boxes.
See the Funeral Parlor at Annandale's Minnesota Pioneer Park.