Viewer Questions From Across the Country: California 

When my mom died a new embalmer took incredible care of her. Everyone commented on how lovely she looked! I wrote a commendation letter singing her praises! It helped us in our grief.

Love this lady. I fear death less because of her.

My husband lost his dad in a boating accident he was 43 my husband was 18. No lifejackets. It destroyed a eniter family, not to mention he has to live with that day forever. Please wear lifejackets.

A friend of mine last year died from slipping at the car dealership while dropping her car off for service. She was in her 70s if I remember correctly and in very good health but was on blood thinners so when she hit her head she ended up with a subdural hematoma that she succumbed to despite all efforts to stop the bleeding. It was strange because she was so healthy and active here one day and then gone the next.

Thank you for all you do..

Ladies and gentlemen: the First Lady of Formaldehyde! Love your channel !

Kari , you are beautiful outside and more beautiful inside. Thank you for all you do God bless you and your loves one 🙏🏻

The person who prepared my dad in 2002 made him look the best he had look in years! At the end of my dads life he was so frail and sunken, in his casket he actually looked healthy again!

You are very kind and patient with people when and the way you speak. I'm sure it's very soothing when going through a difficult time or don't understand the procedure to slow down and speak in lay mans terms.

Kari you are a great person I like that you take time to answer questions

I knew of a lady living near me many years ago that was running out of her house to get across the road to her neighbor's house as a tornado approached. The tornado lifted the roof off of her garage and flung it onto her in her front yard as she was running. I remember going by and seeing the roof in the yard. Her home was undisturbed as was her car, which was in the garage. One of those tragic "it was her time" situations. I enjoyed the video as always!

Thank you for your discussion on mental illness. I have 7 children ages 29-40. They have cut me out of their lives due to my depression and anxiety. I have tried many therapies.TMS. etc. I don't want to miss out on my children and grandchildren's lives. I do have feelings of maybe it would be better for everyone if l just ended my life. Thank you for all you do. MaryAnn

Thank you for this! I appreciated that bonus answer. I had family member who wanted to do bring food for my grandmothers funeral and my father luckily shot it down. He felt bad but we all told him there was no room for it all plus we were hosting a dinner in her honor after wards. Gotta be frank with some people and let em know something isnt appropriate or at least be courteous enough to call ahead of time.

Full of good information....Kari your the best!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I never thought about the bonus question, good information Kari! I like when you give examples a mom losing a child at 25 and at 60 is a different experience,stay warm and safe :)

Love your channel! Peace & Blessings

I love watching u,always fascinating!! 👍❤

Kari, on the boat with your kids, you should wear the life jacket, in my opinion. I am definitely not fussing at you, but my husband and I used to not wear them in my in laws boat when ours were small, until my father in law pointed something out to us. There are two reasons to wear them when the kids are there he said. 1. The example of course, because they will think of the jackets as a kid thing and optional, and stop wearing them as soon as they are away from adults. 2. If there is an accident and everyone is in the water and a parent is struggling or unconscious, the kid would try to help them and be pulled under. I just wanted to pass that along, because we wore them in the boat ever since he told us to. He was the smartest person I have ever known, so I always tried to follow his advice.

Some funeral directors are ghouls. Here's how one got his "just desserts." My father was a meter reader for Toronto electric utility. When one of the meter readers died, his widow was taken advantage of by a disgusting, money-grubbing mortician. She was pressured into a more expensive casket, mortician-supplied flowers, limousine, etc.; all costs she could not afford. When the other meter readers found out, it was time for "payback." Large consumers of electricity had what were called Demand Meters. When the meter was read, the meter reader set it back to zero. Get where this is going? So, each time the meter was read at this funeral home, the reader simply added 15% to the reading. No way to check it. Over the next several years, this ghoul paid much more than he overcharged this widow. And, the utility took up a collection for her and she received more than she paid the funeral home. I LOVE STORIES LIKE THIS! Payback is beautiful and sometimes, revenge is VERY sweet!!

Check the morbidity and mortality reports, which are done every year. Cause of death and circumstances are mentioned. Also, professional mountain climbers have an association that catalogues accidental deaths. The most impressive one I read about involved a woman who died when climbers above her on a hillside dislodged a stone that fell on her shoulder and sheared off her arm. Totally preventable.

My late uncle always said,if I knew where I was going to die,I'd never go there. He was great. I'd tease him n dump huge piles of vitamins in my hands and say ,I take these everyday. He made this look like what the hell is wrong with you. He was a Korean War veteran. Miss him.

Hey everyone, hey Kari!

I thought I wanted to be a mortician when I was younger. That is until I saw a picture of a decomposd body. That idea flew out the window quickly. Silly me, I was only 18.

Do you prepare a body the same way for a closed casket funeral as you would an open one? I'm talking about gluing the eyes and sewing the mouth, dressing, hair, and make up?

Happy Thanksgiving kari to you and your family 😆 many blessings to you guys 😁

After my dad's, funeral & burial was concluded, everyone came back to my mom's & had the repast. There was so much food and family. Now after my mom's funeral concluded, we had the repast in the community room. No one brought anything outside if themselves to show support, on both ocassions.

Great info!

Drink drivers are one of the worst, killed my aunt uncle and two young cousins, aged 11 and 13

Hi Kari,, some good questions and answers from your guest. Pertaining to the first question regarding the appearance of the deceased at viewing. My grandmother who died at 90, looked like she had just returned from a cruise to South America, all tanned and made up. My sister was very upset because my grandmother never had a tan in her life, and I will admit it made her look very different. I think people have to realize that they have to have some input ,if they have certain expectations of how the deceased should look. A photo , and expressing and discussing expectations would be a lot more helpful for morticians than just expecting them to guess how the person looked.

My grandma was always very outspoken and kind of blunt. I remember following a visitation she commented, why do people always say she looked natural? I think she looked dead.

I lost a sister-in-law when she was riding on a motorcycle and the back tire blew out and she ended flying off the bike. So motorcyclists please CHECK YOUR TIRES!

Can you do a video about embalming covid-19 victims, precautions you would take and other infectious things?

Hie Kari,if a corpse stays for a longer period for example 6 months in a mortuary refridgerator,will they still be looking the same even after preparation? Secondly will they be easily dressed since the body will be stiff?

In 1979 my best friend drowned next to me took 3 days to find him at his funeral open casket every one told me not to go he was so brown looking and swole up I was like 15 I never got close to anyone else I have friends but not a best friend

I was suicidal in my 20s for a long time but God came to me and I realized I needed to live and realized life is so short anyway. Stay away from abusive relationships and people. Is that person you hang with REALLY YOUR FRIEND???????????

We have very strict life jacket laws in CT. Everyone in a boat is supposed to wear a life vest.

I worked for a Mortuary Transport Company and a 33yo man lost his life do to a deer running out in front of him on while riding his scooter.

I had a co-worker say you buy a grave for $2,000. You see all the workes with lawn mowers & weed eater how do cemetery stay in business ?

Look both ways before crossing the road

Your still the best.

Your job must be amazing, it's like a extreme makeover...recreating a shell that once held life, taking it close to the former covering it used to be when it held life. I'm not trying to be morbid but plane crash victims, have you seen them? Do they just have internal damage like fractures or does the body become morphed into something that is unrecognizable because of the trauma to the internal organs and skeletal frame ?

When I worked in a NH, we did the final care for several deceased residents, and after they pass away, they do look like mannequins. It's a very dramatic difference from living to deceased.

I'm a believer of when it's my time it's my time so I'm a do not resuscitate and I would go to someone's rescue if need be even if I die because of it.

Makes sense? Rotten meat? Freeze it! Don't stink anymore? Thaw it out! Stinks again.

Here where I live on SW Va. almost everyone looks waxy in the casket. Recently I went to a nearby town and my friend’s mom looked great and she had gone through a lot in her last few of 97 years. It made me wonder, maybe if the mortician put a tiny bit of translucent powder on her, so would this eliminate this waxy look? Would this depend on which funeral home a person was sent to?

What color would a white person look like if you embalmed and didn’t put makeup? Blue?

I loved your response to the last question. There is at least one if not a dozen ‘I know what needs to be done here’ people in every family(speaking from experience😂) and you are right! Leave the arraigning of the service to those who ACTUALLY are there to coordinate. Bring your damn food platters to the Legion or Elks club for an awesome after party damnit. No disrespect to those casserole divas but get out of the way of the service.

Listened about waxy my grandmother looked like that didnt look like her at all

3 time head injury. No one really notices the changes in a person's life.

Love your hair color.......

if someone is sick they won't look well

My mom brother and father did not look waxen. I was present at my brother's death from cancer. He looked terrible after he died at age 57. I was dreading the wake. I was so relieved to see him looking as if he was 40. This funeral home does a

Is the embalming fluid that changes the person's looks they hands feel hard and they body takes on a wax texture somebody does somebody's don't it just depends on how the embalming fluid takes a hold on the body

I went to my uncles funeral years ago and he looked like a grey wax Mahican. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to offend anyone, as it was, it was very distressful but I was thinking the same thing

"Mothers take care of your Daughters" Whoa.......... how about the Sons? Just kidding! I know what you were meaning!!! Just being a smart A*S this day! The ?'s were great as were your answers ! :)

My dads one lip was blue and we asked for it to be fixed tree times and the next day it was still blue way would this be. I think they did not care

I live in Ga. we spend a lot of time at the ocean. You would be surprised at the number of drowning of grown adults who chose to ignore a red flag undertow warning. Or the moms who let their kids go in on red flag day because it “looks” ok.

Hi Kari , Can I ask how the US or each state is handelling the covid death situation at funerals ? Meaning what preperations are being implemented. Scott UK

Can the experienci e of the embalmer be the difference in how the descanses looks? Because last week a Salsa singer (Tito Rojas) and ir looks v ery natural fo r me!!

Why do dead people look like they are so peaceful and just sleeping

Funeral home & cemetery at the same locations overtime the cemetery will fill up. What happened to the funeral home & cemetery ?

Kari, why is it that the deceased never wear shoes when buried in a casket? Also, can rigor mortis make them sit up or otherwise change position, and if true what does the mortician do to prevent that from happening? Thanks

I lost my brother a year ago.. He looked so wonderful at his viewing. I just lost my aunt a week ago. She looked decent. My friends dad looked terrible his face was lopsided & they had to keep wiping his mouth and nose....

Don't give advice just hug the and pray for them

Sometimes no good deed goes unpunished

It Always confuses me when someone says they look so good. I mean they r dead. So how good can they possibly make someone look.

We have a law, if you are on a boat they can stop you and give the boat owner a ticket

My mom and dad looked great

I would like to know how you care for a person that is exposed to extreme low temps as like being frozen

Sister in law was 34 when she died, her skin on face and hands looked like porcelain. She actually looked good.

where do they store the bodys when the ground is frozon in states like Maine ?

My mom died of a brain aneurism @ 40- in the ICU- but- she donated the organs they could use & had to be flown to New England. If your look @ my profile pic, in life, she looked a lot like me (but w/ darker skin & dark hair,) HOWEVER,at her viewing- I was the 1st to walk up to her & I ran away (I was 11) She looked like someone’s old & VERY BLOATED Grandmother. My current request is no viewing- I was traumatized by seeing her like that- I sat outside til they closed the casket. Have things changed since the 90’s? I’m on 2 organ donor registries- if organ donation complicates a viewing, it’s fine, I just don’t want my kids (young or older,) to remember a waxy bloated version of me.

Over injection can happen to make the person look waxy looking like I seen it nothing wrongs where the person look like nothing what they look like they're not seeing some funerals but the deceased look like himself it just depends on the embalming himself

My grandpa had Parkinson’s for years before he passed and wasted away to pretty much nothing and had the textbook Parkinson’s mask. I hadn’t seen his mouth closed in years so seeing it closed with his lips stretched just felt wrong. I wished they had left his mouth just slightly open!!! I could tell they had done their best not to fill him out too much but it’s definitely strange for families to see their emaciated loved ones “plumped up”

in my county in ALA,, WE HAVE between 45-55 suicides per month on average, the holidays become worse

Oh man that first question that was asked! In that last few years of mom's life she did not wear makeup, and she didn't wear lipstick much at all. I knew why they put makeup on her, but they also dyed her hair and she didn't look herself. However that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think we disconnect to protect ourselves. Also sometimes it's as you said in your reply, that the embalming fluid and makeup techniques of each director are different. Anytime I have to be at a funeral home though I am very thankful and always pop in their office to say so. I'm very lucky to have a great funeral home in my hometown.

Is there a standard strength of Embalming fluid that gets used on our loved ones or do they charge us and then skimp on fluid? How can we tell if our loved one is not being shorted?

but the magics in the makeup

When my mother died at 80 the embalmer put heavy rouge and red lipstick on her. She had never worn makeup in her life, and would have been horrified if she could have seen herself looking like a clown. She lived in a small town and no one wanted to hurt the embalmer's feelings by complaining.

my dad didn't look well R.I.P.

i can't swim like a rock

I have seen people that look like too many cosmetics used the color is like too much orange and red not really close to the color of them in life

Allways wear clean underwear

Due to Covid19 can you transport decrease from a state to where their to put to rest at ???

Thank u for all u do utube keep un fallowing me on yr page but I love yr channel

Hello beautiful 😍😍😍!!!

Very helpful and informative video. Kari, wear a preserver; a boat accident can be catastrophic! Take care of your girls!!

Love you Kari, so what’s your professional opinion of Cryogenics? Does it actually work?

Why does a persons hand fell hard when u touch them

My grandma's sister when she died she look like she was made out of wax cuz her face was cracking

Kari have u ever been scared in your career around dead body or even embalming a body

If the family doesn’t have a viewing do they still bother with embalming and makeup?

I never thought of those cute little turtle eating peoples flesh. Hmmm.

Missed you girl. Can I get your email again please This is Will Kiser . remember m?

A

What about bath tub accidents involving youn children?

tissue = flesh ?

people drive like maniacs i drive slow and stop when your suppose two

Oddly, "look natural" is misleading. A dead body looking like he or she is sleeping is not natural at all.

I think it’s the amount of money you charge people that gives people attitudes towards funerals! Let’s face it! They are rip offs and take advantage of our grief! Yet we have to bury our loved ones!