A mum who quit a fashion degree to follow her calling as an embalmer and even worked on her grandfather’s body after his death sees preparing the deceased for their loved ones to view as an “honour.” Drawn to her profession since childhood when, aged seven, she viewed her paternal grandmother’s body and worried that she “didn’t look good,” Rachel Carline, 32, sent speculative letters to funeral homes asking for work while she was studying.
Landing an administrative role at a Co-op funeral home in Rochdale, Lancashire, in the country where she still lives with her web designer husband Simon, 35, and their daughter, Iris, three, when she turned 20, even then, she would arrive early to watch the embalmers at work. Now an expert in her field, she feels it is a privilege to be able to prepare a body to be viewed by loved ones after death, saying: “While it’s difficult and emotional, I also feel honoured to be in this position.”
She added: “Me feeling this way actually drives me to make sure I do everything within my power to support families through a very difficult time.” While Rachel knows that many people consider her overwhelming desire to work in the funeral industry from such a young age to be somehow peculiar, she is extremely proud of her work and the service it gives to the public.
