The human body is a fascinating creation, the way everything
works together, what happens when something goes wrong. For Jenny Moore-Jansen,
that fascination has guided her life.
Her understanding of anatomy tells her just which muscles
need extra work when she’s giving someone a massage. It also helps her
recognize the ravages of disease on the body she is preparing to embalm.
 |
| Jenny Moore-Jansen |
Jenny is a certified massage therapist. She plans to take
her national certification test this summer, which will expand where she can do
massages. She also will graduate in May with a degree in mortuary science from
Kansas City Kansas Community College.
The path Jenny has taken thus far is an interesting one. “I
had planned to be a professional gymnast,” she said. She had to give up that
dream after 18 years of gymnastics when her knee gave out. “Then I was going to
be a coroner,” she said. “I wanted to do autopsies. I’ve always been interested
in the human body and how it works.”
When she looked into what it would take to become a coroner,
she discovered she would have to endure something like 15 years of med school,
because being a coroner is more specialized. “But I thought, I want to have a
family. I want to have a life. What can I do,” she said.
Jenny started looking into the possibility of being a
funeral director, talking to people who were in the field, asking them what
they thought of the industry. She already had a bachelor’s degree in criminal
justice, and had taken a gross anatomy class during the program, so she had
some experience with dissecting bodies.
During this time, she became more
acquainted with death on a personal level. She lost three grandparents in a year
and a half. Then one Sunday she learned about murder when a man was shot and
killed in the narthex of her church in Wichita while she was sitting in the
sanctuary, next to the man’s wife, listening to prelude music.
Jenny took these experiences to heart,
realizing there was much more to death than dying. Getting her degree has
taught her about the funeral industry, meeting and dealing with families,
products such as caskets and burial containers, embalming, restorative art,
anatomy, and counseling. After graduation, she hopes to get an apprentice
funeral director position at Johnson County Chapel and Memorial Gardens, where
she presently works under an assistant funeral director license as the funeral
administrative assistant. “I help out with visitation,” she said. “I help the funeral
directors with services. I can lead a graveside service or committal service.
But I can’t meet with the family on my own yet.”
Maybe you have a preconceived idea of what a funeral
director looks like, or how one acts. If so, meet Jenny. She has a big
mega-watt smile, a great sense of humor, and doesn’t take herself seriously.
For example, ask her what movies she likes, and she’ll laugh even before she
gets the words out, knowing what the reaction will be. “I love horror movies,”
she said. “’Silence of the Lambs’ is my favorite.”
Working jigsaw puzzles is one of her favorite hobbies, but
not those puny 500-piece things. “I’m doing a 32,000-piece puzzle,” she said.
“It’s six feet by 17 feet. I’ve done two sections and have six to go. Each
section has a little over 4,000 pieces.”
 |
Jenny’s response is immediate when asked what she thinks she
will bring to the funeral industry. “Empathy and patience,” she said. Those are
especially important gifts in helping loved ones of the deceased. “Someone
needs to be there for that person,” Jenny said, “and if I can explain to them
how death happens, if I can make someone more comfortable with that, then
that’s wonderful.”
“The most difficult situations involve death of a child and
death from a murder,” Jenny said. “It’s traumatic for families. They’re not
expecting that. I’m helping them through the process of a funeral. The grieving
process is in stages. It may take two to three years; it may take six months.”
From Jenny’s perspective, the recent classes offered at Holy
Cross on the “End Matters” of life were much appreciated. “I do think it’s
beneficial,” Jenny said. “It starts people thinking about what they want, and what
they don’t want.”
Jenny looks forward to the day when she can be a funeral
director. It is her hope that she can bring joy somehow to grieving families,
maybe by helping them understand a little bit more about death. And the
physical work is rewarding too. “I’ve always looked at the human body as
miraculous,” Jenny said, “and this confirms that.”
No comments:
Post a Comment