The demographics in Georgia are changing, and so is the way people choose to ceremoniously depart this world. Embalming, or the practice of preserving a body to delay decomposition, was the ...

A woman became a funeral director to overcome her fear of dying and says death has taught her to stop comparing herself to others. Melissa Schmidt, 34, used to get “tunnel vision” at the idea of dying ...

I was a funeral director and embalmer for 11 years. I learned a lot about our bodies and death by doing my job. After an autopsy, brains usually are put back in the belly of the cadaver. When I tell ...

Melissa Schmidt handles body removal, embalming, preparation and casketing in her role as a funeral director on Long Island Zoey Lyttle is a Society & Culture Writer-Reporter at PEOPLE. She covers ...