Barbara Ellington, Senior Gleaner Writer
Ferdinand Madden Jr. shows off caskets at the funeral home's facility last week. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NAME Madden has been synonymous with the funeral directing business in Jamaica since Ferdinand Leslie Madden responded to the need of the poor for the service in 1937. His decision to leave his cold supper shop business for a funeral parlour was timely as the other such businesses catered mainly to the wealthy.
Back then, the late Mr. Madden used herbs and other special concoctions to prepare the dead for burial but today, his heirs and successors use modern embalming methods as they carry the family business, Madden's Funeral Supplies and Crematorium, into the technological age.
In his quiet manner, Ferdinand Jr., the St. George's College old boy and grandson of the late Mr. Madden, tells his story of hard work, community involvement and plans for the future.
BE: Your grandfather began this business in 1937; where did he learn it?
FMJ: He began by making caskets, then moved to storage of bodies before doing entire funeral arrangements. My father was sent abroad to train to become a mortician and my siblings and I are carrying on the tradition.
BE: Your company was established on the philosophy of providing affordable service for the poor but today, many people want to spend huge sums on caskets and other funeral services. How do you deal with them?
FMJ: A funeral is mainly for the bereaved family and there is a lot of psychology involved in dealing with loved ones. Many of them have unresolved guilt having not done enough during their loved ones' life; we allow them to do what they want, even using two vaults instead of one or requesting the most expensive 'everything'. The psychology is in the dignity and reverence of the occasion. It's a delicate business.
BE: Is there a registry of funeral directors in Jamaica?
FMJ: We are now trying to get legislation to regulate the industry because we now have persons who we call 'suitcase undertakers' who operate by employing a hearse, an embalmer and use facilities out of a suitcase. They give us a hard time.
BE: You are from a large family, is everyone involved in the business?
FMJ: My brother Paul Madden is operations manager; another brother, Fabian Madden, manages the factory at 40 Norman Road; the crematorium and Dovecot Park are operated by my sister, Marcia Madden-Bernard; the branches in Lucea and Montego Bay are operated by my brother, Leslie Madden Sr., and my nephew, Leslie Madden Jr.; Dovecot, St. James is operated by my niece, Isia Madden. My sister, Christine Williams, operates the flower shop Sentiments on Hope Road so we get all our floral arrangements from her. Frances Madden is an engineering adviser to the company and also in charge of vehicle maintenance as well as the design of the morgues. So the family is actively involved in continuing the legacy.
BE: When you all became involved in the family business, did you feel forced to do so or was it a natural progression?
FMJ: It happened naturally and I love my job because I get satisfaction from comforting the bereaved, supervising a well-handled funeral and being able to help relieve the stress they feel at that time.
BE: Tell me about the next phase for Madden's. What are your plans in that regard?
FMJ: It includes extensive training of our staff; computerising our entire management systems; we have acquired another glass chariot, more modern hearses to complete upgrading the fleet; using 42 Constant Spring Road to get back the high end market share we lost; we will have a reposing room and dressing room there and a reposing room at this location; we will be working in consultation with overseas consultants in staff training and more family members will be doing the courses overseas.
BE: What about Dovecot? How much longer will interment space be available there?
FMJ: At the present interment rate, we project seven-10 years more space there, but we already
own lands adjacent to that plot that we are looking at developing; it is bigger. Dovecot is over 50 acres and the undeveloped area is 72 acres.
BE: How many bodies can you prepare for burial weekly and what about the volume of business from inner-city communities?
FMJ: We can handle 18 per day across our branches. We have a mixed clientele and have buried many entertainers over the years. Some of them are: Don Drummond, Jackie Mitto, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Jacob Miller, Dennis Brown and Jennifer Lara. But we get business from all strata of society.
BE: What is the most unusual request you have ever had as a funeral director?
FMJ: A request for a burial in the air; someone wanted their ashes scattered high above the mountains. We also do sea burials where a specific weight is put in the casket; there's a chute that it is let down through, there is a committal ceremony at sea and the body is released into the water. We have to go beyond a specific area on the ocean. This is usually requested by persons who had a life at sea.
BE: How many funeral directors are currently operating here?
FMJ: We currently have about 70, or as many as 100 if you include the suitcase operators. We fall under the Ministry of Health and we need an association to elevate and sustain the professional character of the funeral directors and embalmers in Jamaica.
BE: In recent times cremation has become a popular alternative. What is the percentage of cremation to conventional burial?
FMJ: Cremation is a growing alternative. It is half the cost of conventional burial and that is because the ash might take up little or no space. Some people keep it at home in an urn and some sprinkle it outdoors. We offer both because we own two of the three crematoriums in Jamaica - one at Dovecot Park in St. Catherine and one in St. James.
BE: Do families watch the cremation process?
FMJ: Mostly Indians, since it's a part of their culture; but cremation is a growing preference here. Like any other business we have to keep abreast of the latest trends.
BE: Is your investment in a cemetery and crematorium a viable investment and how have you sustained the growth of Madden's as one of the top funeral directing businesses in Jamaica over the years?
FMJ: The last 27 years saw us having a problem because we were retained to operate the public morgue on behalf of the Government. This tarnished our reputation because people got the perception that the bodies of our clients were going to be mixed with those of criminals and gunmen. Some competitors use that to vilify us. Some people thought we had become solely a public morgue.
We have a separate area for the public morgue and a separate entrance on Oxford Street for them. We cannot treat those bodies unless they are given to us and we treat all in a similar manner because whether criminals or law-abiding citizens, they are someone's loved one.
BE: What percentage of your operational costs attract import duties?
FMJ: We import all our vehicles. A Cadillac hearse costs over US$30,000 and there are additional duties here. We import all embalming equipment, catafalques and lowering devices. Imports don't form a large percentage of the business. We buy the taffeta used to line the caskets locally; we have a factory that makes all our caskets.
BE: What about other factors such as electricity and security? You are located in an area that does get its share of violence, how do you cope with that?
FMJ: We have our own generating unit; with the frequent failure in the public electricity supply, we could not run this business without it. Our relationship with this community goes back to my grandfather's time; he, as well as the Azans, started a poor dole back then and we have continued it. Between 120-200 benefit weekly plus we fill some prescriptions for them. We also do burials for a minimal cost for Brothers of the Poor.
I went to school at St. Annie's Primary because this is where my family lived; I was chairman of the school board for 10 years. We have a special relationship with the citizens so we don't have a crime problem. We have been blessed and it's no longer a political warfare, it's a drug war now. My father and grandfather were natural philanthropists and we are following in their footsteps.
BE: Having lived and worked in Jamaica all your life, you have seen the escalating crime situation, how do you think we should deal with it?
FMJ: There are still many programmes offered by organisations such as the Social Development Commission, that could benefit the youth at risk and the vulnerable between ages 12 and 25 if these were properly communicated to them.
We also need to stop discriminating against job seekers from inner-city communities; as a Justice of the Peace, I have to advise job seekers and give recommendations. Sometimes I will say, this person is from Pink Lane but is a good person, but it still does not work. As Jamaican employers we have to be more sensitive and realise that more good people than bad live in these areas.
Many bright and talented people come from these areas, so we have to get them into many of the under-exposed social programmes. I think that the police need to do more so that they can be seen as helpful, rather than oppressive. I am now working on a career day for later this year where I get the involvement of the other business people in the area to join in showing the youth of the area what opportunities exist for them.
BE: What do you see as the future of downtown businesses?
FMJ: I think that eventually we will become like downtown Miami where the residential areas have moved away. I also think the police can have more control of the area if that becomes a reality. It is my suggestion that we just keep it a business district. We need to get rid of the derelict buildings because the design of the inner-city aids the existing crime situation.
We need to change the mentality of the youth so that they realise that the power is not in holding a gun but in holding your own earning power. Whether you are a mason or engineer, you need earning power.
BE: What is the most important lesson you learnt from your father and grandfather?
FMJ: They both taught me never to consider myself necessary; consider myself useful, and I apply that to everyone.
BE: Where do you see the future of Madden's?
FMJ: I see us getting back to our position as the premier funeral directing business in Jamaica and overcoming the public morgue reputation. We took that on because we are public-spirited. The public morgue did not go down all at once and since 1970 politicians have been saying they are going to build a new one. That has stopped me from improving my facilities so I am now going ahead with my plans.
BE: Are you owed a lot for the service?
FMJ: Yes, we are owed millions but the payment methods are improving. We are improving our billing systems and will be looking towards monthly payments. We do removal, burial, recording, fingerprinting, identification of bodies and other services for Government.
BE: What is your wish for Jamaica?
FMJ: I would like to create the possibility for a peaceful Jamaica but we have to change the way people think; stop placing labels such as party affiliation or religious belief. I realise after years of dealing with people that everyone has the same caring heart deep down but they usually have to go through something to bring it out. We need to bring out the good in everyone. It's God versus the Devil; stay with the God side.
