TLC puts the fun in funeral in the gala presentation: 'Best Funeral Ever'

Last night's TLC presentation of "Best Funeral Ever," took place at the Golden Gate Funeral Home. The funeral home is located in Dallas, Texas and run by funeral director John Beckwith Jr.

This funeral parlor is not the one with tearful mourners. Instead of the usual, the funeral parlor celebrates the life of the person with what they call their home-going. The funeral directors are educated by Beckwith to investigate the likes and dislikes of the dearly departed. Following the wishes and how the person lived, they design a funeral celebration send off that is sure to be a hit for both attendees and the honoree. They even have professional mourners who try out for the job.

For a special funeral, the deceased sang the original song for Chili's Baby Back Ribs. The planners decided to have a funeral with live piglets. When he went to the farm with his assistant, she did not have poop-proof shoes when looking for the piglets. The team went shopping for a pump, then tried it out in a kiddy pool to pump barbeque sauce with the piggies in attendance.

The next funeral was for a man who was born with spina bifida and spent his whole life in a wheel chair and never got to ride the amusement rides at the fair. Now they are having a fair in his honor.

One celebration was a Christmas themed funeral. The team was a man and woman who despised each other. While shopping for supplies for the Christmas theme funeral, they got in an argument, and word came back to the owner. He called them into his office to reprimand them and told them they would work together or work somewhere else. After the reprimand, the two worked well conjointly.

The BBQ home-going was held in a barn and having the pigs there was the dumbest idea ever. They did not want to be there and showed their displeasure with their hearty squeals. The coffin was in the shape of a smoker with pallbearers in chef outfits. The celebration was a huge success. The fountain was working well, better than the pigs.

The people at the East Texas State Fair were not understanding of what the intention was for a funeral. The two women funeral planner team who went to the director, convinced him to let them have the celebration there.

The Christmas celebration may be the last thing these two directors do as a team. The casket was coming in on Santa's sleigh. The elves were not happy, and the live animals for the nativity scene were running all over the place. The presentation was nice looking as the casket came in on the sleigh. The professional mourner did an excellent job. They laid a crown on the casket and knew that the honoree was smiling on them.

At the fair, the celebration started as solemn and ended with fun. The attendees all had shirts with Jerry's picture, so he rode every ride with his loved ones. The last place the golden urn went on was the giant Ferris wheel.

At the end of the week staff meeting, John thanked everyone for their hard work and for making these families happy to send their loved ones to better place, thanks to the Golden Gate Funeral Home for providing the "Best Funeral Ever."