New Valley neighbor takes over Kehl's mortuary

September 1, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

PALMER - Once you're dead and gone, Jared Dye might be the last person to straighten your tie or comb your hair. It's a job he takes in stride.

Last month, the 31-year-old funeral director-embalmer took over Kehl's Palmer Mortuary.

Jared, his wife Brittni Dye and their three children moved to Alaska from Utah in May.

The Dyes plan to renovate the long-standing funeral home and provide better local service than when the business operated under a national corporation for the last 20 years.

A small-framed man with short black hair, Jared doesn't fit the familiar depiction of long and lanky morticians found in movies and novels. His easy smile and blue eyes light up when he talks about a profession that deeply inspires him, despite its admittedly morbid reputation.

&#8220It's quite interesting, the array of comments I get from people when I tell them what I do,” Jared explained earlier this week. &#8220Everybody looks at you funny and says, ‘how can you do that?'”

But Jared believes most people could care for the deceased if they had to.

&#8220For thousands of years, people took care of their own in their own way,” he explained. &#8220It's just until the last 200 years that someone has come in to help do this.”

Less than five years ago, Jared gave up a successful dry-cleaning and Laundromat business in Utah to begin training as a mortician.

It began when a good friend opened a funeral home in Utah and asked him to help out as time allowed.

&#8220Once I got into helping him, I realized it was something that I really wanted to do,” Jared said.

But what motivates someone to work with dead bodies?

&#8220I don't know what it is, but I'm always looking to help people,” Jared explained. &#8220When people come to you in this situation, it can be the worst moment of their life and I like to be that person who is there ready to help.”

The Dyes run Kehl's funeral homes at both the Palmer and Anchorage branches. They live in Chugach, halfway between the Valley and Anchorage, to facilitate the largest possible service area.

Jared keeps a cell phone handy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When someone dies, families often call him first. In most cases, he also is the person to take bodies from homes or hospitals.

Walking up to the front doors to meet family members is not something Jared takes lightly.

&#8220When you come up to the door, you want to be very open but also have strength,” he said. &#8220Most of the time, the family will not break down at that point, and it's a good time to kind of take charge of a situation and let them know that everything is going to be OK.”

Removing the body is an important moment, should be done with utmost care, Jared said.

&#8220They are basically letting that one important aspect of their life be taken from their house,” he said. &#8220It has some special moments if you handle it the right way.”

Once he removes the body, Jared prepares it in Anchorage and then meets with family members to discuss the type of service and burial they desire.

Unlike a generation ago, most families choose cremation, and many choose very non-traditional services, he said.

&#8220Alaskans have their own little ways and are proud of what they've got,” Jared said. &#8220We meet with families and draw out what we can do to help celebrate the person's life.”

While the work is difficult at times, Jared said he appreciates a job that allows him to enter different worlds that he never would encounter otherwise.

From homesteading Alaskans to foreign immigrants, his work spans the full gamut of life journeys.

&#8220People have stories that are sometimes sad and sometimes amazing about how they got to where they are,” he said. &#8220You would never experience it - you wouldn't even think of it.”

His relationship to families doesn't necessarily end after a person's body or ashes have been put to rest, Jared said. As a local funeral director, he sees his place in the community within a larger context.

&#8220In Utah, we lived in a close-knit community, so the contacts never ended,” he said. &#8220You would see people later in the grocery store or at high school basketball games or football games.”

When not working, Jared stays busy coaching Little League basketball, playing with his kids and enjoying family life. His professional duties, however, are only a phone call away, and they've changed the way he sees life and death.

&#8220I value my family more now,” he said. &#8220When I die, I want somebody to be there with me and around me. Mentally, you think about what it is going to be like.”

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.