Cooperative Funeral Fund recently announced that New York Regional Manager Ann Marie St. George, CPC, is celebrating her 25th anniversary with the company. A first-generation funeral professional, St. George began her journey in deathcare 40 years ago and remembers the spirited dinner conversation she had with her family when she told them what she wanted to do. Fortunately, when they realized she wasn’t joking, her family proved very supportive.

After working several years as a funeral director, St. George accepted a role as preneed counselor with the Loewen Group, working with CFF as its preneed administrator. When the preneed counselor program was abruptly terminated, Mark Mannix, CFF president, called St. George and asked if she had any plans, telling her he had a ticket waiting to fly her to the CFF office to meet with him and his business partner the next day. The rest is history.

St. George feels that building a trusting relationship with clients, whom she often calls friends, is as important as making sure they have the tools they need to take care of the families they serve. Her wish: “In a perfect world, final wishes would be a common dinner conversation and I would be working for CFF for another 25 years.” cooperativefuneralfund.com