Most of us go out of our way to avoid thinking about death. But for 54-year-old Stephanie Chan and her daughter Rachael Tay, 25, who run a funeral service business, confronting death is part of everyday life.
As part of the family helming Casket Fairprice (no relation to the FairPrice supermarket chain), the mother-daughter duo helps bereaved families navigate loss, grief and final farewells.
And in helping others say goodbye, they have learnt how to live and love – fully and without regrets. That’s what they told CNA Women during an interview at their office in Sin Ming Drive, which houses an embalming room and a funeral parlour.
Chan serves as the company’s director while Tay is its corporate development manager.
“Life is really very short and unpredictable,” said Tay. “Being in this line of work, you realise that time is limited, and that things can happen anytime to people whom you love… so you need to treasure them while they’re still around.”
FROM FACTORY WORK TO THE FUNERAL TRADE
Their respective journeys into an unconventional profession began decades apart, but both women eventually found their footing in a male-dominated industry that’s often hidden from public view.
A small-town girl from Melaka, Malaysia, Chan moved to Singapore in 1989 to work in an electronics factory, starting as a line worker before being promoted to an admin clerk.
She later left her job to help her husband. He had joined his family’s funeral service business as an embalmer but was soon struggling to keep up with various aspects of operations, from embalming to coordinating bereavement services.
At the time, Tay – the couple’s eldest of three daughters – was one year old.
The company had a policy that every new employee be placed in a role that matches their work experience, so family ties notwithstanding, Chan started at the bottom.
Recalling her fear and inexperience, the older woman said: “On my first day of work, I didn’t dare move around and only stayed in the office doing paperwork. I was that fearful.”
