November 25, 2000
Funeral director has 32 years of service to his clients
By Pat Ledwedge
Staff Writer
When David Gottfried was a teen in Upper Sandusky, he worked in a gas station, pumping gas, changing tires. The local funeral home used to bring in their ambulances for gas and service. One day the driver asked him if he would like to work for the funeral home. They offered him $1 an hour and a two-week trial. If he didn't like the job, he could go back to pumping gas. A dollar an hour was a pretty decent wage for a young man those days, so he decided to give it a try.
Gottfried cleaned up around the home and did maintenance on the ambulance. As he became more interested in the business, he went along on ambulance calls. Finally, he enrolled in The Cincinnati College of Embalming and achieved his degree and license. He worked with another memorial establishment before coming to Tiffin in 1968 to work for Hoffman Memorial. In 1986, he bought the establishment.
For 15 years, Gottfried has been the proprietor of Hoffman-Gottfried Funeral Home. He has assembled a professional, dignified staff that knows how to comfort clients in their hour of need.
Gottfried and his wife, Patricia, both alumni of Heidelberg College, and their son, Scott, are licensed funeral directors. They also have another son, Eric. They are trained in helping to straighten out all the details when a loved one passes away. Somehow, they manage to do it gently and kindly.
Patricia Gottfried is retired from Washington School. She has a master's degree in education. An employee, Merle Kagy, is also a retired teacher from the New Riegel system. Secretaries Pat Elchert and Sue Allbaugh complete the Gottfried working family.
Many who have availed themselves of the Gottfrieds' services have found help coping with fear and sorrow.
"As strange as it may seem, there are moments even in this business that are kind of funny," Gottfried related, telling the story of a hearse leading a procession to the cemetery. When the driver noticed the vehicle was overheating, he pulled into a gas station to check it out, forgetting there was a procession behind him. Everyone in the procession followed him and all that could be heard for a while was the ding-ding of the gas-station bell.
The Gottfrieds remembered some of the strange things people have placed with their loved ones before they were interred.
For example, one lady put a dozen cans of soup in with her husband. In another situation, a fellow who was an ardent euchre player was always searching for the perfect euchre hand; however, he was also quite the trickster in his time. So his friends made up the perfect hand to put with him, but they removed one card.
One man loved tootsie rolls, so all over the room were dishes of tootsie rolls. Another man loved his old dog so much that his family had a picture of the dog placed beneath his hands.
The Gottfrieds try to make the experience a celebration of life, encouraging the family to display pictures of the loved one and many articles which were part of their lives.
"One of the most difficult things about this business is keeping current with different religions. There are certain things different religions do differently from others. We have a book that explains such things and we try to do what we can to adhere to their customs."
Scott Gottfried said he wants to follow in his dad's footsteps, so it would seem the establishment will be around for a while.