Thomas Tolliver ~ Lexington Herald-Leader ~ Fri. 1/14/1983
Central Kentucky bureau WINCHESTER - At 74, Juanita Mance runs funeral homes in two counties, operates a beauty shop and boasts that she does it all by herself.
Since 1979, Mrs. Mance's energies have been directed into yet another area: battling the state to keep her two funeral homes open.
She has tried - and failed - to overturn a state law that requires a full-time embalmer and director at each home. Mrs. Mance serves as director and embalmer at Haggard and Son in Winchester and at its branch home at Mount Sterling, which she said is used primarily as a chapel.
Now the state is telling her to obey the law or lose her license.
Mrs. Mance, twice widowed and once divorced, said she can easily handle the workload at both funeral homes, neither of which is doing a booming business.
But Donald Butler, chairman of the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, said the volume of business at a funeral home has no bearing on enforcement of the law.
Mrs. Mance doesn't deny that she's violating the board's regulations.
But she's quick to point out that the rules also give the board the power to make exceptions when warranted, and she thinks she's an exception. She plans to ask for a waiver when the embalmers' board meets next week. It will mark the first time she has made such a request.
Haggard and Son is one of two black-owned funeral homes in Winchester. Her branch home, which she opened in 1975, is the only black-owned home in Mount Sterling.
"I think that ought to carry some weight," Mrs. Mance said. "I feel I'm due a little bit of consideration."
Last year, the board suspended one funeral home operator's license for nine months for failure to staff a branch establishment with licensed personnel, said Mary Duvall, the embalming board's secretary. Two other funeral homes closed voluntarily because they didn't have the required licensed personnel, she said.
Mrs. Mance, who bubbles with pride when she talks of her two businesses, maintains she can't afford to hire an embalmer and funeral director for the Mount Sterling funeral home because it has so few funerals. In 1980, for example, it had just six funerals, she said.
"The Mount Sterling funeral home doesn't even have an embalming room," she said. "It's used primarily as a chapel. I do all my embalming work here (in Winchester)."
One option is to sell one of the funeral homes, but Mrs. Mance doesn't want to consider that.
"I like to work. I really don't want to sell," she said.
In 1979, with the state pressing her for compliance, Mrs. Mance filed suit in Clark Circuit Court to overturn the state law requiring licensed embalmers and directors at each funeral home.
She was known at the time as Juanita Chenault. She has since changed her name back to Mance after a divorce last month.
In a ruling a year ago, Clark Circuit Judge Charles T. WALTERS upheld the law, saying "...it is constitutionally permissible to expect a licensed embalmer and funeral director to be constantly present at the funeral home awaiting the unfortunate arrival of expired humans. That they might not arrive very often does not outweigh the resulting benefits."
Mrs. Mance appealed the decision to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. It affirmed the lower court's ruling in December.
Mrs. Mance, whose funeral home career began at age 51 in 1960, said she's baffled as to why the embalming board would crack down.
"I know a woman who's running three (funeral homes), and she doesn't have either license," Mrs. Mance said. "There's a whole lot doing worse than I am."
Butler denied that the board is handpicking the funeral homes for citations.
"Every complaint that comes before the board, we investigate," he said.
"I think the law is very fair," he said. "If a branch establishment doesn't make enough money to hire the personnel it needs, then they don't need it anyway."
Although she still maintains a beauty shop in Mount Sterling, Mrs. Mance said she depends primarily on her funeral homes to make a living.
"I have put a lot of money in these places," she said.
Mrs. Mance plans to ask the state embalming board Monday to delay any action until June.
That's when a woman who's serving an apprenticeship under Mrs. Mance is scheduled to take her state board examination. If she passes, Mrs. Mance hopes the woman will work for her.
"If I can just get by until June, I think I can make it," she said.
And if the board refuses to delay its action, Mrs. Mance has another plan in mind. She declined to elaborate but scoffed at the idea of closing one of her funeral homes.
Since 1979, Mrs. Mance's energies have been directed into yet another area: battling the state to keep her two funeral homes open.
She has tried - and failed - to overturn a state law that requires a full-time embalmer and director at each home. Mrs. Mance serves as director and embalmer at Haggard and Son in Winchester and at its branch home at Mount Sterling, which she said is used primarily as a chapel.
Now the state is telling her to obey the law or lose her license.
Mrs. Mance, twice widowed and once divorced, said she can easily handle the workload at both funeral homes, neither of which is doing a booming business.
But Donald Butler, chairman of the state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, said the volume of business at a funeral home has no bearing on enforcement of the law.
Mrs. Mance doesn't deny that she's violating the board's regulations.
But she's quick to point out that the rules also give the board the power to make exceptions when warranted, and she thinks she's an exception. She plans to ask for a waiver when the embalmers' board meets next week. It will mark the first time she has made such a request.
Haggard and Son is one of two black-owned funeral homes in Winchester. Her branch home, which she opened in 1975, is the only black-owned home in Mount Sterling.
"I think that ought to carry some weight," Mrs. Mance said. "I feel I'm due a little bit of consideration."
Last year, the board suspended one funeral home operator's license for nine months for failure to staff a branch establishment with licensed personnel, said Mary Duvall, the embalming board's secretary. Two other funeral homes closed voluntarily because they didn't have the required licensed personnel, she said.
Mrs. Mance, who bubbles with pride when she talks of her two businesses, maintains she can't afford to hire an embalmer and funeral director for the Mount Sterling funeral home because it has so few funerals. In 1980, for example, it had just six funerals, she said.
"The Mount Sterling funeral home doesn't even have an embalming room," she said. "It's used primarily as a chapel. I do all my embalming work here (in Winchester)."
One option is to sell one of the funeral homes, but Mrs. Mance doesn't want to consider that.
"I like to work. I really don't want to sell," she said.
In 1979, with the state pressing her for compliance, Mrs. Mance filed suit in Clark Circuit Court to overturn the state law requiring licensed embalmers and directors at each funeral home.
She was known at the time as Juanita Chenault. She has since changed her name back to Mance after a divorce last month.
In a ruling a year ago, Clark Circuit Judge Charles T. WALTERS upheld the law, saying "...it is constitutionally permissible to expect a licensed embalmer and funeral director to be constantly present at the funeral home awaiting the unfortunate arrival of expired humans. That they might not arrive very often does not outweigh the resulting benefits."
Mrs. Mance appealed the decision to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. It affirmed the lower court's ruling in December.
Mrs. Mance, whose funeral home career began at age 51 in 1960, said she's baffled as to why the embalming board would crack down.
"I know a woman who's running three (funeral homes), and she doesn't have either license," Mrs. Mance said. "There's a whole lot doing worse than I am."
Butler denied that the board is handpicking the funeral homes for citations.
"Every complaint that comes before the board, we investigate," he said.
"I think the law is very fair," he said. "If a branch establishment doesn't make enough money to hire the personnel it needs, then they don't need it anyway."
Although she still maintains a beauty shop in Mount Sterling, Mrs. Mance said she depends primarily on her funeral homes to make a living.
"I have put a lot of money in these places," she said.
Mrs. Mance plans to ask the state embalming board Monday to delay any action until June.
That's when a woman who's serving an apprenticeship under Mrs. Mance is scheduled to take her state board examination. If she passes, Mrs. Mance hopes the woman will work for her.
"If I can just get by until June, I think I can make it," she said.
And if the board refuses to delay its action, Mrs. Mance has another plan in mind. She declined to elaborate but scoffed at the idea of closing one of her funeral homes.
