Know Your Neighbor: Jim Meridith, owner of Meridith Funeral Home in Highland

Many acknowledge humans are the only living beings who contemplate their own demise.

Some avoid the subject completely, while others make detailed preparations. But one fact is certain: If you live long enough, you will die.

Jim Meridith, owner of Meridith Funeral Home in Highland and six other locations in Illinois, believes death is part of life and uses all his training and skills to bring as much comfort as possible to those who have lost loved ones.

Jim was the second eldest of five children by Jim and Mary Lou Meridith. He was born May 20, 1968, in Springfield and had three sisters and one brother. The kids spent most of their time playing outside and Jim said he especially enjoyed football, basketball and baseball. He graduated from St. Paul High School in 1986. He said his subjects of interest were business, accounting and girls.

His dad had always wanted to be a funeral director and when he saw Harris Funeral Home for sale in Highland, he purchased it from Roland Harris and the Meridith family relocated to Highland in 1976. Jim attended Illinois State University and McKendree University graduating with a bachelor of arts in business administration.

He, like many other young men fresh out of college, was unsure of his career path and worked in sales for Beeline and later for Graybar Electric. By then he had become certain he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and began attending Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Chicago. He was educated in biology, chemistry and sociology and then had to complete one year of internship.

Jim said he learned early on from his parents the importance of “hard work, and treating others as you would like to be treated. Honesty and integrity was high on the list.”

Over the years the Meredith’s services grew to include seven facilities located in Highland, Cisne, Lebanon, Pocahontas, West Salem, Albion and Allendale. Their mission is the same: “We strive to make our funeral homes comfortable and accommodating while providing a setting to gather and commemorate the life of a loved one.”

But with the recent coronavirus pandemic, Jim, as well as most funeral directors, are unable to conduct the kind of traditional services to which most folks are accustomed and this concerns Jim inasmuch only private funerals can be held at this time. Many think of having a more elaborate celebration of life when the social distancing has ended. But Jim said those grieving can be left lacking closure.

“A funeral provides a safe place to get emotions out,” said Jim. “If emotions don’t get released, they can be manifested negatively and effect relationships.”

Research from Batesville Casket Co. reveals the primary purposes of a funeral service is to “help acknowledge that someone we love has died; it allows us to say goodbye; it offers continuity and hope for the living; they provide a support system for survivors, friends and members in the community; and allow us to reflect on the meaning of life and death.”

Additional benefits of funeral services

• Transcendance: Ultimately a funeral service can help people embrace the wonder of life and death.
• Meaning: A funeral service can mark the significance of the life that was lived. They also help people find meaning and purpose in their continual living, even in the face of loss.
• Expression: A funeral service can allow people to express their inner thoughts and feelings about the life and the death.
• Support: A funeral service can bring together people who care about each other in an atmosphere of love and support.
• Recall: A funeral service can encourage people to remember the person who died and share their unique memories with others, creating hope for the future.
• Reality: A funeral service can help people begin to truly acknowledge the reality someone in their life has died.

Batesville said the memorial service helps survivors face the reality of death, “which is the first big step toward taking grief from the inside and allowing us to express it on the outside through mourning.”

Acknowledging the intensity of grieving is often worsened after the memorial service and the crowd has dispersed and grievers are alone and their lives seem empty, Jim has a Continuing Care Coordinator, Brenda Pehle, who remains in contact with the bereaved. She stays in contact anywhere from 12-18 months and provides compassionate support through calls and correspondence.

“Everyone grieves differently,” commented Jim. “And I realize men are raised to keep their emotions in check, which is just another reason why a commemorative service should be held.”

Alluding to the absence of a full celebration of life due to COVID-19, Jim also said morticians attending a person who has passed from the virus must use extra precautions because the virus can still be active.

About the Meridith family

Jim remained single for many years until Mrs. Right came along in 2008. A pretty young lady named Denise was coaching Jim’s niece’s basketball team.

“She was very pretty and we started talking,” said Jim. “Then we all attended a gathering for the team and soon began dating for the next two years.

They were wed July 29, 2011. Denise brought children Tyler and Emily into the family and then she and Jim became parents to Jimmy and Sophia, only 13 months apart.

Although Jim is a tad older than the average parent of a 7- and 8-year-old, he beams when recalling the early days walking the floor with them on fussy night.

“I was just so happy to become a dad that I just kept smiling,” said Jim.

The family resides in Highland.