How much do you know about funerals, coffins, and embalming? Despite death being the only absolutely certain thing about life, most of us shy away from the subject. For Melbourne-based funeral worker Amy Hoey, however, there’s no flinching or shuddering.
“I’m totally unfazed!” the 38-year-old tells New Idea. “In fact, dead bodies haven’t ever really bothered me.”
The stereotypical image of a funeral home worker is a pale, solemn, male mortician, yet Amy – who is smiley, bubbly and wears pink lipstick – couldn’t be further from this. So how did she end up working with the dead?
“I have always had a fascination with the human body,” she says. “Looking back, I think I would have made a great surgeon.”
Leaving school at a young age to pursue a career in hairdressing, Amy loved the creative element that came with hairstyling, but “wanted more”.
Undertaking a dental assistant traineeship, she then enrolled to study specimen and blood collection, which saw her land shifts in a hospital.
“It was here when I had my first experience in a morgue and I just knew that was what I wanted to do,” she says.
This story is from the June 29, 2020 edition of New Idea.
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This story is from the June 29, 2020 edition of New Idea.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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