A December Gathering
This morning, I saw that my article, A December Gathering , is now the most‑read piece on the publishing company’s website. I was surprised at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Writing about the Eppig mausoleum at St. John Cemetery was one of those rare moments when my work as a funeral director and my work as a writer came together so naturally that they felt like the same calling. The story was never just about a mausoleum. It was about legacy, reunion, and the quiet strength of a place built to hold a family’s history. A year ago, on an unseasonably warm December morning, I met members of the Eppig family at the mausoleum—some of them cousins meeting for the very first time. There was something almost cinematic about it: the soft winter light, the stillness of the cemetery, the sense that time had briefly loosened its grip so the past and present could stand in the same room. When we stepped inside, the caskets were intact—an unexpected and deeply...