Funeral trends were dictated heavily by Forest Lawn cemetery and its general manager, Hubert Eaton. Eaton was “the original upbeat undertaker,” writes Caitlin Doughty, co-owner of Clarity Funerals and Cremation with Jorgensen, in her memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. He took the dull, sad funerals of yore and injected them with euphemisms (a person didn’t die, they took their leave), embalming fluid and bright pink satin-lined caskets.
