1949-
Carolyn Whigham owns and runs Whigham Funeral Home and is known for skill in organizing funerals including for celebrity clients. She became director of Whigham Funeral Home in 1986 and has run over 6000 funerals including for Houston family and Congressman Donald Payne. She also hosted How to Conduct High Profile Funerals” seminars across New Jersey.
Carolyn is committed to empowering women, most of her staff are female including her wife Terry and her daughter Kara.
Carolyn is the daughter of Marie Foster Whigham and Charles Whigham. She attended Vailsburg High School, class of 1966. She graduated from the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service in New York City in 1986.
Carolyn has been a member of the National Funeral Directors, Garden State Funeral Directors Association and Morticians Association, Inc. She served on the New Jersey Board for the Statutes of Women and worked with the Newark YMCA around housing the homeless. Earlier in life, Carolyn also founded a real estate firm in California.
Bibliography
Facebook post, Official Funeral World
Vailsburg yearbook 1966, Charles F. Cummings NJ Information Center, Newark Public Library
Essex County Office of LGBTQ Affairs, Facebook
National Funeral Directors Association – photo credit
Al Henderson photo , Charles F. Cummings NJ Information Center, Newark Public Library