A number of family members, friends and curious persons crowded around the front section of Rey’s Funeral Home in Anguilla on Wednesday, February 27.
It was an opportunity for the gathering to catch a glimpse of the late Ossie Rey whose well-attired remains stood in a display glass window as if in real life. It is one of the new services. A previously well-known and outgoing personality, Ossie died on February 1 at the age of 42. Apart from working in the hospitality industry, he frequently served as an assistant at Rey’s Funeral Home, his father’s business now substantially being modernised.
The image of ‘Ossie’ represents a new feature being offered by the long-established funeral home. A soon-to-come addition will be a cremation service. Eldon Rey, who now manages the facility, spoke about the drive-by viewing service which was introduced in Anguilla on Wednesday, February 27, as stated above.
“On this date we have introduced a drive-through viewing service for the people of Anguilla, to be followed soon by a cremation service. The drive-through viewing can be done in two ways. We can put the human remains to stand up, to sit down or put the body in a casket to be viewed, as people are accustomed to. There is the western road where persons can enter, and then exit through the eastern road which will take them to the junction at the stoplight. The viewing is going to be controlled by the family. They will decide how they want the viewing to be done – whether they want it to be private where they can use remotes to close or open the window; or they can leave it open to allow the public to see the body all day or all night as we are doing now with Ossie. You can close it off at a
certain time or just private where certain people can come and see it. So there are many options you can have with the drive-through service.”
Asked what this means to Rey’s Funeral Home, Eldon replied: “It is a step in a new direction, and era in the funeral business, as we try to keep Anguilla and Rey’s Funeral Home abreast with the times. Hopefully, the folks here will embrace it and use it to their advantage. It is an advantage to the people and also to the employees who get to go home – and grieving families have an opportunity to see their loved ones as much as they want and to except their grief.”
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Meanwhile, Ossie’s wife, Nivola Livingston-Rey, and their children, are the first family to have that privilege as they stood outside looking at his well-dressed body. “As it is the first time in Anguilla, it is something to experience,” the widow commented. “People are accustomed to see their loved ones in a casket, but now you have a choice of seeing your loved ones in whatever position you want them to be in. Ossie could either have been sitting down or standing up. My brother-in-law, Eldon Rey, a Director of the funeral home, dressed him that way.”
The funeral service will be held at the Sandy Ground Ballfield on Saturday, March 2. Tributes will be from 10 – 11 am followed by the funeral service. According to Eldon, his brother, Ossie, will be cremated either in St. Maarten or St. Croix.
Eldon usually spends much time in St. Croix where he runs a branch of Rey’s Funeral Home. “I am a licensed Funeral Director in New York and New Jersey. I am also licensed in the Virgin Islands. I have been in the funeral business for over thirty years. I have my own funeral home in St. Croix which also has a drive-through viewing service which I introduced to the folks in St. Croix in 2012. I also have a crematorium over there which was introduced in 2013.”
About the cremation service in Anguilla, Eldon said: “The unit has been ordered. It takes about five months to be built, and it should be ready for shipment sometime soon. By April, or so, we should have the unit here in Anguilla and getting ready to install it. It is about two or three months away.”
