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About UsAoraki Funeral Home (Timaru) is Timaru’s only independently owned and operated Funeral Home in Timaru, covering a wide area throughout the South Canterbury region. Owners Paul and Marie Lockyer have been funeral directors since 1980 when they first established their Waimate Funeral Home. Professionally Qualified Embalmer
She acknowledges that it is not an obvious career option for a young person, but from the time she was first introduced to the concept at a careers expo in Timaru's Caroline Bay Hall, she was intrigued. Raised on a farm outside Timaru and educated at Timaru Girl's High School, she worked at Zinnia's fashion store when she left school because she was too young to start the embalmer's course. She had been interested in becoming an embalmer because the work was specialised. ‘‘It calls for someone who is very caring. There's the medical side and the presentation side - the hair and makeup, making the people look beautiful''. ‘‘There were a lot of older funeral directors who said I couldn't [do it] because I was a girl, probably because of the heavy lifting.'' Although formal qualifications are not required in the job, Sonia has the distinction of being the first qualified embalmer in South Canterbury. The Award in Embalming is issued by Welltech in Wellington, an educational institution similar to a polytechnic for specialists like dental technicians and personal trainers. It is a requirement that you have a position in a funeral home in order to do the embalmer's course. Sonia gained her qualifications in 1996 and came back to Timaru, where she worked in a funeral parlour for three years. Still too young to be a funeral director, Sonia took a job with Emirates Airlines as a flight attendant and spent the next 10 years travelling the world in remarkable luxury, mixing with people from many different cultures. Sonia returned to Timaru on January 1 2008 and talked to Marie and Paul Lockyer at Aoraki Funeral Home, who offered her a job as an embalmer and have since really encouraged Sonia to be a funeral director. Sonia thrives on the variety in her work. ‘‘When you're arranging funerals you're working with council for the plots, working with clergy and celebrants, doctors and the family. You're going in as an adviser when people need you most. It's like a calling - it's very rewarding.'' Contact us with your questions now.
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