Business Briefs
BUSINESS PROFILE _ .
Burrell joins Hooper
Funeral Home
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By YVETTE N. FREEMAN
Community News Editor
Since 1946, the name Hooper
Funeral Home has been synony
mous with quality service and pro
fessional staff people. That reputa
tion is what has made the business
one of the top African-American
businesses in Winston-Salem. And
although most people would think
such a reputation could not be
improved upon, that is indeed what
is about to happen.
Gregory Burrell joined Hoop
er Funeral Home in January of this
year as the new funeral director. He
says it will be his job to take the
funeral home into the next century.
" I think this industry is changing so
much and the consumer is becom
ing more educated that we're look
ing for more than just going to the
church and having the funeral and
going to the cemetery for the inter
ment. It's going to be incumbent
upon the 21st century funeral direc
tor to provide families with more
than just the traditional funeral
interment service," he said.
On^ particular service in
addition to the traditional interment
service at Hooper is the newly
I i **
Gregory Burrell has a number of Ideas to improve and expand the services of Hooper Funeral Home,
which he hopes will make the business a full service funeral home.
By THEODORE R. DANIELS
Credit life and
disability insurance
It has been documented that a greater percentage of African
Americans use installment credit than the population as a whole.
Moreover, as a group* we spend a greater percentage of our income
for debt repayment if you fall into the category of a moderate to fre
quent credit user* you wiH want to seek ways to reduce your tost of
borrowing, . r - ' \* - ^ & IflM 1
In many instances, the revolving or installment credit arrange
ment either requires or encourages the purchase df so<al!ed ^credit
life" or credit disability* insurance. Lenders or creditors will often
want to make you think that credit will not be approved without die
purchase of credit insurance Industry estimates indicate that 70 per
cent of all loans are insured by the purchase of credit insurance.
Credit insurance policies provide for, upon your death, the payoff of
your outstanding loan balance from the insurance proceeds, Similarly,
with credit disability insurance, the debt is paid while the insured is
disabled.
the creditor will try to persuade you that credit Insurance pro
vides inexpensive protection that you and your family need. Except
in a few situations, nothing could be further fromthe truth. The credi
tor is really after a commission which can be as high as 40 cents on
every dollar collected.
The cost to purchase this kind of insurance protection is usually
based on a specified rate per one hundred or one thousand dollars of
unpaid balance. For example: some consumer finance companies
charge consumers five percent per hundred dollars of the unpaid bal
ance. I recently saw a $20,000 loan, made by a national finance com
pany* to a creditor which included $3*120 for credit life insurance.
for the creditor to purchase a regular term life insurance policy
which would have been sufficient to cover the debt and provide addi*
tional coverage for his family at a much lowe cost { * ;
Most states do not allow lenders to require credit insurance as ?
condition for granting credit In those states which do permit required
credit insurance* federal law requires that the credit insurance charge :
be reflected in the annual percentage interest rate charge. This dis
courages lenders from requiring credit insurance because the high '
annual interest rate would scare borrowers away. Also, if credit insur*
ance is required, the creditor cannot specify whom you must buy it
from. This means you can pledge an exiatin$policyor coverage
elsewhere, 11 ||?
Oedit Insurance for individuals over the age of 60 may notice a
bad idea. Since the borrower's age does not affect the jpremham
charged, credit insurance for older persons may lie more favorable;
than regular insurance or disability insurance; IWs is especially
true f^fblder individual is in poor health or is otherwise in a high
risk cactgory.
In conclusion, the general rule of thumb is that if you are under
age 50* in good health* and have at least $lO|KX) in installment debt
(exludin#|iortgagiiiebO> yo# should fiever purchaseiredit life
- y * . \ \ s J
developed AfterCare Program,
which is designed to help families
cope with the loss of their loved
ones. Burrell said the AfterCare.
vir"q I Ti III I'm |.lmni ?r> jpor>rpr>r^tP
into the Hooper tradition.
"We are striving to become a
full service funeral home. We want
to be able to help families with
whatever their needs are and do it in
a professional and dignified way,"
he explained. "I am very strong on
J CITY^
MARKET
Downtown Winston-Salem
6th & Cherry St.
FRESH-BAKED GOODS
FLOWERS
PLANTS
CRAFTS
AND MORE . . .
CITY MARKET
Every Tues. & Thurs.
10am-3pm
We can help.
We're paid only
if you collect.
Practice limited
to serious injury
and wrongful death.
-Michael
LEWIS
? ATTORNEYS AT LAW, PC.
Michael Lewis
David D. Daggett
Celeste Harris
765-7777
Phon?s answered 24 hours
285 Executive Park Blvd.
Winston -Salem, NC 27103
professionalism and ethics. I think
that's very, very important. I just
believe that when people are spend
ing their money they should be pro
vided with the best possible service,
facilities, and staff possible. And
that's what we're striving to provide
here at Hooper Funeral Home."
A native of Atlanta, Burrell's
responsibilities as funeral director
include hiring, training and devel
oping the staff, directing and coor
dinating all funeral home facilities
and staff for all professional ser
vices on each funeral, being respon
sible for each family and being their
primary spokesman for all profes
sional and business dealings, over
seeing all advertising and promo
tions for the funeral home, making
sure the staff regularly cares for and
mnintninfi thr facilities, and uphold
ing all professional and regulatory
standards for the funeral home.
"I love it. It's quite challeng
ing," he said. "And I think my
biggest challenge is to rebuild the
business. I enjoy that challenge. I'm
here to provide families with good,
quality, professional funeral ser
vice." That includes not only
improving and expanding the ser
vices of the funeral home, but also
the facilities themselves. Currently,
a number of physical changes are
underway at the funeral home,
which is located at 1417 East 14th
Street. Burrell says the building
itself will be enlarged and redeco
rated. However, he stressed that the
main emphasis will be to "develop
services that we can offer to the
families."
Burrell, 31, is a graduate of
Morehouse College, and Gupton
Jones College, where he received an
A.S. Degree in Funeral Service. He
has been in tfeMweral heme busi
Gregory Burred joined Hooper Funeral Home in January. He is the
new funeral director of the family-owned business.
ness since 1979. He is a member of
the Georgia Funeral Service Practi
tioners Association, Inc., the
National Funeral Directors & Mor
ticians Association, the North Car
olina Funeral Directors Association
^nd the National Funeral Directors
Association. He says he moved
from Atlanta to Winston-Salem
because of the fine reputation of
Hooper F iiuor. Honv\ "It had a
lot to do with the reputation of the
funeral home because I checked it
out before I moved. And they had
an almost flawless reputation, and
that influenced my decision a lot,"
he said. "And il had a good quality ??
business. They wanted to maintain _s
the tradition and the business that
Mr. Hooper, the founder, had built"
Burrell hopes to own his own
funeral home in the future or
become a partner of an already
established one. But he says, "111 be
here for as long as the Hoopers
want me here, and hopefully that'll
be a long time."
Hooper Funeral Home was
founded in 1946 by Thomas Hooper
Jr., when he bought the Fitch Funer
al Home and renamed it. Initially
located on North Highland Avenue,
Hooper moved the business to its
present facility on 14th Street in
rijL96& It was incorporated in 1991.
><$toros<H9opei hi js the president
for all
Minority Businesses
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