Pursuit of Excellence Eagle Award

Owen Funeral Home received the 2001 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Pursuit of Excellence Eagle award for outstanding community service, professional integrity and dynamic public relations programs.

"The Pursuit of Excellence program is the premier standard for funeral service excellence, and the Eagle award is one of the highest levels of achievement. Recipients of the award receive a prestigious Eagle trophy for display in their funeral home," said NFDA Acting Chief Executive Officer Christine Reichelt-Pepper.

To achieve recognition in the Pursuit of Excellence program, a funeral home must meet quality service criteria in eight categories of achievement. The categories include: education, compassionate service, technical skills, community and professional service, library or media resources, professional development, in-house staff training, and public and community relations. To earn the Eagle recognition, a funeral home must meet additional criteria in each category and create a scrapbook of their activities.

The Eagle award was presented to 99 funeral homes during NFDA's 120th Annual Convention & Expo World in Orlando, October 7 - 10, 2001. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Pursuit of Excellence program, Monday, October 8, 2001 was designated Pursuit of Excellence Day. The day included two workshops and the award ceremony open to all funeral service professionals and convention attendees. A total of 249 funeral homes were honored at the awards ceremony.

NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, WI, and has an office in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest and largest funeral service association, serving about 13,500 members.