Life as a remover
It takes something very specific to be a remover – the guy who transports a recently deceased body to the funeral parlor. It’s a job that Andrew Meredith describes in his new memoir titled, “The Removers.”
He says his dad, a literature professor and poet who did removals on the side, had the perfect manner for the job.
“He was one of the best at that manner. He was really good at going into a home and making people feel like he was in charge, that everything would be fine, that you’d be hearing from the funeral director in the morning, nothing to worry about, maybe you should go into the kitchen so you don’t see us leave…”
Meredith began his work as a remover after dropping out of college.
“The funeral director would get a call saying so-and-so has died, we need her to be picked up, often at home…so we would get a beep, in 1998, as it were.”
Eventually, Meredith went back to school for his MFA and his working on a novel. But he says he had to write about the experience first.
“I knew I wouldn’t write about anything worthwhile until I wrote about this.”
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