For Immediate Release
Contact: Melinda Mueller, 877-402-5900
April 2008

FUNERAL SERVICE FOUNDATION WELCOMES FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Trustees Hold their First 2008 Meeting in New Orleans

Brookfield, Wis.—Four death care professionals recently joined the Funeral Service
Foundation (FSF) Board of Trustees. New members include Alan Creedy, Creedy &
Co.; James Metzger, The Whitmore Group; Dan Stevens, consultant to the funeral
industry; and Ken Varner, Cypress Lawn Memorial Park.

“The Funeral Service Foundation, striving to be the unified voice of death care, elects
talented, experienced people with a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise within
our industry,” said FSF Chair John Carmon. “Together the trustees secure financial
support from death care professionals, and select important projects to fund that
advance funeral service and demonstrate our compassion and generosity to the public.”

New trustees were elected in October 2007 and attended their first voting meeting in
February in New Orleans.

Alan Creedy has over 27 years of experience in funeral service and recently formed
Creedy & Co., a network of leading experts that consult with funeral homes. He is also
President of Trust 100, an association of funeral homes committed to increasing public
awareness of preplanning. Creedy is a Certified Public Accountant and frequent
speaker at funeral association conventions.

James Metzger is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Whitmore Group.
Founded in 1989, the company has grown to be the largest provider of commercial
property and casualty insurance to the funeral industry. At the beginning of his career,
Metzger identified the funeral industry as an underserved business segment for
insurance. He has since developed special programs with a variety of insurance
companies in order to bring competitively priced property and casualty coverage to
funeral service professionals.

Dan Stevens has 35 years of experience in the funeral business as a former owner of
three funeral homes. Stevens was also an employee and consultant for Carriage
Services in several capacities including marketing, staff development, operations and
acquisitions. He is now an independent consultant for funeral service.

Ken Varner is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cypress Lawn Cemetery
Association, the largest non-profit public benefit cemetery in the San Francisco Bay
area. He is also President and Chairman of the Board of Cypress Funeral Services,
Cypress Cremation Society, CFS Insurance Services and Cypress Lawn Heritage
Foundation. Varner is a speaker at numerous association events and is Treasurer of
the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association and Chief Financial
Officer, Board member and Past President of the California State Cemetery Association (Cemetery & Mortuary Association of California).

The Board of Trustees held its first meeting in 2008 in New Orleans on February 26 and 27. There they met with several board members of the New Orleans Katrina Memorial. FSF was the first organization to commit funds to the Memorial, which will house approximately 100 indentified and unclaimed victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The 15-member volunteer Board of Trustees includes funeral directors, allied professionals and suppliers in the death care industry: Scott Anthony, Anthony Funeral Chapel; Ken Camp, Batesville Casket Co.; John Carmon, Carmon Community Funeral Homes; Jim Curran, formerly of Wilbert Funeral Services; Alan Creedy, Creedy & Co.; Rich Geib, Geib Funeral Homes; Marilyn Gould, MKJ Marketing; Carlos Guerra, Guerra-Gutierrez Mortuaries; Bob Horn, retired Chairman of Keystone Group Holdings; Tom Johnson, Johnson Consulting Group; Debora Kellom, Wade Funeral Home; James Metzger, The Whitmore Group; Scott Pontone, The Whitmore Group; Dan Stevens, consultant to the funeral industry; and Ken Varner, Cypress Lawn Memorial Park. FSF’s office is in Brookfield, Wis. and the Executive Director is Melinda Mueller.

About the Funeral Service Foundation
The Funeral Service Foundation, through grants, scholarships and research initiatives,
supports career and professional development in funeral service, the advancement of
funeral service and allied professions, public awareness and education, and the
improvement of children’s lives