Joseph L. McCracken

NFDA past president and former owner and funeral director, McCracken-Dean Funeral Home, Pana, Illinois, died February 13, 2016, at age 90. McCracken graduated from St. Louis College of Mortuary Science and facilitated the establishment of McCracken Funeral Home (now McCracken-Dean) in 1947 with his mother and brother. He was elected to the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Board of Directors in 1960 and served as president in 1964-65. In 1965, McCracken was elected to the NFDA Board of Governors; he served as NFDA vice president in 1968-69 and as president in 1969-70. He was active within the funeral profession through his service on the advisory board to the committee that pursued and eventually established the Department of Mortuary Science at Southern Illinois University in 1966-74. McCracken was a keynote speaker for numerous grief- and loss-related events at the local, state, regional and national levels and was certified for membership in the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice in 1991. He was a member and retired chairperson of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, president of the Pana Hospital Board and a 67-year member of Pana Lions Club, where he was past president and Melvin Jones Fellow in the Lions International Foundation. He also served on the People’s Bank and Trust Board of Directors for 22 years, retiring as vice chairman in 1997. He was inducted into the Pana High School Wall of Fame in 2000 for his humanitarian leadership. He is survived by daughter Jan, a granddaughter and three great-grandchildren.