Recently, more than 1,000 advance funeral planners, funeral home owners and staff, family members and Precoa leaders gathered to celebrate the performance of the company’s advance funeral planners during its annual Escapes Celebration Event. In Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, 116 advance funeral planners in attendance were individually honored for generating anywhere from $1 million to $5 million in preneed contracts in 2021. Brian Whittecar, Precoa vice president of sales, said that was the highest number of million-dollar producers for an Escapes trip in company history.

During the event, Precoa named O’Connor Mortuary (California) and Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Homes (Mississippi) as Funeral Homes of the Year. Both businesses participate in the company’s ProActive Model and have continued to grow in sales.

Pam Gehrs of Park Lawn Corporation and Cole Waybright of Foundation Partners Group were named Sales Leaders of the Year, an award given to a Precoa partner who takes extra care to ensure that advance funeral planners and the company’s field team can fulfill its vision to prearrange all families.

Precoa also honored Kelly Kohut, Chris Tamme and Kevin Robinson as Field Managers of the Year. Their proactive, hands-on coaching and care for advance funeral planners across the country exemplify the company values of kindness, progression and craftsmanship.

This was the first Escapes event without Precoa co-founder Mark Hornibrook, who died in February. A playlist of his favorite music filled the air at each gathering, and at the celebration event, the entertainment was joyous as leaders from throughout the company performed on stage, lip-syncing and dancing in costume to some of Hornibrook’s most loved songs.

His wife, Ane, was in attendance, along with most of their children, including Precoa President Michael Hornibrook, Vice President of Marketing Tyler Hornibrook and Technology Support Manager Eric Hornibrook. precoa.com