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Happy Veterans Day to all of our military personnel. We are deeply grateful for your service and sacrifice, and we will forever be thankful for your role in keeping our country free.
About the Episode: In this episode, host Gabe Schauf is joined by Jennifer Heiselman, Navy Chief Mortician (Retired), who served our country as a Navy Embalmer and Funeral Director. Jennifer spent 24 years both at home and abroad, caring for soldiers killed while on active duty and in combat, and managing the logistics and processes to ensure these fallen heroes were returned home to their families. In this episode, she shares some of her experiences and insights, reflecting on her remarkable career.
About Jennifer: Jennifer S. Heiselman started her funeral directing career in Pittsburgh, PA after graduating with honors from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science in 2000. This career change came after a 5 year enlistment in the Navy as a Hospital corpsman. She left Pittsburgh in 2006 to reenlist in the Navy as a Funeral Director and Embalmer and quickly relocated to Guam where she was one of two active-duty morticians for the island. In 2010 she relocated to Dover Delaware to act as the Navy and Marine Corps liaison during an extremely high fatality rate. After 5 years in Dover, she reacted to Rota Spain and then to Quantico, VA and Millington, TN where she served as the Chief Mortician. She has been involved in numerous mass fatality events such as Extortion 17 and the B52 Stratocaster mishap in Guam.
She is a subject matter expert and has served as the Navy Representative on the OSD Tri Service Inspection Team. She retired from the Navy in July 2024 and now serves as the Cemetery Director for the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery in Memphis, TN. She has been serving our Nation’s fallen heroes for over 20 years.