FOR the past three years, Tommy Thompson, chief executive officer of Brite Lite funeral home, has brought colour and glamour to a normally mournful and somber occasion.

But now he is faced with what may arguably be described as his biggest challenge, planning the perfect funeral service for his mother Ruby “Peggy” Thompson who died Thursday. The 65 year-old died from complications from hypertension.

“Normally a client can walk in, and in 10 minutes I can come up with a concept. But for my mother I have not been able to do it, it’s not easy,” the CEO told the Observer Friday afternoon.

The unpleasant memories of his father’s funeral are still fresh in his mind, so he knows what he does not want for his mother’s service.

“At my father’s funeral service everybody was holding their nose,” he said. “The undertakers dropped off the casket at the church, and when the service was over my family had to use a van to take it to the cemetery. This has left a lasting impression on me.”

That bad experience, when he was 16 years old, was one of his motivations for entering the mortuary business. He wanted to make a difference.

“The first funeral I did, mourners were in awe when they entered the church. The colourful decorations and floral arrangements made them think it was a wedding,” Thompson recalled.

But it was Brite Lite’s impressive oversight of arrangements for the funeral of slain community leader Willie Haggart in May 2001, at the National Arena, that really put the fledgling funeral home on the map. It was the first time mourners were observing an elaborate designer casket, orange and white balloon arcades, a glass house hearse, and several stretch limousines in a funeral setting.

“We turned the National Arena into a garden, it was my first innovation,” Thompson said.

The mortician — who claims to have certain basic criteria for all of the funerals organised by Brite Lite, regardless of whether the client can afford $50,000 or $2 million — said that he was pleased that the trend he set is now being copied by some of the island’s other funeral homes.

“We embalm all the bodies and don’t use certain types of caskets. I’ve susbsidised some funerals, and done without a profit, ” he said.

Each of the funerals has a “colour code” — the flowers and other paraphernalia are designed in the colours determined by the family.

“We have glamourised what used to be a morbid occasion,” Thompson said.

Arrangements for a typical upscale funeral will include two to three limousines and Sports Utility Vehicles “to make the line-up look rich”, he said. The package comes with full church decorations, including an abundance of floral arrangements, as well as police escorts, T-shirts and buttons with a picture of the deceased, the nine night as well as the release of doves and helium balloons at the graveside. The home will also provide a team of up to 20 workers to assist at the funeral.

“Once you have money to spend you can have a service that is distinctly different from everybody else’s,” Thompson said.

Among the other celebrity funerals Brite Lite has arranged, Thompson lists those of Lowell “Bunny” Hinds, who was slain at the same time as Haggart; Glenroy “Trinity” Edwards who had a “British link up funeral”.

And school girl, Shauna Palmer, who was murdered during a birthday party in Greenwich Town was also given a million dollar funeral “free of cost” by Brite Lite.

The mortician, who described himself as “very spiritual,” credits his success to God. He had dabbled in the car rental, export and electronics businesses prior to establishing the funeral home.

“I credit whatever has happened to God. Without him I could not have gone to the level that I have gone in this business,” Thompson said.

His also believes that his vision was spiritually inspired.

“I had no prior knowledge of the business but I wanted to do a different kind of funeral. I wanted funerals to be a celebration rather than mournful. I went to the United States to see what I could do different,” Thompson recalled.

By the time he returned to Jamaica, the Brite Lite CEO’s ideas had gelled and he was able to develop the concept of decorating the churches elaborately, personalising the designs of the caskets and, in general, “putting on a show”.

“I wanted the service to be celebratory rather than mournful, to help to reduce the psychological stress of the mourners,” he explained. “The environment has to do with how you feel; so nice flower and garden arrangements help to cheer up the families and lift their spirits.”

But now, with the death of his “beloved” mother, Thompson himself is now in need of a psychological lift.

“Every day I see people mourning but you can only really understand when you experience it personally,” he said.