MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Proprietor of Lyn’s Funeral Home in Manchester, Calvin Lyn, has been elected as president of the newly formed Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors.

Lyn told the Jamaica Observer Central that the decision was taken on September 26 at a meeting of a number of qualified funeral directors from across the island, at the Robert Longmore Hall at the Ridgemount United Church in Mandeville.

He said that he along with the people elected to serve in the capacities of vice president, secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer and public relations officer will be in office for two years.

“The main reason for coming together is to call on the relevant authority to address the various problems affecting the Funeral Industry,” he said.

Lyn said that regarding challenges such as improper storage and preparation of human remains the group will be lobbying the relevant authorities to have the long overdue regulations become law.

“The proposed regulation has been in works for over ten years,” said the patriarch of a family-owned funeral home and the Oaklawn Memorial Gardens cemetery in the parish.

Lyn said that a previous association that was in place to ensure standards in the industry became dormant “due to lack of leadership.”

He said that most of the members of that association withdrew their membership and are now part of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors.

— Alicia Sutherland