She's lying on a metal gurney, one of her hands propped up casually on a purple aerosol can of hairspray as if at any moment she's going to pick it right up and give her 'do the once over. If you shimmy between the gurneys in the prep room and open the door at the other end, you come upon the embalming room, which is fitted out with lots of stainless steel, rubber hospital tubing and bio-hazard containers. There aren't any big refrigerators at Hillcrest. Funeral director Jim Edwards tells me refrigeration isn't necessary after embalming. And while embalming isn't required by law, Edwards says it cuts down on communicable diseases.
Most people go with embalming for aesthetic reasons.
It gets rid of the pale, purplish look you get when all of your blood has settled. Of course, foundation and blusher aren't the natural look of death. Meaning we don't lay our dearly departed out ourselves in the parlor anymore. I wouldn't even want to be a window washer at a mortuary, let alone a funeral director, and I wondered what would lead anyone to this sort of profession. But soon he gets business-like and ticks off the list of requirements for the job.