Lessons on caring, of faith and on the value of life are what have inspired local funeral directors to continue the tradition of their fathers.

For one 22-year-old daughter of a funeral director, it was her father’s example that instilled the passion inside her to pursue the same career.

“It was never a job to him,” said Nicole Hummel, daughter of Bruce Hummel, owner of Hummel Funeral Home in Middleburg and The V.L. Seebold Funeral Home in Selinsgrove.

Nicole is a recent graduate of business school at Penn State, and will begin at Simmons Institute of Funeral Service in New York — her father’s alma mater — in the fall. Upon graduation, she plans to join him in the business.

Bruce began with a residency at The V.L. Seebold Funeral Home in Selinsgrove in 1973 and went on to buy out the Hassinger Funeral Home in Middleburg in 1986 and then Seebold’s in 1996.

“I always wanted to do it,” said Bruce, who is also currently serving as the Snyder County Coroner. “It intrigued me.”

“The business was almost like a part of our family, and I’ve always admired him for the fact he was someone who was very passionate for the right reasons, for wanting to be there and helping people,” Nicole said. “He tried to instill in us that it was a service and was a privilege to be able to do that.”

He also taught her the value of faith — her foundation for the career.

“If you keep that as the center of your life and what you’re doing, there are so many opportunities for success,” she said.

Gary Cronrath, former director of the Gary H. Cronrath Funeral Home Inc., with locations in Watsontown and Lewisburg, is the son of the late Paul E. Cronrath, a first-generation funeral director who began the business in his parents’ half double house in 1937.

“A couple of friends of his parents in Watsontown saw the need for a more progressive funeral home in Watsontown in the 1930s,” Cronrath said, “and mentioned to Dad it would be a good opportunity for him. Dad did it.”

After Paul graduated from Eckel’s mortuary school in Philadelphia, he returned to the area and apprenticed under Paul Grittner — “a very good funeral director and a very fine person,” Gary said. “He taught Dad a lot of things about funeral service, and about life in general.”

As a boy growing up in a funeral home, Gary experienced some things that not many children do.

“When there was a funeral downstairs, we couldn’t run or walk around upstairs because the floors would creak,” he said. He also remembers riding with his dad in the hearse during trips to Evangelical Community Hospital.

“A lot of good memories,” he said.