When he was young, Tim Totten wanted a Star Trek Next Generation costume. His grandmothers lived right next door to each other, and he asked one if she would make a costume for him. She said she wouldn’t make it, but she’d teach him to sew. By the time he went to ask his other grandmother, she had gotten a call from the first one reinforcing the deal.
So Tim Totten learned to sew, and decades later, the funeral business is all the better for it. In 2001, he founded CotCovers.com, which is now FinalEmbrace.com. His family-owned business is “the leading manufacturer of innovative mortuary transport solutions and alternative viewing products.” Just what does that mean?
The products Final Embrace produces help funeral directors dress up removal trolleys, morgue carts, tables for simple viewings and church trucks, the folding wheel bases for moving caskets. These fabric coverings help provide a more comforting experience for the family of the deceased during removals and viewings.
Check out the video below, recorded at the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association (NFDMA) expo, as he describes these products.
The covers include pockets for paperwork and gloves, a 100% waterproof lining, and they can all be cleaned in a regular washer/dryer. They also provide Precious Cargo Transporter bags, for the special removal of infants, and an Honoring Service cover that looks like a United States flag and conforms with the U.S. Flag Code.
All of the covers are hand made by family in central Florida. Totten said that he loves teaching his nieces and nephews to sew. “Boys are good at getting the geometry of sewing,” he said. “Sewing is not a girly activity. Sewing machines are power tools for fabric.”
Totten’s business is growing every year. He’s looking to get more sewers, expanding outside of family. Find out more at www.FinalEmbrace.com.