Funeral director's fresh start

Chelsea Brown is the new Location Manager at Geoffrey T Sowman Funeral Directors and partner of Tim Brown, the company’s embalmer.

The move means the couple continues more than a century of tradition of families working together at Geoffrey T Sowman Funeral Directors.

Chelsea, who grew up in Auckland, says coming to Marlborough was the right move for the family as it’s a great place to “put down roots”.

“It seems like a really good place for families and still has everything you need,” she says.

Watching a documentary on TV when she was 15 years old sparked the mum of two’s interest in funeral directing.

She trained in Auckland where she met Tim before the pair moved to Christchurch and now Marlborough.

After 10 years as a funeral director, Chelsea says she’s happy to be taking on a lead management role.

But being a funeral director is at the heart of what she wants to do, she explains.

“I’ll never give that up. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m here for.”

Helping people at a time of great sadness is a privilege, Chelsea explains.

‘It’s about helping people. Every funeral director is different, but I like to give families all the options, so they get the farewell they really want.

“It not our grief we’re coping with, of course we empathise that it’s a sad situation, but we need to be there to help and guide and take that part of the stress away.”

After just four weeks here, the family is feeling at home in the region with their youngest daughter joining as a new entrant at Rapaura School.

Chelsea says people have been really welcoming and she’s looking forward to learning more about her new home.

“At the end of the day, it’s locals supporting locals. We understand, we’ve been through grief too.”