--- title: Drive-Thru Casket Viewings in Funeral Homes description: A Michigan funeral home recently opened a drive-thru lane that shows open caskets canonical: https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T21:09:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:52.349Z og:title: Drive-Thru Casket Viewings Are Now an Actual Trend og:description: A Michigan funeral home recently opened a drive-thru lane that shows open caskets og:url: https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97af4df0c89e8681/6987616d0b72e380ec6db1a5/144112062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5130 og:image:height: 2886 og:image:alt: 144112062 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Drive-Thru Casket Viewings Are Now an Actual Trend twitter:description: A Michigan funeral home recently opened a drive-thru lane that shows open caskets twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97af4df0c89e8681/6987616d0b72e380ec6db1a5/144112062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Drive-Thru Casket Viewings Are Now an Actual Trend > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7934f5e0-ca5c-4ebd-ad82-e9bea0a63719&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 17, 2014 9:09 PM UTC  USA, Connecticut, North Haven, Coffin in Viewing Room USA, Connecticut, North Haven, Coffin in Viewing Room Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 17, 2014 9:09 PM UTC A Michigan funeral home recently started offering an untraditional service: [A drive-thru open casket viewing.](http://news.yahoo.com/michigan-funeral-home-provides-drive-thru-option-064247396.html) “As you enter into the drive-thru, you’re going to see a memorial box where you can drop a memorial card or a monetary contribution,” Ivan Phillips, president of Saginaw’s [Paradise Funeral Chapel](http://www.paradisefuneralchapel.com/), told the [_Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11169659/Drive-thru-open-coffin-viewing-now-available-in-US-at-funeral-home.html). “Once you push the button, the register box will open up. At that time, you may sign your name in the register book… And when you proceed forward, the curtains will draw back and you may pay your respects to the loved one for three minutes from the privacy of your vehicle.” But this isn’t just for convenience. The funeral home [says](http://news.yahoo.com/michigan-funeral-home-provides-drive-thru-option-064247396.html) that it is beneficial to those with physical limitations. And it’s not even America’s first drive-thru funeral home. In 2011, a Compton, Calif., funeral home introduced the service to the community. “It’s a convenience thing,” Robert L. Adams Mortuary owner Scott Adams told the [_Los Angeles Times_](http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/17/local/la-me-adv-drive-thru-funerals-20110417), explaining that mourners “don’t have to deal with parking, you can sign the book outside and the family knows that you paid your respects.” The _LA Times_ points out different types of perks: --- > “” --- The practice has evolved from the drive-thru funeral home visitation services of the 1980’s. Gatling Chapel’s drive-thru only showed viewers a close-up video image of the deceased on a television screen outside. Like a fast food drive-thru window, drivers would push a button and specify what body he or she was there to see to the person in the control room. “When you go to McDonald’s, you talk into a speaker, but you cant see what you get. Here, you can see what you’re asking to see,” owner Lafayette Gatling said to the [_Chicago Tribune_.](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-10-12/news/8901210527%5F1%5Fdrive-thru-service-visitation-rooms-closed-circuit-tv-system) “That\`s the difference.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/"},"headline":"Drive-Thru Casket Viewings Are Now an Actual Trend","datePublished":"2014-10-17T21:09:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:52.349Z","description":"A Michigan funeral home recently opened a drive-thru lane that shows open caskets","url":"https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Living","society","Funeral","drive-thru"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97af4df0c89e8681/6987616d0b72e380ec6db1a5/144112062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt97af4df0c89e8681/6987616d0b72e380ec6db1a5/144112062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"144112062","caption":"144112062","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3517280/drive-thru-casket-viewings-funeral-home/","name":"Drive-Thru Casket Viewings Are Now an Actual Trend"}}]}] ```