Suggestions
Eva Wolf
Funeral Director
Eva Wolf is a Funeral Director at Hope Family Funeral Services in New Zealand.2 She is originally from The Netherlands but spent her primary school years elsewhere before joining the Hope Family team as a Funeral Director.1
In her role, Eva is dedicated to supporting families through the funeral process and their grief, aiming to alleviate the immense stress many individuals experience during such difficult times.2 Her approach combines an empathetic nature with professional funeral services.1
Eva's commitment to her work is evident in her recent LinkedIn post from July 24, 2024, where she expressed gratitude for new opportunities and mentioned the growth of their funeral home since moving to new premises in August 2023.3 This suggests that Eva is actively involved in the development and expansion of Hope Family Funeral Services.
As part of the Hope Family Funeral Services team, Eva contributes to the company's mission of providing compassionate and personalized funeral services to families in need.4 Her international background and empathetic approach likely bring a unique perspective to her role in supporting bereaved families in New Zealand.
Highlights
Have you ever felt the love in a room? Like tangibly felt it?
I have to admit that the past few weeks in the new job have been quite intense. Not only witnessing people’s sorrow and despair, but also the ‘behind the scenes’ in the mortuary, which, as many of you know, is not exactly my comfort zone.
Yet, the intensity of the love that you feel when someone has just passed away is just next-level, and my tear ducts are activated purely by the thought of it.
A son gently caressing his father’s forehead and stroking through his hair; a husband who has cared for his terminally ill wife for years, but is still so lovestruck; a mother unexpectedly saying goodbye to her child, ensuring he has everything he needs for his final journey; a whaikōrero passionately reciting a karakia as his uncle’s casket is closed; daughters asking for just a bit more time with their mum because, even though she was in her 90s, they weren’t ready to let her go yet.
Standing in the same room with these people during these moments is incredibly intimate, and it’s a true honour for me. Sometimes, I'm almost tempted to reach out and touch the air, as if I could bottle the love for these grieving family members. But I know it’s already bottled, forever in their hearts.
PS The photo is of a feijoa that Loïs drew my face on. She placed it on my spot at our table so she felt I was there with her while I was at work. If that isn’t a love tribute from my teenager, I don’t know what is ❤️
In short: I have a new job in a COMPLETELY different sector. From next week onwards, you can find me at Hope Family Funeral Services in Te Puna as a Funeral Director. To be someone’s anchor in the storm, their calm in the chaos… I've always imagined that as one of the noblest jobs, or shall I say callings, there is. I’m super thrilled and a bit nervous (as you can probably imagine).
Longer read: This week marked a week of goodbyes.
Goodbye to my beautiful community at Good Neighbour Aotearoa Trust, where I’ve filled my cup for 2.5 years. Learning more about how we can prevent food waste and what goes on behind the scenes in the food rescue process. Sharing my comms expertise with the team, helping them with a solid strategy and practical support. But mostly, making memorable connections with such a diverse group of the kindest souls.
It was also my last week working for The Shine Collective. Two of the strongest and smartest women I have met, Jacky James and Meg Jones, lead this agency of talented humans – although they almost seem superhuman when it comes to their comms wit. They offered me a sacred place for the past couple of years, giving me the ultimate combination of the freedom I was looking for, meaningful clients and the right level of team connection. I feel incredibly lucky for having felt your trust and aroha!
I wasn’t looking for a job, but when Bart showed me the position for Funeral Director on Seek my heart made a wee jump for joy. Automatically, my logic kicked in, thinking “Am I ready for this?”, “Can I even do it?” etcetera and I walked away from the thought of applying. After a week of trying to ignore the voice that kept popping up in the back of my mind, I decided to do a Nike (“just do it!”) and applied. Well, it went pretty fast from there and here I am getting ready to embark on a totally new adventure. I honestly can’t wait.
Starting on Monday, I will be taken by the hand initially and then let go into the wide world of… yip, death.
What attracts me? You may wonder. To me, it’s a combination of things. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that in Western civilisation we have distanced ourselves so far from our last breath – in my view, it's another part of life that we should embrace and prepare for. With my comms background I hope to help remove some of the taboo around death, even if it’s just a teeny bit. But most importantly, it will be an honour to support families through the funeral process and their grief, alleviating the immense stress many individuals experience during such trying times, and organising the most fitting and beautiful farewell for their loved one.
Wish me luck 😊
PS Some things I've already learnt in the past weeks: you can actually hire a casket, natural burials are becoming more mainstream but composting is not yet possible in Aotearoa New Zealand (as an avid gardener and greeny, this would be my ideal end scenario), the youtube channel ‘Ask a Mortician’ is highly addictive.
