Cheryl Demko Morello
Updated: August 7, 2020
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2020 40 Under Forty Honorees
Cheryl Demko Morello
Age: 37
Company: Heritage Funeral Home & Cremation Services
Title: Owner & Funeral Director
No. of years with current company: 15
Town where I live: Suffield
Town where I work: Suffield
College: Springfield College, American Academy of Mortuary Science
Highest degree: Bachelor’s degree in health education
Cheryl Demko Morello is a second-generation licensed funeral director, embalmer and proprietor at Heritage Funeral Home in Suffield.
She has 15 years of experience as an active funeral director and embalmer and has successfully run thousands of local funerals and international burials. Her previous work experience includes being a restorative art laboratory professor at Lincoln Community College, social work and crisis counseling in the mental health field.
What’s been your biggest professional accomplishment so far in your career?
My biggest professional work accomplishment has been past female recipient of the 2016 National Funeral Director Association & International Funeral Service Foundation Award Recognition for Excellence in Funeral Service — “Women in funeral service making a difference by providing the latest in funeral education, technology, and passion for the community.”
How are you involved in the community?
My work as a community leader includes the coordination of large reputable funeral services. This incorporates coordination with local churches, police officers, public works, and many community members in attendance. I also volunteer my time and support many of the local social organizations to assist with the coordination and funding of major events.
We recently hosted a MasksforCT.Org packaging event, which entailed repacking 10,000 masks for distribution to more than 7,000 cars with our local Rotary Chapter.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Getting outside and enjoying mother nature. Boating, traveling, and skiing! Skied competitively in college, and continue to enjoy this lifetime sport.
How did dealing with the coronavirus pandemic help you grow as a leader?
The pandemic forced me to grow as a leader because the community relied on funeral directors to help offer countless honorable burials during a time of chaos and extreme restrictions, while also caring for the safety of the general public.
This was a challenge no small business could prepare for, and funeral directors were required to work at maximum capacity with limited staff, closed public offices, and monitoring the daily/weekly shifting of state and federal regulations and precautions.
Four reasons why you deserve to be a 40 Under Forty:
• Representing female funeral directors and business owners in a male-dominated field and achieving the highest standards of client care.
• Named a top 10 female funeral director by the National Funeral Directors Association 2016.
• Purchased Heritage Funeral Home at 33 years of age and have managed staff of more than 20 people while performing duties of a full-time funeral director and embalmer.
• Successfully navigated small business ownership through a worldwide pandemic, ever-changing regulations, caring for devastated families, and delivering respectable and meaningful funeral services for clients.
Fun Fact
Since a young age I have been very adventurous, traveling around the globe once solo.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Anonymous
August 10, 2020
Congratulations Cheryl,
I couldn’t have been happier to see this article. When my mother passed Cheryl and Heritage funeral homes services where so very helpful to my family. Six months later when my father passed, again, Cheryl helped organize my fathers police escort for his service as a police officer and multiple special details for the service . She has been professional and friendly to my whole family.
Sincerely
The Mahoney family
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