Thomas Lynch, 58, is a writer and a poet. He's also a funeral director in a small town in central Michigan where he and his family have cared for the dead -- and the living -- for three generations.
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Anne Beardsley: Anne's beloved Aunt Mary passed away at the age of 84, shortly after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Mary Leonard was "pretty direct about things in her life," and so it was when it came to facing death and dying. But that didn't make it any easier for Anne to deal with the loss. Watch now
David King: His dad, Dennis King, died from cancer at the age of 72. David initially was skeptical about the meaningfulness of a funeral, but after his father's wake and accompanying his father's body to the crematory, he now thinks differently about it. Watch now
Robert Kelly, 85, met with funeral director Patrick Lynch to go over the final details of his own funeral - when that day comes. He knows exactly what it will be: one viewing, a Mass, cremation, and then burial right beside his beloved wife, Jean. Watch now
For the first time, Lynch agreed to allow cameras inside Lynch & Sons, giving FRONTLINE producers Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor rare, behind-the-scenes access -- from funeral arrangements to the embalming room -- to the Lynches' world for this film, "The Undertaking."
In his critically acclaimed book, "The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade," excerpted in the film, Lynch chronicles a life spent in the presence of the dead.
"We have in some ways become estranged from death and the dead," Lynch believes. "We're among the first couple of generations for whom the presence of the dead at their own funerals has become optional. And I see that as probably not good news for the culture at large."
The Lynch family believes that the rituals of a funeral are more than mere formalities. "Funerals are the way we close the gap between the death that happens and the death that matters," Lynch contends. "A good funeral gets the dead where they need to go and the living where they need to be."
"Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople. Another two or three dozen I take to the crematory to be burned... I sell caskets, burial vaults, and urns for the ashes... I am the only undertaker in this town." - Thomas Lynch
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