Jeffrey P. Sowers, Douglassville, didn’t plan to be a funeral director, but we all know life doesn’t always go as ‘plotted.’
It was Sowers’ initial interest in the medical field that led him to the unique profession of the funeral industry.
Sowers, a 2008 graduate of Daniel Boone High School, is completing a year long internship at Dengler Funeral Home located at 144 N. Spruce St., Birdsboro. Officially his internship started Oct. 1, but Sowers first started working at the Dengler Funeral Home in 2010 doing yard work on site.
Sowers attended Albright College and was a member of the Men’s Basketball team for two years. Once he realized where he wanted to take his career, he enrolled online in American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service (AAMI) in Manhattan, New York.
Sowers received his Associate Degree in Mortuary Science on Aug. 12, 2013, when he graduated from He completed his clinical at Harlem Hospital in Harlem, New York. With the online courses, Sowers studied at night and could bring the material to work the next morning.
‘I could apply what I was learning in the virtual classroom and bring it to work and do it here. That helped a lot,’ he said.
Sowers studied the cardiovascular system in school which relates to his work as a funeral director, where you need a heavy focus on cardiology.
In his year long internship at Dengler Funeral Home, Sowers does sitting arrangements, office work and also must complete 35 embalmments.
Sowers says it’s helping families deal with grieving is the most rewarding aspect of his future career.
According to a press release sent from the funeral home, after completing the internship, Sowers will be eligible to take the Pa. State Board examination to receive his license as a funeral director in the state of Pennsylvania.
The building of the Dengler Funeral Home was built in 1920 and has been in operations as a funeral home since the 1940s.