Memphis-area businesswoman Dykeshia Weston routinely shares love, tears, and civility as a licensed embalmer and funeral director
Andre Johnson 
WALKING IN HER PURPOSE --- "I always try to look for the best in people without judgment,” Weston explained. “When I’m laid to rest and my work down here is done, I want to remembered not by how many (funeral) services I was able to do in one year, but how I treated my families.”
Dykeshia Weston is a firm believer in the golden rule.
Always has been.
Always will be.
To her credit, she even offered a notable, eloquent suggestion as it pertains to this subject.
“The golden rule is always applicable,” Weston said during an exclusive interview with Making Headline News this week. “Treat people the way you want to be treated, even if they don’t exemplify it back. We all have a duty to uplift and encourage one another to be our best selves. I was taught if I can’t help people, don’t hurt or condemn them, (because) it is nothing to be nice.”
As Weston acknowledged, demonstrating a sense of civility and tenderheartedness customarily go a long way, particularly as it relates to one’s faith walk.
That is why as a Mid-South-area businesswoman, Weston deems it essential to — as God’s manual admonishes us — bear the infirmities of the weak through her longstanding career.
A native of Memphis, Weston is a longtime licensed embalmer and the Funeral Director for Calvary Memorial Funeral Home, located at 659 Semmes Street in the heart of the historic Orange Mound district.
CHECK OUT CALVARY MEMORIAL FUNERAL HOME VIA SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calvary-Memorial-Funeral-Home/126329554087595.
A career path whereby she admittedly had never envisioned crossing, Weston has become a fixture in an ever-so-competitive industry in which esteeming others highly than herself essentially has become the norm.
By and large, it is a trend she has thoroughly embraced, thus applied to her daily living.
“I always try to look for the best in people without judgment,” Weston explained. “When I’m laid to rest and my work down here is done, I want to remembered not by how many (funeral) services I was able to do in one year, but how I treated my families.”
The operative words, according to Weston, are “my families,” in large part because according to this veteran and efficient funeral director, love not covers a multitude of sins, as the Bible reminds us, but it also gives way to a lasting, positive affect on bereaved families.
“When you do things with love, it makes a difference,” Weston said.
A 1995 graduate of Memphis Whitehaven High, Weston — who’s also a Shelby County Schools employee — said she directs approximately 50 funerals annually which, according to her, is seemingly on the low end, considering she is one of the “newest names” to the Mid-South-area mortuary landscape.
Still, her solid body of work in the mortuary field has been nothing short of impressive and efficient in that all too often, just like the families to whom she’s servicing, Weston’s love and compassion often become visibly seen, considering she often shares waves of emotion with families as they mourn the loss of friends and loved ones.
“When I first started (in the mortuary industry), I was very emotionally attached, because it’s just my nature to be concerned about my brothers and sisters that were hurting,” Weston explained. “I’ve cried many days in funeral arrangements and at the services, because I am human before I’m anything else. I don’t consider the people I service as clients, but more so as extended families. I tend to build lasting relationships that don’t just end at the burial sites.”
Having been actively involved in the mortuary industry for a little more than a decade, Weston was inspired by her cousin, Marcus Hudson, to direct funerals.
Hudson is a former Chicago-area mortician and businessman, who ultimately moved to Memphis and convinced Weston’s father to invest in a funeral home, Weston recalled.
“After watching daily operations and assisting on a few services, I became intrigued by the industry,” Weston said.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Given the continuous progress she’s made since earning her associate degree in Mortuary Science from nearby Northwest Mississippi Community College, it’s safe to assume that Weston undoubtedly has found her niche in an industry in which the golden rule must always be exemplified — one family at a time.
“I never could just figure out what in life made me happy that it didn’t just feel like a job until now,” Weston, who also a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Arkansas State University, said with a smile. “(Calvary Memorial) funeral home was opened in 2006 and I joined the team officially in 2009…eight years.”
And counting.
And to her distinct credit, she’s walking in her divine purpose, all while fortifying daily the golden rule.
For more information on Calvary Memorial Funeral Home, call 901-452-2966.
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Andre Johnson is founder and publisher of Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University Of Memphis School Of Journalism, Johnson covers the NBA Southwest Division from Dallas, Texas. To reach Johnson, send an email to [email protected]. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
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