DALLAS — There’s no other way to put it.
Texas entrepreneur Allen Dave is part of a rather elite group.
How else to explain why Dave, the president and owner of Allen Dave Funeral Directors And Cremation Tribute Centers, remains committed to clinging to one notable fact pertaining to the ever-so-competitive death care industry?
“(There are) less than 35 black-owned crematoriums within 21,000 funeral homes,” Dave told Making Headline News during a recent interview.
Interestingly and to his credit, Dave is amongst the little-more-than two dozen African-American-owned crematoriums and is the only black-owned funeral home owner in the Houston metropolitan area, as well as in Southeast Texas.
As Dave emphasized, among other things the crematorium industry is widely deemed a “real eye opener,” he acknowledged.
“Trust me. I am trying to build the Black America cremation network,” Dave says without hesitation.
Amongst the biggest reasons Dave has become fully committed to devising ways to enhance cremation services in the black community is that he strongly believes such businesses are still very much segregated in most cases, he said.
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Also, aside from having cited that there are less than 35 black-owned and operators of crematorium services in the United States, Dave disclosed other notable factors that support his valiant commitment to push and promote cremation services in the black community.
For instance, of the three black-owned crematoriums in in Texas, two of those establishments are housed here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
“This is my focus and what I want to build,” said Dave, who owns four funeral homes, one cemetery, a crematorium, and manages six other funeral homes and a second crematorium in Texas and Louisiana.
Dave and his wife, Micca, attracted national headlines amid the Jackson Family Massacre that transpired in Houston in August 2015.
On August 8 of that year, then-48-year-old David Ray Conley allegedly broke into his former home and held hostage Valerie and Dewayne Jackson, along with six children, including his own 13-year-old son.
Over the course of nine hours, Conley reportedly shot and killed the entire family. He then engaged in a shootout with responding police before surrendering.
A week and a half or so later, eight white caskets were erected in front of the altar inside the 2,500-seat sanctuary at Houston’s Fallbrook Church, a development that amassed national headlines after news spread of Daves deeming it essential to donate $35,000 to provide professional funeral and burial services to the Jackson family.
Besides their selfish deed to a family that was in dire need, Dave doesn’t shy away from the notion that black must not turn blind eyes to the crematorium, which is steadily becoming a primary notable option in the death care industry.
“Cremation (accounts for 52 percent) of all deaths,” Dave said. “I have taken a lead into the future by investing $550,000 into this side of the business.”
There is, by all accounts, yet another staggering figure with regards to crematorium, Dave said.
“Oh course, cremation is growth to the black market,” he said, “but it’s now 38% of my business. Simple direct cremation is not the black consumers’ No. 1 choice. It’s a traditional funeral followed by cremation.”
For more information about Houston-based entrepreneur Allen Dave of Allen Dave Funeral Directors And Cremation, call (713) 480-2966 or 713-634-2707, or log on to: http://www.allendave.com. Also, join the mailing list by writing to: Allen Dave Funeral Directors And Cremation Tribute Centers at 2103 Cypress Landing Drive, Houston, Texas 77090, or by sending email to: allendaveusa@yahoo.com.
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