Longtime Texas death care businessman Allen Dave: ‘I want to become an authority on educating the black community in Houston about cremation’
Andre Johnson 
LEAGUE OF HIS OWN
DALLAS — If he’s said it once, in all likelihood, he’s said it a countless number of times.
Interestingly, he’s practically earned the right to say it.
That is, Allen Dave doesn’t shy away from the notion that he’s in what he appropriately labels a “unique position,” of sorts.
“And I need to take advantage of it,” Dave, the president and owner of Allen Dave Funeral Directors And Cremation Tribute Centers, told Making Headline News this week.
During an exclusive interview with MHN, Dave deemed it essential to place a great amount of emphasis on cremation services.
Allen Dave is the only black-owned funeral home with a state licensed crematorium in Southeast Texas. Two other establishments of its kind are based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
MORE ON ALLEN L. DAVE’S COMPANY: http://www.allendave.com/
A Texas and Louisiana board certified funeral director, Dave acquired his professional accreditation as a certified funeral executive from the International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association Board of Directors in 2016.
“I want to become an authority on educating the black community in Houston about cremation,” Dave said.
Interestingly, he provided other factors to support his stance regarding this subject.
“The current cremation rate in America is 52 percent and the National Funeral Directors Association is projecting 63.8 percent in 2025 and 78.8 percent in 2035,” Dave said. Therefore, the future is cremation will become the norm and burial will be less than 30 percent of the market in less than 15 years. I think it’s a locomotive out of control and consumers will face this choice as a preference of change and not based on economics. In Japan (for instance), the cremation rate is 99 percent.”
Having cited that his business cremates an average of 162 persons annually — with somewhere in the neighborhood of a projected 250 individuals annually in 2020 and up to a projected 500 per year by 2025 — Dave said considering his company owns a private crematorium, that feature alone has given him a constant cutting edge above others in what undoubtedly is a highly competitive death care industry.
Also, by 2040, roughly 80 percent of deceased persons will be cremated, according to a report by Forbes at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannecroteau/2019/08/30/by-2040-nearly-80-will-be-cremated–why-we-need-to-start-talking-about-it/#423c647668d3.
“Trust me. I am trying to build the BLACK AMERICA CREMATION NETWORK as a source of information to consumers across Texas,” Dave told MHN during a December 2018 interview.
Moreover, he’d be remiss, he acknowledged, if he didn’t recognize his well-polished staff, which has contributed mightily to the sustained success of a company that has been deemed amongst the best of its kind, particularly throughout the country’s Southeast region.
An ICCFA Certified Crematory Administrator, Arranger, and Crematory Operator, Dave owns three funeral homes, one crematorium, and one cemetery in Texas.
In addition, he operates fervently under the Texas Funeral Service Commission with several establishments licenses: Allen Dave Funeral Directors and Cremation Center, Allen Dave Funeral Home of Brenham, Allen Dave Funeral Home & Crematorium, Allen Dave International Crematorium Services, and 7th Heaven Pet Crematorium.
“We handle families and their pets in cremation services across Texas,” Dave said.
Interestingly and to his credit, Dave said his company has invested somewhere in the range of $550,000 for land, equipment, transportation, and hired what he describes as a more certified staff for its growth.
All of which essentially sums up why he’s in a rather “unique” situation which, as a result, is a favorable problem to have, given how competitive this death care industry continues to become.
Also, Dave has announced the forthcoming launch of his newly-assembled BlackAmericaCremation.com, a web-based cremation service that is scheduled to debut this fall.
Through BlackAmericaCremation.com, Dave and his staff will educate, inform, and bring awareness of the various current and future trends in cremation choices and service options, he said.
Generally, Allen Dave Funeral Homes and BlackAmericaCremation.com will offer three notable memorial options:
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A traditional chapel or church funeral followed by cremation
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A memorial/commemorative gathering cremation service and,
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A non-ceremonial direct cremation service.
“In addition, we finger print all defendants for cremation jewelry keepsake options for now or later,” Dave said. “(That’s) a perfect gift to a daughter in remembrance of a mother.”
Of course, all of these options are not final disposition, Dave emphasized.
“For final disposition, we offer cemetery inurnments in an outdoor columbarium niches, scattering on land, by air and sea services, and burial in a cemetery. Too many families that have selected cremation in the past have their temporary containers and urns in the closet of their homes. Your home should not be a cemetery. What will happen when you die? No one wants to keep the urn after you have died and many urns are found abandoned in homes. A cemetery is the best place for final disposition for an urn and a lasting place of remembrance.” — Houston Businessman Allen Dave
Along with bringing awareness to what he often refers to as the Black America cremation network, Dave stressed, among other things, that his company is especially committed to offering bereaved families arguably the best and most efficient service, an attribute he routinely possesses as a thriving entrepreneur, whose presence in the death care industry spans more than 15 years.
“(When) selecting Allen Dave Funeral Homes and Crematorium, your loved one will never leave our professional care,” Dave said. “We work strongly with local hospice, nursing homes, and senior care communities, offering the best of services.”
All the while bringing about some much-needed awareness in the process.
DID YOU KNOW…
Many funeral homes offer cremation services by using trade crematoriums and do not have 100 percent control of its system’s and processes. “At Allen Dave International Crematorium Services, we are certified funeral professional with 16 years of national board certification. We know who is in the urn without any doubt,” Dave told MHN this week.
Also, Dave acknowledged, cremation is a method of final disposition, where in combustion, vaporization, and oxidation turn bodies to basic chemical compounds, such as gases, ashes and mineral fragments retaining the appearance of dry bone. Cremation, in fact, may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite as an alternative to the burial or interment of an intact dead body.
According to death care experts, cremated remains — also known as “cremains” or simply “ashes,” which do not constitute a health risk — may be buried or interred in memorial sites or cemeteries, or they may be retained by relatives and dispersed in various ways. Cremation is an alternative in place of burial or other forms of disposal in funeral practices. Some families prefer to have the deceased present at the funeral with cremation to follow; others prefer that the cremation occur prior to the funeral or memorial service. — Allen L. Dave
A RELATED STORY:
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: [email protected].
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Andre Johnson is the award-winning Founder and Publisher for Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former staff reporter of sports for the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson covers the NBA Southwest Division from Dallas, Texas. To reach Johnson, send email to [email protected] or to [email protected]. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
