By Michael Wynne
In my several decades of interviewing people from around Louisiana, I have met and enjoyed learning from many fine authors, authors who are also great people by themselves. But among these great people that I have visited with and have shared stories with is a very small group that I consider to be truly the best of the best. And one of these shining examples is George Mason Graham Kramer, best known locally as Graham Kramer.
It is difficult to separate the man from his occupation- a mortician, a term almost synonymous with the more common-used term of funeral director. Graham is the ultimate among the nationally-known morticians- a man who has perfected the craft- an endearing, compassionate funeral service. All sorts of superlatives can be applied to the 84 year- old Graham. Graham meets all of the descriptive words of a man who loves and respects his profession, his community, his family, and life itself.
Raised in Alexandria, Graham lived in what was originally his maternal grandfather’s home, still existing at 1744 White Street. “I grew up at a wonderful time,” Graham says. “Everything was simpler. During the summers, of my youth, at 10 o’clock in the morning, my friends and I would simultaneously meet on a nearby vacant lot and have a ball game. We had no A/C back then so we would take a nap after lunch (when it was most hot), in the afternoon we would swim at City Park or play golf at Bringhurst. The friendships that we made then have been shared for a lifetime.”
Graham went off to college at Springhill College in Mobile. There he majored in accounting and minored in philosophy, which he admits were very different fields of interest. Graham noted, “When I was in high school and college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew I wanted to do it in Alexandria. This time period for me was a very good time. The leaders of the Alexandria community were positive people. I have since tried to immolate them and live as I had learned from them.”
Graduating in 1961 from Springhill, Graham went off and joined the Navy and soon entered the Navy Officer’s Training School in Newport, Rhode Island. After completing training, Graham served 4 years on the U.S.S. Independence (CVA-62). He served during the Cuban Missile Crisis. After his Honorable Discharge, Graham entered the family business through encouragement of his father.
Graham humorously admitted to me during the interview that he originally had planned to work at the funeral home “till something better came along.” After 55 years, Graham is humorously still waiting for that “something better” to come along!
When Graham’s father passed away in 1985, Graham formally became the President of Kramer Funeral Home. In 1997, Graham purchased the family’s interest in John Kramer & Son.
In 1975, Graham and his late first wife Hope produced an extraordinary book of local history: Rapides Remembers: 1875-1975: A pictorial history on Central Louisiana celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of John Kramer & Son. This now highly sought-after book is considered both a collector’s item and a keepsake on our Central Louisiana history. Graham said he and his wife only had time to work on the book after they put their then two young daughters to bed at night.
At 81, Graham continues to look to the future of his family business and our Central Louisiana community. He’s not thinking of retiring, but simply moving into a new phase of his career – teaching the values, standards, and work ethic that he learned from his grandfathers, his father, and so many wonderful civic leaders that he was fortunate to meet during the past 55 years.
