Choosing Compassion: A Path Into Funeral Service

When Charlotte Hartner was deciding what to study when she graduated high school, she thought the decision was easy.  

“When I was younger, and even now, I’ve always loved talking to people and getting to know their stories. I enjoy meeting new people. So, I thought news reporting made a lot of sense for me. I also get to be on camera, and that was a bonus,” she said, noting that she’s always enjoyed taking center stage.  

So, what ultimately led the performative and extroverted Hartner to change her path to funeral services at Northampton Community College (NCC)?  

Her journey started three years ago, when she enrolled as a communications and media major at Hood College in Fredrick, MD. After playing softball for the majority of her life, including in high school, she was recruited by the coach there. “I came in, and I had a lot of fun. I loved it,” said Hartner. 

Although Hartner liked the idea of connecting with people and their stories because of her personality and interests, she was still figuring out the best fit for her future career. With a desire to help people, she first tried public health.  

“What initially drew me to public health was epidemiology, identifying patterns, risk factors, and coming up with prevention plans to help communities." 

Hartner soon found that math wasn't her strong suit, which would have been a requirement for her career. So, with an interest in true crime and detective work, she switched to criminal justice with a double minor in juvenile delinquency and psychology. “I loved it, and I thought I wanted to do detective work.” 

Later, something caught her attention during a field trip for her psychology of death class. The class visited a funeral home, which she was a bit leery about at first. “I already found the class really interesting, learning about how people grieve, what happens when they grieve, and different cultural responses to death and dying, but visiting a funeral home at 9 a.m. felt weird.”  

However, instead of feeling “weird,” she felt strangely at home.  

All the signs were there growing up. “My mom told me that she was not surprised that this interested me. As a kid, I enjoyed learning about disease, medicine, and how people were treated. How the human body worked fascinated me.” Hartner told her professor she was interested in working at the funeral home to learn more about the business. Her professor connected her with the general manager, and a few weeks later, Hartner was offered a part-time position to help lend an extra hand where needed. 

Hartner tended to small custodial duties, greeted and ushered people during funerals, and parked cars as a valet. Eventually, she drove the flower van to burial sites to place flowers on graves and did crematory runs for the business. She was, in accordance with state guidelines, allowed to watch embalming from outside of the room.  

“At first, being around the dead bodies was jarring, but I got used to it. I think it kind of went hand in hand with my love of true crime - trying to solve puzzles - and my interest in public health and the human body. I was more fascinated by how it all worked than afraid.” 

Hartner knew she’d miss the friends and connections she made at Hood College and working at the funeral home, but she didn’t want to put herself further in debt until she figured out her next steps. In retrospect, she says, she wished she had taken classes at a community college right after high school. “I would’ve saved time and money, and that’s what my younger sister did.” 

In 2025, she moved back home to Montgomery County, which is just over an hour drive from NCC. When she found that the College had a funeral services major, she knew it was meant to be. 

Because she hasn’t completed all her pre-requisites for the intensive program, she's in the pre-funeral program for her first two semesters at NCC. She’s excited to see what the funeral services classes have in store for her.  

Hartner says she often faces judgement when she tells people she’s studying funeral services. “It’s one of two reactions,” she says. “‘Oh, that's so cool! Why?’ or I get the awkward look like I’m weird for choosing it.” She believes dismissing majors tied to essential work is dangerous. When taboo overshadows understanding, people lose sight of how necessary the profession truly is. 

Hartner wants people to know that many students in her field are motivated by compassion and a desire to ease the burden of death and dying for others. “The grieving process is very different for everybody. Even when people are completely prepared and someone has lived a long life, it's still hard, still loss. To deal with that while you have to make arrangements is so difficult. You don’t know where your head is. I want to be the shoulder to lean on, to help them through it. If I can help make it all even a little easier to deal with, then, I think I’m making the right choice for my career.”  

Hartner’s brand of emotional intelligence is key to her success.  Even so, it’s a hard industry to enter, with many in funeral service professionals getting their start within a family run business. There are also not many women in the industry, she says, but now that may be changing.  

“I've seen so many younger people, like myself, younger women, on social media who are getting into the field. That motivates me even more to pave a way for others like me who want to get into this.”  

Hartner’s ultimate goal is to become a funeral director and eventually return to Maryland, where she hopes to reunite with the funeral home and the people who were like her second family.