Holiday Funerals

If you were living in San Francisco and could arrange to die between midnight Dec. 15 and Dec. 31, Daphne Funeral Services would give you a $500 funeral absolutely free. Or you could have $500 off a fancier affair if you insisted on trimmings. Nick Daphne also provides free funerals to any San Francisco policeman or fireman who dies in line of duty regardless of the season; he is unpopular with his competitors.

In 1961, Daphne was expelled from the state and national funeral directors associations for advertising his low-cost funerals. He was readmitted in 1968 only after a federal antitrust suit charged the national association with unethical practices. There may have been an element of jealousy in the expulsion: Daphne's three branches do more business than any other mortuary in the Bay Area. But morticians generally believe that death should be not only proud but beyond price.

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