Funeral director Warwick Hansen announces retirement after nearly 55 years in industry

Warwick Hansen entered the funeral industry as an 18-year-old and it became a job for life.
The Wollongong funeral director has announced his retirement from the industry after more than five decades of providing comfort to grieving families. During that time, he has developed a pragmatic outlook on life and death and what matters most. "We'd all like to think we're going to live to be in our mid 90s and die peacefully at home surrounded by the family," he said. "Sadly that doesn't always happen. Someone might've just got their driver's licence, lost control of their car and it's finished.

He said during his time in the funeral industry, he has noticed family bonds drift apart. It is something starkly apparent when he looks over a crowd at a funeral. "There was a cartoon that appeared in one of our trade journals that showed funeral directors arranging chairs around a grave site and and there were about five people at the funeral," he said. "The joke was 'Henry had 2,000 friends on Facebook and how come they're not all here today?'.

"We're becoming very distanced from close relationships."

We wish Warwick the best of luck in his retirement. A wonderful and inspirational man.

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