The Funeral Service Foundation annually awards tuition fees and a travel stipend of $500 to selected individuals who attend the National Funeral Directors Association Professional Women's Conference.

This year's conference was held April 9-11, 2010, in Savannah Georgia.

To be eligible for this scholarship, applicants must be verifiably employed in funeral service or a related occupation; or a mortuary science school student enrolled in school accredited by the American Board of Funeral Service Education. Scholarship recipients are chosen based on answers to essays.

Recipients of the 2010 honors were Adriana Corral, a mortuary science student at Miami Dade College; Jessica Liston, a mortician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's hospital; and Kristan McNames, owner and funeral director at Grace Funeral and Cremation Services in Rockford, Illinois.

Pictured L to R are 2010 scholarship recipients Kristan McNames, Jessica Liston, Adriana Corral, and FSF Executive Director Celi Clark Haga.

Adriana Corral
Ms. Corral, a student at Miami Dade College (North), is currently an Employability Skills Specialist working with the disabled community. The skills she uses with her clients are also skills she hopes to incorporate in her work in funeral service: patience, listening, and the desire to go beyond the call of duty. She hopes to break the boundaries and help lessen the hardships that may take place during grieving.  Adriana is a member of NFDA publications committee and FFDA.

Jessica Liston
Ms. Liston is the Hospital Mortician for the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Her unique position puts her at a pivotal communication point between physicians, hospital staff, funeral directors, coroners and state agencies. Jessica's responsibilities include autopsy service, working with first year residents on pediatric autopsies, providing support for the forensic autopsy department, facilitating the proper release of bodies from the facility, and educating the hospital staff on the options within funeral service, debunking many myths about the industry during the process.  Jessica is a member of NFDA, Wisconsin Funeral Directors Association and is a candidate for the CFSP designation.

Kristan McNames
Ms. McNames is a licensed funeral director who has worked in the profession for the past decade.  She has worked in a variety of positions during her time in funeral service and with her husband currently owns and directs in their own funeral home where they provide families with a high level of customer service and offer unique product and service options, including web casting, eco-friendly funeral alternatives, memorial jewelry, and pet services.  Kristan is a member of the Alpine Kiwanis Club and participates in various fundraising activities in her community. She is an active member of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce, membership chair of the Rockford Network of Professional Women, the Zonta Club of Rockford, and Advisory Board Member for the Association of Women Funeral Directors, where she helps provide insight and advice on the funeral profession.

This year's Funeral Service Foundation Professional Women's Conference scholarships were made possible through the generous support of Messenger, Nomis Publications, Trigard, and Wilbert Funeral Services, Inc., as well as attendees of FSF Fund Day, a pre-conference program that supports both the PWC scholarships and the FSF Women's Fund.

Applications for scholarships to attend the 2011 NFDA Professional Women's Conference in Washington, DC will be available from FSF in early 2011.