The wake, the homegoing celebration, the obituary, the choir, the eulogy, and the repast — coordinated by a chapel that has served the East Side for four generations.
She is not gone. She has gone home.
The homegoing is not a funeral. It is a celebration of a life completed, a soul welcomed into glory, and a community gathered to testify. We have served as the chapel of choice for Cleveland’s historic Black churches — Antioch Baptist, Olivet Institutional, Mount Pleasant, Liberty Hill Baptist, Lane Metropolitan CME, St. Paul AME, and many of the city’s COGIC congregations — since the early 1950s, when the Westbrook family began an enduring partnership with the East Side’s pastors.
The evening before the homegoing. The body is brought to the church (or, when the church is small, to our chapel here on Euclid). The family hour begins first — the immediate family alone with the deceased. After the family hour, the doors open to the community. The choir often rehearses through the wake; the church mothers prepare the sanctuary; the obituary booklet is distributed to those who arrive.
The next morning. We arrive at the church ninety minutes early. We coordinate the procession — the pallbearers, the family, the casket — with the pastor and the deacons. The service is structured but not constrained: the choir’s opening anthem, the Scripture, the obituary read in full (sometimes by the funeral director, sometimes by a family member), the testimonies, the resolutions from civic organizations the deceased belonged to, and then the eulogy — the heart of the service, the pastor preaching the deceased into glory.
The choir does not sing on a schedule. They sing when the Spirit moves. We know to wait.
The obituary in the Black-church tradition is not a paragraph in the newspaper. It is a printed booklet — eight pages, twelve pages, sometimes thirty — with photographs, a full biography, the order of service, a list of survivors named in full, acknowledgments from the family, and often original poetry or favorite Scripture. We design and print the obituary booklet in-house; we have a dedicated booklet designer on staff. Costs are included in our homegoing package.
From the church to the cemetery. Cleveland’s historic Black cemeteries — Highland Park, Lake View, Calvary, Harvard Grove — and others. The procession is long; we coordinate with Cleveland Police for traffic at the major intersections. The committal at the graveside is brief: the pastor’s final word, the dismissal, the lowering of the casket.
After the burial, the community gathers in the church’s fellowship hall for the repast — the meal. The church mothers cook. The deacons serve. The family does not lift a thing. We coordinate the setup, supply tables and linens, work with the church kitchen, and clean up afterward. The repast is the last gathering — the moment when the family is finally allowed to rest.
We know which pastors preach long. We know which choirs sing first. We know which families want a horse-drawn hearse for the procession from the church to the cemetery (we keep a Cleveland-based vendor on retainer for this). We know which suit the deacons wear. We know that the obituary booklet must arrive before the wake, not after.
Antioch Baptist (Cedar Avenue). Olivet Institutional Baptist (Quincy Avenue). Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist. Liberty Hill Baptist. Lane Metropolitan CME. St. Paul AME. Bishop Donald’s Greater Friendship Baptist. Mount Sinai Baptist. New Covenant COGIC. The historic congregations of the East Side and the newer plantings of the suburbs. We have served four generations of deacons.
Speak with us about a homegoing
For families calling at the moment of a death — dial (216) 555-0142. We will be on the way within the hour.