About This Blog & Blogger

Welcome to “A Simple, Village Undertaker”.

The blog is sometimes very serious, sometimes frivolous and more often than not… somewhere in between.

Occasionally political, but never politically correct.

Borrowing a theme from another blogger, I am a funeral director who occasionally blogs about funeral service. (Thanks, Ann)

I post things that are of interest to me and I simply hope that others find them of interest also.

About me:

Ray Visotski, 53, is the managing partner and former owner of George Funeral Home & Cremation Center, Aiken County’s oldest funeral home and South Carolina Cremation & Burial Society, a statewide cremation provider and Honored Provider of Veterans Funeral Care™ in South Carolina. He also is the former co-owner of three, SC cemeteries.

In December of 2011, Ray executed his succession plan and merged the two funeral homes with his colleagues at Foundation Partners Group and continues in his role of managing partner at both firms.

A Warren, NJ native, Ray is a graduate of Mount Saint Mary’s College, Emmitsburg, MD and The Cincinnati (OH) College of Mortuary Science. He has been licensed as a funeral director since 1983 and has earned licenses in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. As a hobby, Ray became licensed as an emergency medical technician in 1978 and later gained additional certifications. After thirty four years in emergency services, he recently retired in 2012 as a part-time firefighter/ engineer with the Aiken Department of Public Safety where he was recognized as the Firefighter of the Year, 2005. Although he no longer instructs, Ray is certified as a pistol instructor/ concealed weapons permit instructor by the National Rifle Association and the SC State Law Enforcement Division. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Firefighters Burn Foundation, affiliated with the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta GA, the largest burn center in the USA. Additionally, he serves as a board member for “Joy in The Mourning”, Columbia, SC. He is a former board member of the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce and a past president of the Aiken Downtown Development Association.

In his “spare time” Ray still occasionally plays guitar with the “Chocolate Mousse” Band.

Noted accomplishments include: The Aiken Chamber of Commerce acknowledged Ray as the Businessman of the Year for 2002. George Funeral Homes is consistently recognized as the “Best Funeral Home” in Aiken County. The Senior Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE) recognized Ray as the Small Businessman of the Year in 2001 for the SC Midlands. Ray is a graduate of Leadership Aiken County, Class’2003. Ray is a past-president of the SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) Alliance of The Carolinas and was a contributing author to The SIDS Survival Guide, Second Edition. He is a past president of the SC Cemetery Association and served a three-year term on the State Perpetual Care Cemetery Board.

He is a member of the Wells Fargo Bank advisory board for the CSRA. He has sat on and/or chaired numerous non-profit boards. Ray authored a monthly opinion column in Southern Funeral Director / Alliance magazine from 1996 until 2005 and was also a contributing author for Aiken Family Magazine. Ray attends St. Mary Help of Christians Church, where he is a past-president of the school advisory board and is a Past Grand Knight for KofC Council #3684 and commander of Assembly # 1074. He and is wife, Alicia, have three daughters and four, black Labs.