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Written by: Joseph Green Bishop | March 16, 2012

When Dedrick Jennings was 12 years old he decided that he wanted to pursue a profession that frightens many young people. He decided that he wanted to become a mortician, spending most of his time with families that were grieving

and with bodies that were motionless. Jennings made his decision after viewing the remains of his grandfather, K.E. Brown, who had been killed and who had spent most of his life raiding his grandson and tenderness, wisdom and love. “I went with my mother to make funeral arrangements,” said Jennings who owns Sacred Funeral Home with his wife, Chandra. “I did not even recognize him. I did not want other families to experience what my families went through. I decided then that I would devote my life to giving people the comfort of taking a final look at their love ones and having some peace.”

A graduate of Skyline High School, Jennings was graduated from the Dallas Institute of Funeral Services. He began his career working for some of the finest funeral homes in the Dallas area. Quickly, he earned a reputation for being one the finest embalmers in the state of Texas.

“Embalming had always been my passion,” said Jennings, an ordained minister in the Church of Christ. “Even today, I am called  by some other establishments to do their embalming.”

Jennings and his wife, Chandra, met while working together in the funeral industry. Like her husband, Mrs. Jennings is a graduate of the Dallas Institute. they dated for eleven years before deciding to blend their loved and their professions. “Death is sacred,” said Chandra Jennings. ” It is a transition from one life to another. We have departed in a sacred matter. this is why we named our business sacred,” she said.

Located at 4228 S. Lancaster Road i South Dallas, Sacred has a full time staff of three professionals and eight part-time employees. Employees at Sacred are encouraged to treat families with tenderness, love, respect an care during their times of bereavement and even beyond, said Mrs. Jennings, whose late father, C.H. Gerald, was one of the pillars of the Dallas ministerial community. She said that she is still in contact with families who used Sacred’s professional services five years ago.

“Our business is based on faith,” said Derrick Jennings. “Running this business has demonstrated to us that God will provide for us and for the people we serve.

“We are a full-service funeral establishment that is capable of doing what any other concern is capable of doing,” he said. Jennings said that one of the specialties of his business was customizing funeral services to the lifestyles of the deceased.

“We can do that if that is what the family would like,” said Jennings. “We do pre-need, cremations as well as full funeral services,” said Jennings, who at times has had to preach eulogies for families who did not have a pastor. “Our motto is ‘where platinum services are rendered,’ he said. “We want people to come to us knowing that they will get service that equals the love they had for the person they lost.”