From 2001 to 2005, the HBO cable television series Six Feet Under took viewers behind the scenes at Fisher & Sons Funeral Home. “EVERYBODY DIES: Lessons from Six Feet Under” is an upbeat talk that uses clips from this award-winning series to illuminate funeral planning issues for those who don’t plan to die. Topics include pre-need planning, cremation, traditional and green burial, and aspects of contemporary grief and mourning. (Warning – there’s some strong language in many of these video clips.)

This two-hour class presented by Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, is part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of New Mexico. It will take place at the Corrales Art Center, 4326 Corrales Road, Corrales, NM. It’s located behind and just north of the police station on the east side of the road.

Register for course 19183 ($20) online at ce.unm.edu/osher.

Instructor Gail Rubin, CT

Gail Rubin speaking, photo by Pete Vidal.

Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death^®, is author of the award-winning books A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, Kicking the Bucket List: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die(Rio Grande Books), and Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips. She is the coordinator of the Before I Die ABQ Festival.

Host of A Good Goodbye television series and Internet radio program, she’s a Certified Thanatologist (a death educator) and a popular speaker who uses humor and films to get end-of-life conversations started. Her 2015 TEDx talk “A Good Goodbye” focuses on the importance of starting end-of-life conversations before there’s a death in the family.

She’s a member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association, Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association New Mexico Chapter. Past president of the New Mexico Interfaith Dialogue, she’s a Certified Funeral Celebrant who also serves on the cemetery committee for Congregation Albert and volunteers with the Chevra Kaddisha, which ritually prepares bodies for Jewish burial.

Her motto is: “Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant. Talking about funerals won’t make you dead.”