Life of an Embalmer - Mrs Phyllis Ganapathy
“When the bereaved family see their dear ones looking so
nice as if they were not dead, it made me feel that I
did a great job.” Mrs Phyllis Ganapathy, more
affectionately known as ‘Fawn’, was born on 25 November
1923 in Selangor, Malaysia. An affable character, she
relocated to Singapore in 1945 after the war through
acrimonious circumstances. During her initial years, she
eked out a living as a sales assistant at Robinsons. To supplement
her meager income, Phyllis started helping her uncle at
the Singapore Casket in the mid-60s. The following are
extracts of her oral history interviews on being
Singapore’s first lady embalmer.
On embalming a post-mortem case…
“After cutting the scalp, I have to scrub and sew it
back. The body is cut from the chin to the stomach to
determine the cause of death. I put the intestines back
and sew it up using a four-inch needle. Then I get the
tube and machine to pump formalin into the body. It
circulates and goes all the way in. From blue colour, it
later becomes clear. A hole is then made on the stomach
using a trocar – a long steel with hole in it. After
drawing the blood out, a machine or
pump is used to insert green or white formalin through a
trocar into the stomach until it becomes clear again.
When the body is firm and embalmed, the stomach is then
sewn up with a little button.”
On bathing and dressing the body…
“After embalming, the body is placed on a table and
given a shower to remove the smell of formalin. After
bathing, the bodies are laid out to dry. A hair dryer is
used to dry the hair and put curlers. Those with no hair
are given a wig to make them look nice. For ladies with
long hair, some families may request to bun them.
Occasionally, the deceased’s family will provide some
perfume or hair spray. After drying, we dressed the men
in full suits and girls in their favorite dresses. For
younger ones who are not married, we dress them as a
bride to make them pretty and beautiful.”
On handling difficult cases…
“When people commit suicide, it makes me feel sad to see
their bodies all broken up or their faces get flattened.
So the family requests us to make it as good as
possible. We try our best to sew back their eyes, noses
etc and make them look nice. Burnt bodies from air
crashes are equally horrifying. You just only see parts
of the body and all burnt. It just makes me very
distraught and breaks my heart to see them. There's
nothing left of this person, just burnt up, just ribs or
one small part of it. Really horrifying and very
pitiful…”
Since retiring in 1990, Phyllis has already embalmed
more than a thousand bodies. “I like my work at the
casket. I have led a happy and good life...” When asked
who she would like to embalm her after passing away,
Phyllis chooses to remain blithe: “I don’t care how or
where I die as long as I die peacefully. They can do
whatever they like with me!”
Information extracted from the Oral History Interview of Mrs Phyllis GANAPATHY
Embalmer, Singapore Casket
Accession No: 002126
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