Title: Funeral Director

Company: The Angelus Funeral Home

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles, California | October 27, 2010 | Barbara Jane McNeil-Thompson, RN, retired nurse and Licensed Funeral Director for the Angelus Funeral Home, has been recognized by Elite American Nurses for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in nursing and funeral home management.

For over 20 years Ms. McNeil-Thompson enjoyed serving the Los Angeles area as a registered nurse. Her hard work and compassion earned her various awards and honors while serving as a nurse. After her retirement from nursing, Ms. McNeil-Thompson saw an opportunity to become a funeral director. No stranger to death and despair during her nursing career, she saw helping people after a loss of a love one as a natural progression of her abilities. In fact, the sensitivity and sense of compassion that she developed as a registered nurse has translated well in her professional transition. Whether as a health care provider or a funeral director for the Angelus Funeral Home, her mission remains the same: to enable individuals to maintain functionality and productivity through difficult life stages. She conducts funeral services and renders bereavement support, often giving her clients the strength they need to continue on in the process. Providing such a service gives Ms. McNeil-Thompson a sense of validation and she considers her ability to show compassion at such an important time to be the greatest personal reward of her career.

Living her life through the words penned by John Wesley, “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, for as long as you can.” Ms. McNeil-Thompson will serve others in their time of need until she is no longer able to. Her greatest advice for others is to be kind and have sympathy for people in need. Despite her personal struggles and challenges, Ms. McNeil-Thompson still finds the compassion to help others in their time of need. Her spirit of service is not bound to funeral services or nursing, however – she also served as a mental health counselor at the Los Angeles County Women’s Jail and made financial donations to California Police Youth Charities. As a counselor at LA County Women’s Jail, experiencing the struggles the women went through changed her own look at life. She now saw the background to the women who found themselves in jail. Not all of them were “bad”; many found themselves stuck in a bad situation. For her invaluable contributions to humanity, she received the Commendation of Dedication in 2005 and Certificate of Recognition for Service to the 10th Council District of the City of Los Angeles in 2004.

With intentions to pursue a master’s degree within the next few years, Ms. McNeil-Thompson holds a bachelor of arts in sociology from the California State University at Los Angeles. She has completed additional coursework in administrative services and medical services and holds certification as an accredited technician in medical records science. Additionally, she was certified by the U.S. Army Nurse Corps in Biological and Chemical Warfare and Terrorism-Medical Issues and Response.

For more information about Ms. McNeil-Thompson and her achievements, please visit her personal website http://www.barbaramcneilthompson.com.

Contact Barbara Jane McNeil-Thompson