San Juan Volunteer Honored for Helping Mourning Families

Betty Fassett, a six-year volunteer at at Saddleback Memorial Church’s bereavement ministries in San Juan Capistrano, is being honored for helping families that are in mourning.

Fassett is a memorial service assistant, helping to manage a myriad of details for families coping with death. For the compassion she shows in that role, she is the April 2011 recipient of the O’Connor Mortuary Heart and Soul Award.

“It is rewarding that people feel comforted and well taken care of as a result of something I do,” said Fassett. “It’s humbling to be honored for something I feel I was meant to do.”

A resident of Mission Viejo, Fassett grew up in Chicago, where her uncle worked as a mortician. So when she saw that Saddleback Church needed volunteers in this field, she offered her services—acutely aware of the lessons she learned as a child.

Fasset said that if she can help lessen stress and sadness, ensuring that families are better equipped to honor their loved ones and focus on the grief process, then she’s given the family the support they need.

“She does something not many people can do and does so with incredible empathy and compassion," said Neil O’Connor, the mortuary's CEO. "She is a figure of stability and comfort at a time when people need it the most.”