Memorial Park Funeral Home

Send ideas to Lyndsey Hewitt: lyndsey.hewitt@columbian.com; fax 360-735-4598; phone 360-735-4550. Ally Ross stood silently outside of a building on a recent Wednesday morning, dressed in black. Ross and a small group watched as 88-year-old Oscar Davis of Battle Ground was given military honors before his cremains, kept in a golden urn, would be placed in a granite vault.Arms behind her back, Ross gazed on, only moving slightly when a bee zipped around her during the ceremony.People can only hope to endure attending a funeral a few times in their life. But for Ross, death is the reason for a job as a funeral-director-in-training at Northwood Park Funeral Home in Ridgefield.Ross, 31, has been at the funeral home since April 2017, with the title of intern. But she performs many of the same responsibilities as Northwood Park Funeral Director Michael Dahl. For Davis’ funeral, she was filling in for Dahl, who had been working with the family but was out of town for the day.At this point, she said, she can do just about everything Dahl can do; she just hasn’t yet taken the two-part funeral director exam, required through the state Department of Licensing and administered through the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards.Davis wanted to be cremated, so the ceremony took place in a narrow pathway on the south side of Northwood Park Funeral Home, rather than at a graveside in a cemetery.Taps played over speakers and then two Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers dressed in their military uniforms presented Ruth Davis, Oscar’s widow, with a folded flag. The mood at the funeral was more happy or celebratory than sad, as the small group of about 15 family members gathered for the brief ceremony. Then they spent time talking with one another.Ross said each funeral or family is different and she works t...