After conducting hundreds of funerals, one of Britain’s first female embalmers has announced she will be stepping back from her day-to-day role at award-winning A.W. Lymn The Family Funeral Service while still remaining actively involved in the family business.
Now in her 48th year working in the industry and following a trailblazing career which saw her become only the sixth woman to qualify as an embalmer in Britain, Jackie Lymn Rose, fourth-generation Lymn and Company Director, is now set to embark on her next chapter, which will allow her to dedicate more time to family, travelling and hobbies.
Her commitment to the profession and the wider Nottingham community has been so influential that it was formally recognised in 2019, when she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Nottinghamshire Live Women in Business Awards – an accolade which has been a personal career highlight for Jackie.
Reflecting on her time in the funeral sector, Jackie said: “The industry is a wonderful profession to be a part of. While it is demanding emotionally, it is also incredibly fulfilling, and I’m humbled to have been able to support so many families across the Midlands.”
Having left school in 1974, Jackie went on to achieve her Certificate in Education at Birmingham University with her specialist subject as Physical Education. Having previously studied Human Biology at A-Level, she had taken an interest in both anatomy and physiology, which led her to embark on completing her embalming qualification, concurrently with her teaching studies, at the Midland School of Embalming.
After teaching for a year at a Nottingham school, she returned to the West Midlands to take a role as an embalmer in 1978. The following year, she qualified as a Funeral Director before taking two management-level roles successively; however, felt her role lacked the interaction with families that she found so fulfilling.
In 1992, she joined the family business and took a more active role in funeral directing, and was subsequently appointed as Company Director. Since then, Jackie has remained a driving force in the business as it has expanded into new regions and markets, with A.W. Lymn now operating 25 funeral homes across the East Midlands, constructing its own cemetery and barrows site in Gedling, acquiring a cemetery and crematorium in the West Midlands and continuing to adapt to customer needs.
She added: “I have truly loved working in our family business over the last 34 years. I feel honoured to be part of a workplace that has continued to expand while maintaining its core values of quality of care and service. The commitment of our staff who have bought into our vision and continue to implement our exceptional standards across the East Midlands and beyond is second-to-none.
“The profession has changed immensely since I joined, with attitudes to funerals continuing to evolve. Our business has been at the helm of responding to this. I’d like to thank all those who have made my time at A.W. Lymn so rewarding.”
Alongside her day-to-day work, Jackie has made significant contributions to the funeral industry, working as an accredited tutor and then an examiner at the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) between 1983 and 2025, and serving as the National President for the British Institute of Embalmers (BIE) between 1988 and 1989. In 2013, she was appointed as a Fellow of the BIE.
Despite stepping away from her current role, Jackie will continue to direct funerals on request from families, and also continue her work delivering training sessions for care home staff across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, helping them to support the bereaved.
A.W. Lymn was established in Nottingham in 1907 and has grown to become one of the UK’s largest independent funeral directors, operating 25 branches across the region. Having recently acquired M.A. Mills and expanded into Leicestershire, it continues to grow its reach and network of talented funeral directors supporting people in their time of utmost need.
