Selected Independent Funeral Homes opens its Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, on Wednesday with the association's future unresolved. Members will gather Sept. 2 through 5 at the Omni Louisville, and member voting on the proposed combination with the National Funeral Directors Association will follow later this year, before any official agreement is signed.
The boards of both associations announced the deal on July 29 and have promoted it since under the "Better Together" banner. NFDA's own Frequently Asked Questions page states the legal structure in plainer terms: "the transaction would be structured as an acquisition of Selected Independent Funeral Homes by NFDA." If members approve, Selected would operate as a "designation" inside NFDA beginning in 2028, after a 2027 transition year.
The fight has gone public
The campaign over the vote has moved into public view this month, and the engagement numbers tell their own story.
On Aug. 21, trade publication Connecting Directors posted to Facebook about two members leading opposition to the deal. As of Aug. 29 it had drawn 35 reactions, 9 comments and 1 share. An earlier post that day linking the publication's interview with Selected President Barbara Risher Welch drew 14 reactions, 1 comment and 2 shares.
Commenters on the opposition post identified themselves as committed no votes. One reply described member firms across six states acting together. Those counts and descriptions are drawn from public comment threads; Obitley does not quote members who have not been asked directly.
Who is opposing, and what they want
Nathanael M. Billow, executive vice president of The Billow Co. in Akron, Ohio, and Paul C. St. Pierre, president of Wilson-St. Pierre Family Funeral and Cremation Services in Greenwood, Indiana, went public through Connecting Directors on Aug. 20. Both are sixth-generation members whose families are rooted deep in the association's history. Billow's firm has belonged to Selected since 1933. St. Pierre served as Selected's president in 2020.
Their request ahead of Louisville is simple: postpone the vote. Their grievances, as reported by Connecting Directors, run deeper. Both men said they separately asked to read the letter of intent that members are being asked to approve, and legal counsel for both organizations told them the document is confidential.
Billow offered an informal whip count to the publication: of 70 firms he had spoken with, "upwards of 85% have expressed a strong desire to vote 'no.'" Approval requires a two-thirds supermajority of the membership.
Leadership's case
Welch, whose term as president ends at the Louisville meeting, told Connecting Directors that member response has been "overwhelmingly positive" and that "the majority do favor this merger." She said board members have been personally calling every member firm.
Her read of the membership overlap: about 70% of Selected members already belong to NFDA. Her read of the financial pressure: about 30% of lost memberships came from firms acquired by consolidators. The FAQ pledges that the combined cost of NFDA membership plus the Selected designation in 2028 will come in at or below what Selected members pay today.
The association's tax filings show a thin margin. Selected reported $2.55 million in revenue against $2.47 million in expenses in its most recent IRS filing, for 2023. The board describes persistent market, financial and operational headwinds. The opposition counters that the board's own modeling, by their account, shows the current structure remaining solvent through 2029.
A quiet page and a loud press
As of Aug. 29, an Obitley review found no post about the proposed transaction on NFDA's public Facebook page. Selected's own homepage promotes the deal directly, with a "Better Together" announcement urging members to learn more.
Trade coverage has grown skeptical in the run-up to the vote. Funeral Director Daily warned on July 30 that a Selected designation inside NFDA could create "a two-class system of NFDA membership." The Substack On Deathcare pressed the dues question on Aug. 23 in a post titled "Shut Up and Pay Your Dues: The NFDA/Selected Deal Presses On."
What to watch in Louisville
The opposition's request to postpone the vote is aimed at the members-only town hall on Sept. 3. NFDA says eligible members of both associations will vote later this year under their governing documents, before an official agreement is signed. Definitive agreements are targeted for late October, and they only matter if the vote clears the two-thirds bar.
If Billow's count is close to right, the deal fails. If Welch's calls have gone the way she describes, it clears. Louisville is where those two stories meet in person.
By the Numbers
*Sources: NFDA "Better Together" FAQ (verified live Aug. 29); Connecting Directors, Patricia Hartley, Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, 2026 (verified live Aug. 24; site unreachable Aug. 29, screenshots and research vault on file); selectedfuneralhomes.org Annual Meeting page and Aug. 19 registration notice (verified live Aug. 29); selectedfuneralhomes.org homepage (verified live Aug. 29); Connecting Directors Facebook public posts (counted Aug. 29; comment contents under the Welch post not visible and not cited); ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Selected Independent Funeral Homes EIN 36-1525780, 2023 Form 990; Funeral Director Daily, July 30, 2026; On Deathcare, Aug. 23, 2026; Obitley review of NFDA Facebook page, Aug. 29.*
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