Meet Our Staff

Kathryn “Katie” Karney Thomas, LFDIC – Licensed Funeral Director In Charge

Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Katie was born to Patrick T. and Mary C. Karney, who currently reside in Belize, Central America. Katie was raised in Jacksonville with her siblings, Colleen (Alan) Spring of Belize, Central America, Brian (Kim) Karney of Baltimore, Maryland, Shannon (Amy) Karney of Orange Park, and Patrick C. Karney of Orange Park.

Katie attended Bishop Kenny Catholic High School and graduated from St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Augustine. After starting her own family, she was accepted to Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and completed her associate degree in Funeral Services at Florida State College at Jacksonville. 

Katie is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Fleming Island and a resident of Clay County with her two children, Mikaela and Kierin. Funeral service has been her true calling since 2002. She is very passionate about the love and support that she brings to the families she serves, and she is grateful for the trust those families give her.

Olivia L. Shows is originally from Buffalo, NY, but has been a resident of Jacksonville, FL, since August 2018. She graduated in 2017 from Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Arts and Sciences with concentrations in drawing, design, and anatomical studies. In 2020, she received her Associate of Science in Funeral Sciences from Florida State College at Jacksonville.

With backgrounds in the arts and sciences and a generous heart, Olivia feels she brings a different perspective to Funeral Directing that allows her to plan and conduct beautiful services with special attention to small details. In her spare time, she can be found working on personal art projects, exploring for a good antique or thrift item, and enjoying the loss of time in galleries, museums, and book stores.

Craig is a Florida native, born in 1958 in Lake Wales to Dennis and Frances Seaton. On May 16, 1981, Tami Lynn Walls looked him in the eye and said “I do” at the altar of First Nazarene Church in Bradenton. God graced them with two amazing children, their son, Tylor, in 1982 and their daughter, Tara, in 1989, and some of the most beautiful grandchildren you've ever laid eyes on! 

A professional musician, Craig is a national award-winning songwriter and was the lead singer and keyboardist of Littlerock and The Southern Express Band back in the 1970s. He also performs "Golden Oldies" concerts at many senior centers, nursing homes, and other Northeast Florida musical events.

Craig left the music business in 1982 and joined the Navy a few years later. He served in Operation Desert Storm as an acoustic analyst and helicopter rescue crewman aboard the aircraft carrier USS America. Almost a decade later, he retired.

Soon after retiring from the Navy, Craig began his career in the funeral and cemetery profession. Since then, he has served thousands of Jacksonville families. He is a Florida-licensed preneed agent, insurance agent, and memorial/monument expert. 

Over the years, Craig has designed thousands of cemetery monuments for families all over northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. His designs include monuments for a few notable folks, including Country-Western legend, Slim Whitman, Louis and Mary Huntley (founders of Jiffy Lube Corporation and Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts philanthropists), and one of Jacksonville's tragic civil-rights-era murder victims, Johnnie Mae Chappell. In 2015, he was commissioned to design the new Clay County "TAPS" Veterans' Monument, which was installed in the Clay County Historical Triangle located in Green Cove Springs in October 2017. This monument honors the county's residents who fell in battle from the Civil War to present and future conflicts.

Craig's first book, Some Perfect Tomorrow, was released in June 2021. It features true stories of some of the many families he has helped through loss over the years. His writing has been published in Southern Calls (the premier periodical for southern U.S. funeral directors), the Florida Times-Union, Clay Today, and several online sources. Learn more at craigseaton.com/books.

As the Preplanning Specialist and Community Liaison for A Dignified Alternative-Hatcher Cremations, Craig serves our families by providing Preneed Cremation Planning, Aftercare Service, and Community Education, including seminars about planning your final arrangements in advance and Veterans' Burial Benefits. Many families choosing cremation also desire interment of the cremated remains in local cemeteries.

Craig is proud to bring his years of expertise to our family-owned business, and he is fully committed to providing personalized service to every family in our community and its surrounding counties.

Brianna Langel moved to Florida with her family in 2015, where she attended Creekside High School. She graduated high school in 2019 and went on to attend Florida State College of Jacksonville, where she received her Mortuary Science degree in December 2022. 

Throughout college, Brianna worked at two different funeral homes. She started working at Broadus-Raines Funeral Home in September 2023. Her goal is to become a licensed funeral director so that she can help bereaved families to the best of her ability. Bringing a bit of peace to grieving families is an honor and a privilege she looks forward to every day.