Caleb Wilde, who represents the sixth generation of his family to work at Wilde Funeral Home in Parkesburg, has chronicled how he overcame depression and found fulfillment as a mortician in his new memoir, writes Simon Davis for VICE.

In Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life, Wilde discusses how he began working part time at the age of 16 and how the nature of the work contributed to his depression.

“I didn’t have the perspective to be able to handle – especially the tragic deaths – as well as the child deaths,” he said. “In fact, I don’t think many funeral directors do, especially at a younger age. It took me a while to figure out that I was going deeper into depression.”

What helped him conquer his depression was finding what he calls “some type of beauty around death and dying.”

“Death has the ability to enliven life,” Wilde said. “And enliven the days that we have on earth, and how we make meaning in the context of our limitations.

“I think as we approach our mortality, as we approach our life as limited, it enlivens us to embrace things more fully.”

Click here to read more about Caleb Wilde from VICE.

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