Darlene Machtan gives a whiskey toast during a personalized funeral held in an airplane hanger. Submitted photo.

Teacher plans nondenominational ceremonies

By Christina Brandmeier

Reporter

When she was a young teen, Darlene Machtan’s oldest brother died in a car crash. At his funeral, she sat in church with his two little kids and his widowed wife, who was pregnant with her third child, not believing what she was hearing.

“I was already reeling, and the minister said, ‘Now, we all know that God does not punish,’” Machtan recalled. “‘But isn’t it interesting that this family that doesn’t regularly attend church has had three deaths in the last three months? Perhaps it’s a wake-up call.’”

The moment was indeed a wake-up call, but not in the way the minister intended. Instead, it planted the seed for a spiritual business that would bloom 55 years later.

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On a gray November morning at her home on the outskirts of Rhinelander, despite being fresh off knee surgery, Machtan was energized and eager to discuss Alpha Omega Ceremonies, her new nondenominational ceremony-planning service.

A teacher for 47 years, Machtan is well-known in the community. She now works at the Oneida County Jail through Nicolet College, helping inmates get their high school equivalency diplomas. She’s also an emcee, public speaker, poet, author, and ordained Universal Life Church minister.

With Alpha Omega, she aims to combine her naturally outgoing personality with her deep desire to serve others. Her vision is to offer a caring, spiritual perspective on life’s special events, from baptisms, weddings, vow renewals, funerals, memorial services, birthdays, and anniversaries.

The enterprise, as she calls it, caters to anyone looking to create personalized, meaningful ceremonies, whether affiliated with a church or not.

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Growing up, Machtan’s family was part of Immanuel Lutheran in Marshfield. She never felt at home there but found a connection years later at another church, Immanuel Lutheran in Rhinelander.

The connection was due to her father, who came to live with her and her husband Homer and asked that she take him to church every Sunday.

By the time Machtan’s father passed away, she said she’d been through enough impersonal, obligatory church funerals to know his ceremony had to be different.

“I went in like a bull in a china shop, and I said these are the readings, this is the music, and these are the people who are going to speak,” Machtan said.

Surprisingly, she found the church to be accommodating. “That was the first time I thought the institution isn’t what’s getting in the way of meaningful ceremonies. It’s the people in charge of them.”

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In April, a close friend of hers, Mark, died suddenly of a heart attack. He wasn’t a religious person, and his wife was so devastated she couldn’t think of planning a ceremony.

Machtan realized this wasn’t just about somebody passing. It was about those left behind feeling lost and alone. So, once again, she took control.

A former military member, Mark’s funeral was held in an airplane hangar and featured military honors, Jimmy Buffett hymns, readings about fishing, and a celebratory whiskey toast.

“The entire service was tailored specifically to who Mark was,” Machtan said. “It was unconventional, but it was amazing.”

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Overall, Machtan has found that most of her former students aren’t affiliated with churches anymore, and her church has an aging population and has struggled to attract new ministers. Not to mention that when churches shut their doors during COVID, many members didn’t return, and live streaming became the norm.

“Organized religion speaks to me, but it doesn’t speak to a lot of people,” Machtan said. “And we have these life events where people are looking for that spiritual connection, but don’t know how to get it because they don’t have an avenue, so I’m trying to provide that avenue.”

Although the future of organized religion may be uncertain, life’s milestone moments will endure. Machtan is ready to help others navigate those events – no matter how regularly they attend church.

“Someone came up to me after a ceremony and said, ‘I think God gave you a gift, and you should share it,’” Machtan said.

That’s exactly what she plans to do with Alpha Omega Ceremonies, whose name was inspired by a Bible verse that reads, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

For more information, contact Machtan at 715-493-1371 or [email protected].