May 21, 2024 • 16 mins
Brian Murphy Is a fifth generation funeral director. Will there be a sixth?
https://www.williammurphyfuneralhomeinc.com/
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to On the Job. On today's episode, we're headed
to Western Pa to speak with Brian Murphy, who's a
fifth generation small business owner and now with his kids
nearing adulthood. The question is will there be a sixth
when you're a kid? If you're lucky, death is a
(00:26):
distant thing, something you rarely have to deal with. But
for Brian Murphy, being the son of a funeral home director,
meant that death was all around him, or more accurately,
right in his backyard.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And we lived behind the funeral home in a house behind.
So as far as growing up next to the funeral home,
I have very vivid memories of my dad going back
and forth all the time, dinner's being interrupted.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
It was really hectic.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Did the funeral home scare you as a kid or No?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
No, it never really scared me and maybe intrigued me
first short period of time. But I think because in
our house where we lived, on the first floor was
the meeting room, so it was filled with caskets and
all the memorabilia and merchandise. So every day walking home
from school, coming in, that's the first thing you see.
You kind of get used to it and it's like
(01:20):
second nature almost, But as far as being you know,
in the Morgars seeing things like that, no, it really
never really bothered me.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It might sound surprising that a young kid would be
so blase about death, but as Brian sees it, that's
just part of being a Murphy because for about as
long as his ancestors have been in these parts, they've
been in the funeral business.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, like I said, it started with William Andrew Hartzel,
then it moved to Fred C. Murphy who was my
great grandfather, and then William A. H. Murphy who was
my grandfather, William F. Murphy who was my father, and
then there's me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Though interestingly enough, that wasn't their original business plan.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The funeral home was actually wasn't a funeral home. That
wasn't our purpose. My great great grandfather he moved to Rochester, Pennsylvania,
and he was a cabinet furniture maker and opened Heartsol's
Furniture Company.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, it didn't take long for.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
That to snowball into Heartsol Furniture and Undertaking Company because
back in those times, the furniture makers.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Also built the caskets.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So a lot of the furniture makers who built the
caskets just became snowballed into a funeral director and an embalmer.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
While the funeral business might not have been Brian's great
great grandfather's initial choice, that pivot from furniture maker to
undertaker turned out to be a savvy career move because
the funeral home that he started has managed to stay
in Brian's family for five generations, which makes the William
Murphy Funeral Home a complete rarity in American business. According
(03:04):
to a study by Cornell University, only forty percent of
American owned businesses are passed down to the next generation,
and only thirteen percent make it to the third, and
amasly three percent reached the fourth generation. So what the
Murphy family has managed to do for five generations in
Rochester is quite the feat. In fact, that study I
(03:27):
cited didn't even have statistics on fifth gen businesses.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
He started the funeral home here in Rochester in eighteen
eighty five, the same location and same family ever since.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
When you were a kid, were you proud of what
your dad did?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Oh? Yeah, I was definitely proud.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You know, you went to high school, you went to
Wittenberg University, went immediately to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary
Science immediately into here and from that point on. My
dad was twenty five and was running pretty successful business
and only made it more successful with all his time
and dedication.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, Brian was proud of the business his family had
built and maintained through the years. He could also see
that running such a business didn't come easy, So.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I didn't really see a whole lot of him other
than at the funeral home. If I were to go
to the funeral home, I would see him a lot
over there, but not so much at the house.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Did that leave a negative impression on you about the
business that it took so much of your dad's time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It did, but I didn't realize it until I got older.
I always, you know, wondered why we couldn't go on
vacations like every other family, or you know, why my
dad wasn't at my sporting events or different activities was
because he thought he was the only one available to
be here, and he just surrounded himself with the funeral
(04:53):
home and everything else kind of came in second fiddle.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Did you at any point feel on the most trapped
or the fact that you if you didn't want to
go into the family business, like you'd be letting him
or your grandparents down, or great grandparents.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
More so my grandparents, I feel like I'd be letting
them down. My grandpa and I were thick as thieves,
and as close as we were, that's how close my
father and I weren't. So I felt more of an
obligation towards my grandfather at that point in time than
(05:32):
I did to my dad, for a bunch of different reasons.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
In his teens, Brian had always hoped that one day
his father would sit him down and have that talk,
the talk that had been passed down from one Murphy
generation to the next.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And say, Brian, we've been here since eighteen eighty five.
I'm the fourth generation. You're my son, I'm your dad.
I really want to work with you. I really want
you to join the business. Looking back on it now,
he would tell you he wanted me to come to him.
So it was kind of, you know, butting heads. So yeah,
(06:07):
with that being said, he was just kind of a
little colder than I would have liked him to be.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
But in fairness to Brian's dad, William Murphy, Brian admits
that he wasn't in any condition back then to be
entrusted with such responsibility.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I started. I had my first drink when I
was thirteen, and it just snowballed. By the time I
was a senior in high school, I was drinking, you know,
probably four or five nights a week.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I tried to go to college. That didn't work. I
went there for about a year.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Brian described himself in those years as a functioning alcoholic,
able to hold down jobs and make ends meet, but
far from thriving.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
My life really didn't have any function or purpose, you
know what I mean. I wanted it to mean something,
but I was I wanted my career and profession to
do something.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Fortunately, though, soon after getting married, Brian realized the path
that he was on would only end in tragedy, and
that's something needed to give.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And I just decided it was time to get sober.
I mean, it had been a long, miserable road and
I just felt I needed to make a change. I
entered rehab. I was supposed to be in there for
thirty days. They let me out after sixteen because they
said my accountsor had never He said he had never
seen an alcoholic attack his sobriety the way I did
(07:24):
so they cut me loose. I worked three jobs for
the next year and a half, trying to prove myself
and staying sober and staying straight.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Then on Brian's two year anniversary of getting sober, his
father said it was time they talk. When we come
back from the break, Brian Murphy joins the family business.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
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that go nowhere, applications that vanish into thin air. What
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are hiring right now with just one connection. That's Express
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(08:12):
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Speaker 1 (08:23):
We're back with Brian Murphy, who, after getting sober, had
just been asked by his dad if he'd like to
go into the family trade.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Now, by that time, I was thirty six or thirty seven,
so I had a pretty late start, but I was
still starting, and I enrolled in the Pittsburgh Institute of
Mortuary Science when I was thirty seven and graduated right
after my fortieth birthday.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well done, nice, thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I imagine that must have been stressful, coming off your
recent sobriety to sort of dive in to this thing
and the sort of stakes of being the fifth generation
and the responsibility you felt.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Definitely, I mean it was all or nothing at that point.
I had put everything into that basket. I worked really
hard at obtaining my sobriety, worked even harder at maintaining it.
My family had noticed that, My father had seen that,
and I was proud of all the work that my
(09:26):
predecessors had put in to get this place to where
it is today. And like I said, I wasn't going
to be the one to let everyone down and be.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
The last generation.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I just became a different man, did a complete one eighty,
and was ready to take on the responsibilities now of
the funeral home.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
There are a few reasons that family businesses don't tend
to last, but one of the biggest is that it
can be really hard to mix the two, and Brian
knows that all too well. He says, those first two
years of working with his dad, we're far from easy.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Is it problematic to mix family and business?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I think you know the answer to that.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, definitely, because you're family, but you're also coworkers, you know,
and sometimes that's hard to differentiate. That's a real fine
line because my dad and I have had some real
knockdown drag outs in this building and we're supposed to
have a family birthday party that night, you know what
(10:28):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
So it's just kind of.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
How do you maneuver and how do you work around
everyone's feelings? And it's really made me a better person.
It's made me a better person, better a husband, better father,
better funeral director, better listener because instead of trying to
get my point across, I'm now listening to what you
need and then find some common ground.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
But there was one thing that Brian was unwilling to
compromise on, and that was a love and attention that
he gave to a wife and kids.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I stood my ground, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
He's the type if you let him take it, he's
going to take it, you know what I mean, which
isn't a bad thing when it comes to the business,
because that's his primary focus. I'm focused on the business,
but I'm focused on my family at the same time.
I'm not going to be able. The way I look
at it is, how am I as a funeral director?
Going to be able to take care of you and
(11:25):
your family and your time of need when my family's
a mess. It's hypocritical to a degree, I think, but yeah,
I have to have my house in working order for
me to take care of you and yours.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Over time, though, Brian and his father came to understand
each other in ways they hadn't before, and at the
end of the day, both of them knew that they
shared the same goal serving their community the way the
Murphy family always had.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Do you enjoy the funeral business?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I do. I do.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I'm very glad and satisfied that I got into it.
It satisfies me both physically and mentally. You know, as
long as I can put in a good, long day
of hard work and I can rest easy at night
knowing I did something positive, not only for myself, but
maybe for someone else too.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
And while Brian admits that the job is very demanding,
he makes great efforts to maintain a relatively healthy work
life balance, even though he and his family now live
in his childhood house just steps from the funeral home.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
My dad moved out and my family and I moved in,
so I'm seventy four feet from the front door.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
But it works to a degree.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I guess it's nice when I need to be here,
but it's kind of a paint in the butt when
I don't need to be here, but I'm still here,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
But we make it work.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
The commute's not bad, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Saves on gas so well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He might have gotten a bit of a later start
than some of the other Murphys that came before him.
Brian has come into his own as the fifth member
of the family to run the businesusiness.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I particularly love embalming. I love bringing someone's loved one
back to where they can remember them and having closure,
get good closure.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I don't want someone that's been ravaged with a disease
for four years. I don't want their family having to
come in and relive that. I want to make this
person look like they did at their sixty fifth birthday party,
you know what I mean, and give the family some
solace and some comfort knowing that their loved one, you know,
looks fine and it's going to be laid to rest
(13:36):
in a peaceful manner. One of the first things I
said when I was licensed and started this, I said,
my last day will be the day that I don't
feel some sort of emotion for the family or the deceiting.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well, that day seems a long ways off. The question
on the back of Brian's mind is who will take
over the business. So far, Brian's two kids, who are
seventeen and nineteen, have expressed that they might want to
try different career paths, which Brian accepts, wanting, as any
great dad would, whatever is best for his kids, even
(14:09):
if it means the end of a nearly century and
a half streak.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I would love to have them join me and
my dad and work side by side and just flourish
and have it become what it will become.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That would be great.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But if they choose not to, then no, I'm not
going to heart any ill will or ill feelings because
I know what this profession asks of you and that
can be a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
In the meanwhile, he's taken on some interns from the
nearby mortician school and tries to prepare himself for a
day in which the funeral home will no longer have
a Murphy at its helm.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And I'm sure there will be some feelings because it's
going to be hard, you know what I mean? It's
something I've known my entire life, but I can honestly
tell you that I think when that day comes, I
can hand those keys over knowing that myself, my dad,
my grandfather, my entire family did the absolute best we
(15:09):
could for this community.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
So yeah, Brian has made sure that his kids know
he supports whatever it is they choose to do with
their lives, but regardless of where their roads.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Might lead them.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Brian also felt a need to sit his kids down
and have that old Murphy talk.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And even though I knew, you know, Parker and Ella
probably weren't going to come this path, I at least
wanted them to know that I wanted them to and
the door was open. It was actually like two weeks ago.
I sat them both down and said, hey, guys, you know,
I know you're probably not interested or you know, don't
want anything to do with the funeral home professionally, I said,
(15:50):
but I need you to know, as your father that
I welcome you if.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You so choose.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
They said no.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
My son kind of chuckled because we both knew where
that was going. My daughter, on the other hand, lately,
within the last probably two months, has shown more interest
than she ever has. She actually wants to come over
and witness an embalming and kind of get the feel
for that to see if she may or.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
May not like it. So there's a heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
For on the job. I'm Averrey Thompson.
Welcome to On the Job. On today's episode, we're headed
to Western Pa to speak with Brian Murphy, who's a
fifth generation small business owner and now with his kids
nearing adulthood. The question is will there be a sixth
when you're a kid? If you're lucky, death is a
(00:26):
distant thing, something you rarely have to deal with. But
for Brian Murphy, being the son of a funeral home director,
meant that death was all around him, or more accurately,
right in his backyard.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
And we lived behind the funeral home in a house behind.
So as far as growing up next to the funeral home,
I have very vivid memories of my dad going back
and forth all the time, dinner's being interrupted.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
It was really hectic.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Did the funeral home scare you as a kid or No?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
No, it never really scared me and maybe intrigued me
first short period of time. But I think because in
our house where we lived, on the first floor was
the meeting room, so it was filled with caskets and
all the memorabilia and merchandise. So every day walking home
from school, coming in, that's the first thing you see.
You kind of get used to it and it's like
(01:20):
second nature almost, But as far as being you know,
in the Morgars seeing things like that, no, it really
never really bothered me.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It might sound surprising that a young kid would be
so blase about death, but as Brian sees it, that's
just part of being a Murphy because for about as
long as his ancestors have been in these parts, they've
been in the funeral business.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, like I said, it started with William Andrew Hartzel,
then it moved to Fred C. Murphy who was my
great grandfather, and then William A. H. Murphy who was
my grandfather, William F. Murphy who was my father, and
then there's me.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Though interestingly enough, that wasn't their original business plan.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
The funeral home was actually wasn't a funeral home. That
wasn't our purpose. My great great grandfather he moved to Rochester, Pennsylvania,
and he was a cabinet furniture maker and opened Heartsol's
Furniture Company.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Well, it didn't take long for.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
That to snowball into Heartsol Furniture and Undertaking Company because
back in those times, the furniture makers.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Also built the caskets.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So a lot of the furniture makers who built the
caskets just became snowballed into a funeral director and an embalmer.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
While the funeral business might not have been Brian's great
great grandfather's initial choice, that pivot from furniture maker to
undertaker turned out to be a savvy career move because
the funeral home that he started has managed to stay
in Brian's family for five generations, which makes the William
Murphy Funeral Home a complete rarity in American business. According
(03:04):
to a study by Cornell University, only forty percent of
American owned businesses are passed down to the next generation,
and only thirteen percent make it to the third, and
amasly three percent reached the fourth generation. So what the
Murphy family has managed to do for five generations in
Rochester is quite the feat. In fact, that study I
(03:27):
cited didn't even have statistics on fifth gen businesses.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
He started the funeral home here in Rochester in eighteen
eighty five, the same location and same family ever since.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
When you were a kid, were you proud of what
your dad did?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Oh? Yeah, I was definitely proud.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You know, you went to high school, you went to
Wittenberg University, went immediately to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary
Science immediately into here and from that point on. My
dad was twenty five and was running pretty successful business
and only made it more successful with all his time
and dedication.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, Brian was proud of the business his family had
built and maintained through the years. He could also see
that running such a business didn't come easy, So.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I didn't really see a whole lot of him other
than at the funeral home. If I were to go
to the funeral home, I would see him a lot
over there, but not so much at the house.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Did that leave a negative impression on you about the
business that it took so much of your dad's time.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It did, but I didn't realize it until I got older.
I always, you know, wondered why we couldn't go on
vacations like every other family, or you know, why my
dad wasn't at my sporting events or different activities was
because he thought he was the only one available to
be here, and he just surrounded himself with the funeral
(04:53):
home and everything else kind of came in second fiddle.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Did you at any point feel on the most trapped
or the fact that you if you didn't want to
go into the family business, like you'd be letting him
or your grandparents down, or great grandparents.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
More so my grandparents, I feel like I'd be letting
them down. My grandpa and I were thick as thieves,
and as close as we were, that's how close my
father and I weren't. So I felt more of an
obligation towards my grandfather at that point in time than
(05:32):
I did to my dad, for a bunch of different reasons.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
In his teens, Brian had always hoped that one day
his father would sit him down and have that talk,
the talk that had been passed down from one Murphy
generation to the next.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And say, Brian, we've been here since eighteen eighty five.
I'm the fourth generation. You're my son, I'm your dad.
I really want to work with you. I really want
you to join the business. Looking back on it now,
he would tell you he wanted me to come to him.
So it was kind of, you know, butting heads. So yeah,
(06:07):
with that being said, he was just kind of a
little colder than I would have liked him to be.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
But in fairness to Brian's dad, William Murphy, Brian admits
that he wasn't in any condition back then to be
entrusted with such responsibility.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I started. I had my first drink when I
was thirteen, and it just snowballed. By the time I
was a senior in high school, I was drinking, you know,
probably four or five nights a week.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I tried to go to college. That didn't work. I
went there for about a year.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Brian described himself in those years as a functioning alcoholic,
able to hold down jobs and make ends meet, but
far from thriving.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
My life really didn't have any function or purpose, you
know what I mean. I wanted it to mean something,
but I was I wanted my career and profession to
do something.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Fortunately, though, soon after getting married, Brian realized the path
that he was on would only end in tragedy, and
that's something needed to give.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
And I just decided it was time to get sober.
I mean, it had been a long, miserable road and
I just felt I needed to make a change. I
entered rehab. I was supposed to be in there for
thirty days. They let me out after sixteen because they
said my accountsor had never He said he had never
seen an alcoholic attack his sobriety the way I did
(07:24):
so they cut me loose. I worked three jobs for
the next year and a half, trying to prove myself
and staying sober and staying straight.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Then on Brian's two year anniversary of getting sober, his
father said it was time they talk. When we come
back from the break, Brian Murphy joins the family business.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
Looking for a job as lonely, endless searching phone calls
that go nowhere, applications that vanish into thin air. What
if you could leave with dozens of local companies who
are hiring right now with just one connection. That's Express
Employment Professionals. Find us at expresspros dot com. One connection,
(08:12):
endless opportunities and no fees ever for job seekers Express
Employment Professionals expresspros dot com.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We're back with Brian Murphy, who, after getting sober, had
just been asked by his dad if he'd like to
go into the family trade.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Now, by that time, I was thirty six or thirty seven,
so I had a pretty late start, but I was
still starting, and I enrolled in the Pittsburgh Institute of
Mortuary Science when I was thirty seven and graduated right
after my fortieth birthday.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well done, nice, thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I imagine that must have been stressful, coming off your
recent sobriety to sort of dive in to this thing
and the sort of stakes of being the fifth generation
and the responsibility you felt.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Definitely, I mean it was all or nothing at that point.
I had put everything into that basket. I worked really
hard at obtaining my sobriety, worked even harder at maintaining it.
My family had noticed that, My father had seen that,
and I was proud of all the work that my
(09:26):
predecessors had put in to get this place to where
it is today. And like I said, I wasn't going
to be the one to let everyone down and be.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
The last generation.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I just became a different man, did a complete one eighty,
and was ready to take on the responsibilities now of
the funeral home.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
There are a few reasons that family businesses don't tend
to last, but one of the biggest is that it
can be really hard to mix the two, and Brian
knows that all too well. He says, those first two
years of working with his dad, we're far from easy.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Is it problematic to mix family and business?
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I think you know the answer to that.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, definitely, because you're family, but you're also coworkers, you know,
and sometimes that's hard to differentiate. That's a real fine
line because my dad and I have had some real
knockdown drag outs in this building and we're supposed to
have a family birthday party that night, you know what
(10:28):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
So it's just kind of.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
How do you maneuver and how do you work around
everyone's feelings? And it's really made me a better person.
It's made me a better person, better a husband, better father,
better funeral director, better listener because instead of trying to
get my point across, I'm now listening to what you
need and then find some common ground.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
But there was one thing that Brian was unwilling to
compromise on, and that was a love and attention that
he gave to a wife and kids.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I stood my ground, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
He's the type if you let him take it, he's
going to take it, you know what I mean, which
isn't a bad thing when it comes to the business,
because that's his primary focus. I'm focused on the business,
but I'm focused on my family at the same time.
I'm not going to be able. The way I look
at it is, how am I as a funeral director?
Going to be able to take care of you and
(11:25):
your family and your time of need when my family's
a mess. It's hypocritical to a degree, I think, but yeah,
I have to have my house in working order for
me to take care of you and yours.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Over time, though, Brian and his father came to understand
each other in ways they hadn't before, and at the
end of the day, both of them knew that they
shared the same goal serving their community the way the
Murphy family always had.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Do you enjoy the funeral business?
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I do. I do.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I'm very glad and satisfied that I got into it.
It satisfies me both physically and mentally. You know, as
long as I can put in a good, long day
of hard work and I can rest easy at night
knowing I did something positive, not only for myself, but
maybe for someone else too.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
And while Brian admits that the job is very demanding,
he makes great efforts to maintain a relatively healthy work
life balance, even though he and his family now live
in his childhood house just steps from the funeral home.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
My dad moved out and my family and I moved in,
so I'm seventy four feet from the front door.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
But it works to a degree.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I guess it's nice when I need to be here,
but it's kind of a paint in the butt when
I don't need to be here, but I'm still here,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
But we make it work.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
The commute's not bad, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Saves on gas so well.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
He might have gotten a bit of a later start
than some of the other Murphys that came before him.
Brian has come into his own as the fifth member
of the family to run the businesusiness.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I particularly love embalming. I love bringing someone's loved one
back to where they can remember them and having closure,
get good closure.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I don't want someone that's been ravaged with a disease
for four years. I don't want their family having to
come in and relive that. I want to make this
person look like they did at their sixty fifth birthday party,
you know what I mean, and give the family some
solace and some comfort knowing that their loved one, you know,
looks fine and it's going to be laid to rest
(13:36):
in a peaceful manner. One of the first things I
said when I was licensed and started this, I said,
my last day will be the day that I don't
feel some sort of emotion for the family or the deceiting.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Well, that day seems a long ways off. The question
on the back of Brian's mind is who will take
over the business. So far, Brian's two kids, who are
seventeen and nineteen, have expressed that they might want to
try different career paths, which Brian accepts, wanting, as any
great dad would, whatever is best for his kids, even
(14:09):
if it means the end of a nearly century and
a half streak.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, I would love to have them join me and
my dad and work side by side and just flourish
and have it become what it will become.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That would be great.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
But if they choose not to, then no, I'm not
going to heart any ill will or ill feelings because
I know what this profession asks of you and that
can be a lot.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
In the meanwhile, he's taken on some interns from the
nearby mortician school and tries to prepare himself for a
day in which the funeral home will no longer have
a Murphy at its helm.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And I'm sure there will be some feelings because it's
going to be hard, you know what I mean? It's
something I've known my entire life, but I can honestly
tell you that I think when that day comes, I
can hand those keys over knowing that myself, my dad,
my grandfather, my entire family did the absolute best we
(15:09):
could for this community.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
So yeah, Brian has made sure that his kids know
he supports whatever it is they choose to do with
their lives, but regardless of where their roads.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Might lead them.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Brian also felt a need to sit his kids down
and have that old Murphy talk.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
And even though I knew, you know, Parker and Ella
probably weren't going to come this path, I at least
wanted them to know that I wanted them to and
the door was open. It was actually like two weeks ago.
I sat them both down and said, hey, guys, you know,
I know you're probably not interested or you know, don't
want anything to do with the funeral home professionally, I said,
(15:50):
but I need you to know, as your father that
I welcome you if.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
You so choose.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
They said no.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
My son kind of chuckled because we both knew where
that was going. My daughter, on the other hand, lately,
within the last probably two months, has shown more interest
than she ever has. She actually wants to come over
and witness an embalming and kind of get the feel
for that to see if she may or.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
May not like it. So there's a heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
For on the job. I'm Averrey Thompson.
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