For 46 years, Pat Burke has called Dodsworth Funeral Home (DFH) his home-away-from-home (and it truly was his home when he started working there). On Sept. 30, Burke will walk down the short flight of stairs leading from the office to the back door for the last time as its owner and director, ending a lengthy career that began when he was a college sophomore.
Burke, who turns 70 on Oct. 3, made himself a promise long ago: he wouldn't work past that birthday, and he's keeping that pledge. He watched his late business partner, Larry Jameson, get sick and succumb to cancer shortly after he retired.
'I want to be able to go see Joe (his son) in Chicago, and play golf with him, and do things while I can,' he explained. 'I watched Larry fight leukemia after he retired. He was only 67 when he died. I've seen other funeral directors stay on too long, and lose the polish that families deserve in their most vulnerable moments. I decided long ago that wasn't going to be me.'
While he's no longer going to be answering calls at 2 a.m., or coming in seven days a week, often the first one at work in the morning, to take care of business, Burke isn't leaving Macomb, nor the business completely. His business partner, Larry's son, Eric, along with Burke's son, Edward, and another Macomb High School graduate, Ryan Thorman, are continuing the elder Burke's legacy, and he plans on keeping his license current and helping out when they need him.
The decision to leave won't be as easy as walking out the door on Sept. 30 as the longest-serving funeral director in Macomb has been a part of Dodsworth (previously, Dodsworth-Piper- Wallen) since he was attending Western Illinois University. But his place at Dodsworth happened long before he even knew it all because of the elder Jameson.
From Skokie to Macomb
Burke's family lived behind his grandfather's funeral home in Skokie. He and his siblings, along with his cousins, were always at the funeral home and it was a part of their everyday life. He learned early how to behave and what was expected of him when there was a family coming in for an appointment or a service was being held. He understood the business.
'I knew early on I'd go into the business someday, but I wasn't sure where,' Burke said. His uncle had taken over the funeral home, and his cousins now run the family business.
Where Burke would end up changed because of meeting Larry Jameson.
'I was a sophomore in high school, and Larry was working for my grandfather's funeral home while he was going to Worsham,' Burke recalled. 'I met him one day when he was playing basketball behind the funeral home.'
Later when Burke was at Western (which Jameson had talked Burke into going for college), Jameson, who had attended Western as well and worked for the Dodsworth and Wallen family, knew the Macomb funeral home needed some help. Glen Wallen had suffered a heart attack, so it was Jameson who called on Burke to lend a hand. He started doing yard work and moved into the basement apartment, which was a rite of passage for young funeral home employees. Larry had lived there when he started, and later, Larry's son, Eric, called 'the dungeon' home.
Only Edward has had the privilege of new digs when he joined the business last year.
That was 1976 when Burke joined the Dodsworth employee roster … and he never looked back. Larry returned to the Macomb funeral home in 1976, and Burke graduated from Western with his degree in law enforcement in 1978 and went on to Worsham College of Mortuary Science. Then it was back to Macomb for his apprenticeship at Dodsworth, before graduating with his degree in mortuary science in 1979.
Five years later, at the young age of 26, he and Jameson, who was only 32, bought the funeral home on contract, at 10 percent interest, from the Dodsworths and the Wallens. From there, Burke and Jameson worked seven days a week, taking no vacations or days off for their first six years in business as they worked to make the longstanding Macomb funeral home, which first opened in 1927, their own.
'I'm not sure we could've even gotten a bank loan,' Burke laughed.
The Evolution of the Funeral Business The reason for an almost 24/7 job back in the day was the nature of services and the business, Burke explained. Cremation composed only about three percent of their work. Nearly every service meant a visitation the night before, usually from 7-9 p.m., followed by cleaning up and setting up chairs for the next day, finishing around 10 p.m. Just the two of them. No help.
No days off. It was standard: embalm, visitation, funeral the next day, burial. No celebrations of life. Very little flexibility. The window from death to service was typically four days. The business has changed, and Burke has rolled with the changes over the last 46 years.
'We're seeing more cremations, and alternative services. We might even host a service or we might have the celebration of life two months later. We have a few night visitations, but those don't seem to be the norm anymore,' Burke said. Besides the business changing in terms of services, technology has made the job easier. When Burke started, he was completing death certificates and obituaries using a typewriter.
Now, it's all computerized, from the daily paperwork to creating customized memorial folders to editing photos.
What hasn't changed is the embalming techniques he learned years ago at Worsham, but what Burke and Jameson pointed out is that the chemistry has definitely changed because what's in people's bodies have changed over the years: different medicines and different foods mean different fluids are needed.
A Family Business
His business partner, Eric Jameson, was sitting at his desk during the interview, interjecting with stories about Burke, and Jameson's father, Larry. The memories, the good times, the hard work the two elder funeral home directors had put in, paving the way for their sons.
'Pat was at my parents' house the day they brought me home from the hospital.
He has always been a part of my landscape here,' Eric said, pausing and tearing up. 'He has been here seven days a week, sitting there (pointing to Burke's desk) when I get to work. Not seeing him there, sitting right there, is going to be hard. I'm really glad he's not completely leaving us.'
The funeral home will continue as a family business under Eric and Edward, carrying on their dads' work, along with their partner, Ryan (Thorman), who joined Dodsworth one year before Edward did.
Thorman oversees Martin- Hollis Funeral Home in Bushnell, with Jameson and Edward handling most of the Macomb-based work.
Sacrifices Made
The job demanded sacrifice. Burke missed several of his family's events up north because he and Larry couldn't leave. His wife, Amy, raised their two boys, while also working full-time, getting their kids to sporting events while he worked sometimes long into the night.
'I couldn't have succeeded without her,' Burke said. 'No way.
Even though I had to be away from home, the work was never just work,' he shared. 'I've helped guide families through their darkest moments and if I've helped them, then I've done my job.'
Life After Dodsworth As mentioned previously, Burke isn't going anywhere.
He and Amy, who is still teaching at Western, are staying in Macomb. He's going to help out at the funeral home, and he's going to figure out what he wants to do. But first, he's going to 'do nothing.'
'I walk on the treadmill here every morning at 6 a.m. I'm going to sleep in until 7 a.m.,' he said with a smile. 'I'm going to miss the people, but I won't miss the phone calls at 2 a.m.'
He and his wife of 31 years will travel. He'll see his son Joe, and play more golf. His four brothers are coming down for his 70th birthday party. In short, he plans to enjoy life.
'I've been here a long time and there's no place I'd rather be. I met my wife here, we raised our kids here. I built a business here. The town has given us everything we need,' Burke said wistfully. 'When I came down here from Skokie and stayed, it was the best decision of my life.'
