Funeral Director Celebrates his 100th Birthday and More than 70 Years of Helping People
Dick McLaughlin started his career as a funeral director in 1949 and has worked for four generations of the same family. He still goes to work every week.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. — A few weeks shy of his 100th birthday, Dick McLaughlin is still going to work each week as a funeral director, just as he has for more than seven decades.
In addition to his landmark birthday McLaughlin is also celebrating his 70th year of working at William Sullivan and Son Funeral Directors in Royal Oak, where he has worked for four generations of the family. People who know him well point to one factor behind his astonishingly long career – his desire to take care of people. “You have to like to help people,” is how McLaughlin explains his work.
That applies to his work today guiding people as they pre-plan their own future funeral arrangements. It also was important in his earlier years as he supported all aspects of the business including arranging funeral services, preparing bodies for burial, and serving as long-time manager of the Royal Oak funeral home. As he talks with survivors going through the sad and sometimes bewildering time after a death, his sympathy is genuine. “It’s a big thing when someone dies,” McLaughlin says. “It means a lot to people to be treated with love at that time, to be with someone they trust.”
Mike Lope’ is one of the fourth generation of funeral directors that McLaughlin has worked with. His great-grandfather William Sullivan hired McLaughlin in 1953. “Certain people have a ‘calling’ to work as a funeral director and I believe Dick has that,” says Lope’. “He’s going to be 100 years old, but he keeps coming to work. I think it reflects the loyalty and
dedication he feels to the business and the people he helps.” Lope’ considers McLaughlin a mentor. “Dick is like the best combination of a grandfather, comedian and funeral director,” says Lope’. “He’s seen it all and done it all. He’s the guy that you go to for everything.”
McLaughlin was on hand when John Sullivan, Lope’s uncle and a member of the third generation at the funeral home, joined the family business in 1968. “He’s very positive, an upbeat kind of person,” says Sullivan. “He’s had some serious health issues, but he never complains. He overcomes whatever obstacles are in his way and just moves on.” Sullivan appreciates McLaughlin’s skills as a funeral director, and his general approach to life. “He sets a wonderful example,” says Sullivan. “He bounces into work, he’s upbeat. Our younger people here just look at him and are amazed. It’s a nice way to live life.”
Some visitors to the funeral home closer to his own age are also amazed by him.
McLaughlin jokes that when a group of women from the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica, where he is a member, visit the funeral home they always greet him with, “My God! Are you still working?” His sense of humor and zest for life are well-known. He has a lengthy list of interests and activities.
He was a 60-year member of his local Kiwanis Club, before it folded. Currently he is a member of the Royal Oak Elks club and the Royal Oak American Legion post where he enjoys “playing Keno and gabbing about sports.” In one age-related concession, he gave up golf and bowling at age 97. His socializing also includes cocktails. “Cocktails are nice – if you enjoy them,” he says. He limits himself to two at one time, however, since he drives himself when he is out and about.
He keeps busy with his many family members and friends. He and his first wife Shirlee Marie (Creagh) had four children. His second wife Genevieve A. (Farley) Brown died in 2013. He has seven grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
He has lived in Macomb Township since 1997. McLaughlin is a member of what has been called “The Greatest Generation,” the children of the Great Depression who grew up to serve in World War II. Drafted into the U.S. Army, he served in the Pacific Theater. His typing and shorthand skills were noted by the Army and put to use in a variety of support assignments, including as a court stenographer. After his service, he returned to the Detroit area where he graduated in 1949 from the Wayne State University School of Mortuary Science. He jokes that he was first attracted to the business when his uncle, also a funeral director, would visit Detroit each year to pick up his big, new Cadillac.
Looking back on his time as a funeral director, he’s seen a lot of changes in the industry. More cremation, less religious services, and more of a focus on celebrations of life. “Today, people treat the dead differently than they did years ago, but the feeling of love and loss is still the same,” says McLaughlin. Overall, he says his career has been “a good tour of duty.”
On August 3, McLaughlin will turn 100 years old. There are a few parties being planned in his honor. The team he works with is hesitant to call him the oldest working funeral director in the world since there isn’t any actual recordkeeping of that sort, although it is hard to imagine someone else older than 100 years still working in the industry. As for McLaughlin’s retirement, he’s not planning any announcements yet. He retired once before, in 1988. His friends at the Sullivan funeral home sent him off with a big party and, as a gift, a new Pontiac. He quickly realized he missed working. He returned after about two weeks to manage the funeral pre-planning process, the job he is still doing today.
