Swain answered his call for 50 years

9/18/2006 7:57:29 AM
Daily Journal

 

 

 

By M. Scott Morris


Daily Journal


TUPELO Willis Swain had what he considered a calling. He was 15 or 16 when something clicked.


"I worked at a little grocery store on North Gloster Street, up where the fire department is," he said. "I saw a funeral procession one day. I decided I wanted to go to the funeral home and get a job."


He worked during the summer in 11th grade, then took part in a diversified occupation program in 12th grade to work half a day and go to school half a day.


The 1957 Tupelo High School graduate went on to mortuary school, and followed that with a career at W.E. Pegues Funeral Directors that lasted some 50 years.


"When people walked through the front door, that was the worst time of their lives," the 67-year-old said. "I always wanted to try to do something to help them."




Memories


Plenty of people Swain dealt with were beyond walking through a front door. One fellow, a transient, had the misfortune to die without leaving any identification, so no family could be found.


"The minister, myself and a couple other fellows were there," Swain recalled. "He had one of the nicest funeral services. Everyone left from there with a tear in their eyes. It was sad, probably the saddest one I've ever been to."


The funeral business is a 24-7-365 way of life, and Christmas, New Year's and the rest of the holidays most people take for granted are workdays for a funeral director.


"It was a very rewarding job, but very stressful," he said. "You bring a lot of it home when you leave."


Those days are over now, though the memories remain. He retired at the beginning of summer, but he's having a difficult time letting go.


"I keep thinking about when I have to go back to work," he said. "You think, do I go to work tomorrow?"


"He thinks he's still working," said Janice Swain, high school sweetheart turned wife. "He can't get it out of his head."




Changing director


The Swains are adapting. The pair have traveled to the Pacific Northwest, then spent some time camping in Pickwick. Other camping trips, as well as a visit to Branson, Mo., are on the not-so-distant horizon.


"I like lazy man's fishing," he added. "I don't like to work too hard at it."


There are four grandchildren in close proximity, and an assertive poodle named Muffin keeps her humans busy.


"I haven't decided fully what I'm going to do," Swain said, smiling while sitting in the shade of his backyard shop.


But he's not completely without direction.


When one of Swain's sons was 5 years old, he made a Father's Day card that included these words from Luke 1:37: "With God nothing shall be impossible."


"I carried that card to work every day," Swain said. "That's how I got through some tough situations at the funeral home."


He said the card and its message will apply wherever life takes him.



Contact M. Scott Morris at 678-1589 or scott.morris@djournal.com





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