Joanne Williams
Editor

(Photos provided – RIGHT PHOTO: Joseph sits comfortably in the home that he ha. LEFT PHOTO:Joseph and the late Laurel Pray [the couple on the right] at their high school prom in the mid 1940s. What the family would love to know is who is the couple on the left?)

He is quick to smile – even after 98 years on this Earth, and almost all of it in a funeral home.

But his work is one of the last things Joseph Pray Sr.,  is likely to talk about – unless it has to do with history, people, or the  treasured family business. Afterall, Pray Funeral Home has been all in the family since day one.

It’s also been in relatively the same space on Seminary Street in Charlotte since 1950. 

“I never wanted to do anything else but go into the family business,” wrote Joe in his 2010 book, “A Marriage, a House and a Job.” The title came from his late, beloved wife Laurel, who know full well what she was marrying into in 1948. Laurel Starr Pray died in 2010. They were married 62 years.

Actually, the funeral business was like many businesses of its kind at the turn of the 1900s – it was run out of a furniture store. In Charlotte, that was Wisner, then Fast Furniture and undertaking (caskets were built out of wood, so many furniture makers also made caskets.)

“There weren’t any funeral homes as we know them today,” Joseph said. 

His grandfather, Ernest Pray, took up the Fast business in 1923, located on Cochran near the Eaton Theatre. His son, Myron, was at his side. Myron was credentialed as a funeral director and an embalmer.

It wasn’t long before the idea of a home to hold funerals in was formed. After all, that’s where most happened anyway at that time.

“So that is how things evolved. The public kept asking for more things, and we kept adding things to meet their needs and requests,” Joseph recalled one day in March, in the living room of the first Pray Funeral Home, then, as now, his residence.

Pray Funeral Home was a college graduation gift from his father Myron and mother Hazel, at 401 Seminary Street. Additions and changes have been made since 1950. It was, at the time, the first of its kind in the area. It has been through five generations and more than 100 years.

Joseph’s son Joe E soon joined his father in the business. Like father, like son. Daughter Teresa went into the medical field.

These days, Joe E’s son Tyler is also a business and credentialed partner. Tyler’s sons, Anders and Alden are never far from his side. Joe E’s wife, Lori is also involved, as financial and facility manager. Joe E’s son Mclain Pray followed another path and now works as a geologist. He lives in the Grosse Pointe area with his wife and two children. 

“I never knew anything different,” said Joseph of growing up in a funeral home – where he has lived for more than 94 years. Every dad had a business; his dad’s was furniture and more. An only child, Joseph said he “wasn’t lonely. I always had people to play with. All the kids came over.” Oak Park was his playground.

His buddy was usually George Wildern, who Joseph said was “like a brother.” George and his family owned Wildern Pharmacy, and son, Jeff, like Joseph, followed in his father’s footsteps.

“They were about the same age, and they grew up in the same neighborhood, they were friends for life,” Jeff said of his father and Joseph. “Joe is a great guy, great for the community. He has done a lot for Charlotte,” Jeff said, mentioning the establishment of Kiwanis Manor apartments, serving on the Board of American Bank.  Joseph was also the long time head of the Christmas Kiddies program until he handed it over to the Charlotte Fire Department some years ago.

As the funeral business grew, more innovations appeared, including the cars. The cars were out of necessity, to help transport clients. Hearses served as ambulances too, to speed injured and sometimes pregnant folks to the hospital. It was the only vehicle in town for someone to be transported comfortably lying down. 

The Prays have a collection, which they often use for funerals and community parades as well. which have become a hobby and passion for Joseph. “I still have the first old car we got here,” he said. Joseph’s first antique vehicle was an “Invalid Coach” from the then Strobel Home in Grand Ledge.

Talk about history, the family remembers a woman’s death, where family members said “We think it is fitting you put her in the grave because you were there when she was born (in the funeral home’s ambulance.)”

Joseph’s original mode of transportation was a used bicycle his father had his store staff fix up for him. He rode it 9 miles each morning by 7 a.m., delivering the Lansing State Journal.

That  early training might have helped his stellar athletic career along.

“I played all the sports I could in high school. I lettered in football, basketball, track, cross country and band.” He played the trombone, “the number one man on the corner,” because of the reach of the slide. There was also a band, the Star Dusters. And on the side, a stint at the local radio station, WCER, and the show, “Meet Your Neighbor,” five days a week in the morning, for years.

Is it any wonder Joseph is such a success in the funeral business.

“It’s all I ever wanted to do…go into the family business,” Joseph has said.  He still puts his suit on occasionally. This business really runs in the family.

And the memories they have. Joe E says the biggest difference in funerals today “is that we focus on telling stories at services…that gives people comfort.”