William John Shea directed a business that has provided comfort to Philadelphia area families for more than a century, writes Rita Giordano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Shea, 82, a retired funeral director for Shea’s Funeral Home, died May 26 in his Newtown Square home,
“He was a funeral director, but it wasn’t a business for him. It was more of a calling and a service he provided to the people.” said his daughter, Pam Lairdieson.
Raised in Philadelphia, he’s a graduate of West Catholic High School with a BA from Villanova University.
Mr. Shea devoted his life to the funeral home, beginning at 16 when his father died unexpectedly. He didn’t want the family business, started by his grandfather in 1895, to end.
He was assisted by his wife of 59 years, Grace, a nurse.
Mr. Shea retired in 2014.
Lairdieson once asked her father why he wanted to be in such a sad business.
“He said, ‘I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as helping the people through the hardest time of their life, helping them through their grief.’ He was really special that way.”
Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about the life of William John Shea.
