Family Matters – New Orleans Magazine – October 2015 – New Orleans, LA

Local businesses that keep close to home

Planning a funeral is an inevitably stressful endeavor. Families have to make lots of decisions at a time when they’re coping with grief and sorrow. Often, what makes the process easier is help from funeral professionals whose roots go deep in the community.

For six generations, members of the Mothe family have helped their neighbors when a funeral must be planned. “Our family has cared for the West Bank community for more than 120 years,” says Boyd Mothe Jr., current owner of Mothe Funeral Homes. Today, the firm owns three funeral homes on the West Bank and seven others in the region, as well as several cemeteries. The company’s success is due largely to its close connection to the communities it serves, he says. “Our profits don’t go to Wall Street. They go to Main Street.”

Boyd Mothe Jr.’s sister, Laurie Mothe Knowles, also works in the business, and their father, Boyd Mothe Sr., remains active as well. Boyd Jr.’s three children – Nicole Mothe Lawson, Kathryn Mothe Illg and Boyd “Beau” Mothe III – comprise the sixth generation of Mothes who work for the family concern.

The company had its start in the French Quarter, when Guillaume Mothe opened a funeral services business. His son, Emile J. Mothe Sr., opened the first funeral home operations on the West Bank. That home was destroyed by a major fire in Algiers in 1898. Emile’s son, Emile J. Mothe Jr., bought the home on Vallette Street, which is still in operation. His son, Boyd Mothe Sr., expanded the business, confident that future generations were waiting in the wings. It remains a family-owned business, unique in an industry where consolidation has done away with many such companies.

Boyd Mothe Sr. says he remembers the days when wakes were held in a family’s home and when visitation might take place all night. Today, he says, things are less formal. Boyd Jr. says one trend he’s noticed is toward individualization; Mothe’s offers such touches as dove and balloon releases, a Harley Motorcycle Hearse and harpists or bagpipers.

The frantic pace of life today makes it difficult for families to appreciate the necessity of allowing sufficient time for mourning. “It’s time to slow down and reflect,” Boyd Jr. says. If families can take the time to share stories and pictures, he says, the result can be talks of a lifetime between several generations.

Source: Family Matters - New Orleans Magazine - October 2015 - New Orleans, LA