Tags
Brooklyn Dodgers, Holy Cross, Holy Name, Joe Duffy, M.J. Smith's & Son's, mortician, Prospect Park West, Rev. Thomas S. O' Reilly, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trish Bright, Undertaker, Walter B. Cooke
“Smith’s,” as we called it, was a staple of the neighborhood.
Other staples like Farrell’s, Rae and Otto’s, L&J bakery and Red’s shoe store…all establishments we couldn’t live without, right?
When someone passed away, they were waked at M.J. Smith’s & Sons; across the street from Holy Name Church.
Besides paying my respects to the deceased, as a kid during the afternoon if I didn’t have any change for a drink I’d stop in Smith’s to get a drink of water from the fountain. I was never sure if I should take a pixie cup or sip it from the fountain? I’ve said it before on the blog, Smith’s had the coldest water around.
Trish Bright has been a loyal reader of the blog and has been kind enough to write an essay on her time as a kid living over Smith’s.
My father never liked being called a mortician, Undertaker was better. Caretaker was a more accurate title if you consider the job description of inheriting a family business while the family isn’t quite dead yet.
That’s how it all began in 1960 when my father, Peter V. Smith II, inherited our family funeral parlor business at 248 Prospect Park West.
After a two-year undertaker apprenticeship at the prestigious Walter B. Cooke Funeral Home in Manhattan and pallbearer training during funeral services at St. Patrick’s Cathedral where he learned how to shoulder carry a casket, my father began his job as undertaker at M.J. Smith and Sons Inc.
The ‘Sons’ in M.J. Smith and Sons stood for the four boys out of the nine children that my great-grandfather had after he came to Brooklyn from the country Cavan, Ireland.
He then established the Parlor in the late 1800’s. Around that same time his cousin, Rev. Thomas S. O’Reilly, was appointed to establish Holy Name Church and Holy Name School.
Father O’Reilly served the parish from 1878 until his death in 1918. My Great Grandfather died in 1927. They are both buried in the Smith Family plot in Holy Cross cemetery.
The dead weren’t the only people my father took care of while operating the funeral parlor. There was also my Grandfather, my Grandmother and my Great Uncle Mike.
Uncle Mike was a handsome, dark-haired bushy eyebrowed, Irishman that always dressed in a suit and loved to drink scotch.
One day he drank so much at Farrell’s that he got into the wrong Buick and started it up. He drove around 9th avenue for days until my father got in the car with him and said,”Uncle Mike, your upholstery looks different.”
When Uncle Mike wasn’t at Farrell’s, he was at the Hotel St. George bar in Brooklyn Heights drinking with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Uncle Mike was called, “The Official Undertaker of the Brooklyn Dodgers,” even though he died before burying a single one of them.
My Grandfather, Peter V. Smith I, was also a licensed undertaker. He was a gentle soul who was loved by everyone that met him. My Grandmother, Grace Catherine Miller, who my Grandfather married in Holy Name Church in 1933, had intelligence, street smarts, looks and determination that could take her anywhere.
After marrying my Grandfather she devoted herself to teaching in the public schools in Queens and volunteered tirelessly for the American Red Cross.
My parents raised four of us, Maureen, Michael, Peter and me. We had two bedrooms in our apartment above the parlor.
When I was in the 5th grade my father saw a decline in the amount of funerals coming into Smith’s. The neighborhood was changing so my father made a decision to sell the business and move to the country.
In 1973, Joe Duffy Jr. and the Kenny family bought the funeral parlor and requested to keep the Smith name. The parlor continued on with different ownership and recently relocated while still keeping the Smith name.
Smith’s served the neighborhood for over 100 years.
From 1960 to 1973 my father brought the amount of wakes Smith’s performed from around 50 a year to close to 300 wakes a year.
To this day he can recall the names and families of most, if not all, of the people he waked at Smith’s.
More importantly he can recall everyone he didn’t wake!
If I mistakenly tell my father he buried someone, he snaps at me and says, “Nah, I didn’t bury them, they went to Duffy’s.”
Thanks to Trish Bright for this wonderful look back at Smith & Sons.
Respectfully,
Steve
Hoops135@hotmail.com
bob terry said:
I remember both Mike & Pete; they were both fine people. Not only did I attend many wakes @ Smith’s, including my grandfather’s (Tom Lacey), but I also served as an altar boy @ many funerals @ Holy Name Church. Thanks for the memory & regards to your family. Bob Terry (336 – 16th Street, 1954 – 1972). Now, Los Angeles with my wife Barbara (a 5th generation San Franciscan) & my son Nicholas.
hoopscoach said:
Thanks Bob
jimmy vac said:
My family has been in the neighborhood for about 100 years and everyone of them
were laid out there.. Back in the 1930’s & 40’s some people were laid out in the home.. In our house it was 2nd floor front bedroom.. the room was called a parlor…
When you look from above, you had Holy Name Church, Smith;s and Farrell’s.. for many people you were baptzed, confirmed, married at Holy Name,.. Had your first beer at Farrell’s and were buried in Smith’s…
Please excuse me if I told this story before… I came in from Staten Island to pay my respects for one of the elder meighbors… I went up to Smith’s with my Uncle Charlie who was about 70 at the time… when we were saying our prayers at the kneeler, my uncle said to me ,”See that Guy?” I replied ,”The funeral director”.. He said,” Yeah, he’s measuring me for one of these boxes right now”… I had to hold in laughing.. one of the family members must have thought I was mourning and they hugged me., NOW I had to pretend I was crying.. when we left, I told my Uncle
that I will personally put him in the box myself…
Steven, it is always sad when you see the places of your youth change.. when I walk the neighborhood, you can almost feel the ghosts….
Regard to the Smith and Duffy for serving the neighborhood so well so long…..
hoopscoach said:
Jimmy, a blog entry on the Ghosts of the Neighborhood is coming soon.
Kevin Mahoney said:
Steve,
I remember Chippy Rice’s (16th street) grandmother worked in Smith’s for years and was always nice about letting the kids get drinks of water in the summer. The only water cooler as good as that one was the cooler in the armory on 8th ave.
hoopscoach said:
Thanks Kevin…I remember I always had to ask the guy sitting at the table right at the door to your left as you walked in. He was always under a light when he answered me.
Trish Bright said:
Steve – Thank you for posting my brief history of Smith’s. I really enjoy reading your blog. It was fun to contribute for a change. You are right, Smith’s water fountain did have the coldest water. My father wouldn’t have it any other way. Same with the air conditioning in the parlors. It was alwas turned up high. My father strived to make guests comfortable. Jack was the “guy sitting at the table right at the door to your left as you wallked in.” He was always grumpy to a point where it became appealing. Mrs. Rice, that Kevin Mahoney mentioned in his comment, helped with housekeeping in the parlors. She was a loyal, dedicated employee. Never sat down. If you recall, the lobby where the water fountain was and all three palors were always immaculate. That was due to Mrs. Rice. I remember she used a really strong antiseptict cleaner in the marble bathrooms and even though I was only eight years old at the time I can still remember exactly what she looked like, how she dressed, and the ammonia smell of the cleaner that never had a chance to dry before she was back in the bathrooms again making sure they were clean and sparkly. I’m glad she and Jack were accommodating when you were thirsty. But, honestly, the water fountain was more for the neighborhood kids than it was for mourners. My father left the doors of the parlor unlocked until 10:00 p.m. even when there wasn’t a wake going on. Every time the door opened it would ring, ding- dong in our apartment above the parlors. In the summer it was a constant, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong all night up until 10:00 from the kids, mostly boys, coming in for a drink of water.
And, one more thing, thank you, Bob Terry, for commenting that Mike and Pete Smith were both fine people. I couldn’t agree more.
hoopscoach said:
Thanks Trish – Essay was awesome!
John Langton said:
I was thinking of Smith’s just this week. My grandmother, Muriel Langton, who owned and ran the Freezer Fresh ice cream shop on the circle (From ’65 – ’71), passed away 40 years ago on Oct. 31, 1971. Not a whole lot of fun losing your grandmother on Halloween. She was waked at Smith’s and it was the first but certainly not last time I had family there.
hoopscoach said:
Thanks John. Hope you are well
Trish Bright said:
I have a name correction – When I was commenting on Kevin Mahony’s mention of Chippy Rice’s grandmother working at Smith’s for years, I replied that she helped with housekeeping in the parlors. It just dawned on me that Mrs. Rice was the secretary at Hoiy Name School and Mrs. Schmidt is whose cleaning skills and work ethic I so admired.
I wonder if Mrs. Rice from Holy Name School came to work in the office at Smith’s after we moved in 1973? Or was Chippy’s grandmother a different Mrs. Rice?
hoopscoach said:
Miss Rice from Holy Name! WOW. A blast from the past.
BL said:
Can’t mention Smith’s without mentioning Bill Darby and for our generation the Sturges brother’s. Jimmy ,Danny and Timmy all became undertaker’s and served us well there. We were hoping that the Sturges brother’s would take over the Funeral Home.
hoopscoach said:
BL,
You are right!
Kevin Mahoney said:
Trish,
Chippy’s grandmother I was referring to was on his mother’s side and her last name was Schmidt, so we were speaking of the same person.
Maureen Rice (Flanagan) said:
Trish, Chip Rice’s grandmother was Mrs. Schmidt, it was his mom’s mother. I could not believe it when Smith’s closed- it was so woven into the fabric of the neighborhood- I can’t tell you how many times my mother would say- “you’ll have me up in Smith’s if you don’t stop” , or we just would always reference it- “I’ll see you up in Smith’s” To me, you were either going to Smith’s or you were going to Duffy’s- I know Duffy’s is Smith’s now, but I just don’t feel the same about it- I have been to a lot of funerals out of the neighborhood, places with parking lots and much bigger rooms and if I had to wake someone, I would probably go there. Sad that in all the time Smith’s has been gone, nothing else has opened up there…
hambone said:
I’m tempted but I am not going to say it!!!!!
Alexander Beary Gavalas said:
My Name is Alexander Beary Gavalas. I’m an Irishman by birth but also partly of Greek origin on my father’s side and Irish on my mother’s side. My father came to American at age 14 and served along with his three brother’s and a few were heroes serving America gallantly. My uncle ” Alex, was a gunner and Navy man winning 22 battle stars. I think you might find it interesting, that my Irish grandmother ” Elizabeth Dawson, was baptized in the ” Holy Name Of Jesus Church, Windsor Terrace on March 15, 1891. It was ” Rev. Thomas S. O’ Reilly who officiated at the Baptism. The sponsors were John & Elizabeth buckley… Patrick Dawson & Elizabeth Wright were my great grandparents. They were here in Brooklyn on some kid of business unknown to me. What I find fascinating to is that I was born on January 6, 1945, in Limerick Ireland and grew up in America and my grandmother was born in Brooklyn on March 9,1891 and returned to Ireland to grow up there…never to return again. She was so proud to be an ” American.
hoopscoach said:
Alexander, thanks for sharing.
Hope you are well.
Alexander Beary Gavalas said:
I very impressed with this site and I’m honored and proud that my grandmother ” Elizabeth Dawson, is part of it’s history. I must also add that she went back to Ireland and married my grandfather ” Patrick Beary, on April 30, 1912 and raised 13 children. The rest is history….
PS: any additional information about ” Elizabeth Dawson, will be most appreciated by the family…Have a Blessed day….