John McCormick
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By Carrie McClish
Staff writer
Even on his last day at work, John McCormick, the longtime
funeral director at Oakland’s Clarence N. Cooper Mortuary, never
once sounded like a man who was ready to retire.
Although weakened by hacking coughs and shortness of breath caused by
pulmonary fibrosis, the 81-year-old was armed with both a long-term memory
and quick humor during an interview with The Voice. Joining him was Carol
Blunt, his friend and co-worker.
“He was an excellent embalmer,” said Blunt, a great-niece
of Clarence Cooper.
“What do you mean I was?” McCormick shot back with a twinkle
in his eye.
After the laughter subsided, Blunt continued: “He would get compliments
all the time from the other embalmers.”
McCormick’s retirement became official on Dec. 5, the same day that
the Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of the Diocese of Oakland announced
its agreement to acquire the mortuary. Although McCormick had been funeral
director at Cooper’s since 1976, his employment at the Fruitvale
area establishment goes back six decades.
The Oakland native was a student at nearby St. Elizabeth High School in
late 1942 when he learned about a job opening at the mortuary. As a result
of World War II, a number of mortuary employees had been drafted into
military service. Clarence Cooper had died in 1935 and his wife, who was
running the business, needed help. She approached the pastor at St. Elizabeth
Parish and asked him to help her find young men to work at the mortuary
as night attendants. McCormick was one of two young men who “were
sent over.”
“There were two of us and Mrs. Cooper hired us both. But the other
boy was older so he started right away. I started the next May, 1943,”
he recalled.
As a night attendant, the then-16-year-old had a number of responsibilities
that included answering the front door, ushering guests to the respective
rooms for visitation, answering phones, and sending the ambulance out
on calls to pick up the deceased during the night. “In those days
you worked every other night and every other weekend,” he said.
When McCormick graduated from high school, he began his apprenticeship.
“We worked the regular shift. There were always three shifts at
the mortuary because it is a 24-hour business.”
After he was drafted, McCormick spent two years in the army. Then he returned
to Cooper’s and enrolled in embalming college. By the time he received
his embalmer’s license in the early 1950s, the mortuary had a large
volume of work — about 600 cases a year. “We had two hearses,
two limos and eight embalmers. We were constantly going,” McCormick
recalled.
Many of the families were from neighboring parishes — St. Jarlath,
St. Elizabeth, St. Louis Bertand and Mary Help of Christians.
The expansion of the freeway system and development of BART resulted in
the loss of hundreds of area homes. Many older residents moved away and
younger families moved into the area. With all these changes, the mortuary’s
work decreased, said Carol Blunt, who has worked at the mortuary since
1976.
Over the years, the faces in the neighborhood have also changed. In the
early years the mortuary served mostly Irish, German and Portuguese families.
Today many of their clients come from the Latino community.
Every ethnic group has different customs and ways of honoring their dead
relatives and loved ones, said McCormick. He and others at the mortuary
have tried to learn about these different customs and be respectful of
people’s traditions. “You treat them all with love,”
he said. “It’s simple.”
Over the years, McCormick has seen many changes in the ways funeral homes
operate. For instance, in his early days, when a body was brought to the
funeral home, it was embalmed immediately. Today embalming cannot take
place without a written authorization from the family.
The increased number of cremations is another change. Robert Seelig, Catholic
funeral and cemetery services director for the diocese, said today in
California about 54 percent of the general population opt for cremation.
The percentage of Catholics choosing cremation has also increased. Within
the last 15 years about 20 percent of Catholics have sought cremation.
McCormick has also seen the costs for funerals rise sharply. He remembers
when the cost of a casket was about $130 and the limo was automatically
part of the mortuary costs. Many families did not own cars, he said. Today
an average funeral costs about $6,000 and the burial costs another $4,000-$5,000
according to a recent survey in the East Bay, Seelig said. (The diocese
offers a list of service plans that are less expensive.)
Cooper Mortuary tried to help families keep expenses down, said McCormick.
Part of that effort was a decision not to accept credit cards as payment
for services. “We started (accepting them) once but stopped it for
the simple reason that we felt that the interest that people were paying
for their credit card was like usury and so, if need be, we would carry
them at no interest at all.”
Seelig said the diocese does not turn anyone away from its mortuaries
and cemeteries because of financial need.
McCormick said that throughout his long career, his main goal was to be
of support to family members, some in shock or reeling from grief, and
lead them to make decisions for a funeral that they feel comfortable with
and can afford.
If he was “in some small way” a help to others, John McCormick
said that would be his greatest reward.
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