Wesley Rice,
Emeritus Funeral Director with the firm of Lynch & Sons in Milford, marks
his 60th year as a licensed funeral director in June, 2009, having
graduated with the Class of 1949 from Wayne State University’s Department of
Mortuary Science.
Born
on March 3, 1921 in Detroit, Wes gave six years to his country during World War
II, serving as a Navy Corpsmen with the U.S. Marines in the South Pacific from
1939 -1945.
It
was on a long weekend leave that he hurried home to marry Betty Spalding in
August of 1943, at the Justice of the Peace in Brighton. After the war, the couple moved to
Battle Creek where Wes served his two years of apprenticeship at the Farley
Funeral Home before admission to Wayne State University.
He
spent fourteen years at the Estes-Ledley Funeral Homes in Lansing and Holt and
three years in Croswell in Michigan’s Thumb before coming to Milford in 1972,
soon after the sudden death of Frank Bird, then the funeral director in
Milford.
In
June of 1974, Thomas Lynch came to Milford when his family purchased the
funeral home and for the past 35 years he and Wes have worked together.
“Second
only to my father, who was a man of the same generation, I’ve learned more
about the proper care of the dead and service to the living from Wes Rice than
any one else,” says Tom Lynch. It
has been among the great blessings of my life to have worked with and learned
from this exceptional man. He’s
old school. He works when its busy
and rests when its not. And after
60 years he’s taught so many young apprentices and students who’ve worked here
over the years, his legacy is truly state wide.” Lynch’s bestselling book, The Undertaking, records some of Wes Rice’s quiet and compassionate
heroics. Lynch’s sons, Michael and
Sean, grew up under Wes Rice’s tutelage, as did Ken Kutzli and Dana Nowak,
President of the Class of 2009 at WSU’s Mortuary School -- all members of Lynch & Sons
team.
Wes
and Betty Rice are longtime and active members of Milford Methodist
Church. Betty was named Milford’s
Citizen of the Year for her many contributions to the community and Wes has
been honored by Governor Granholm and area leaders for his exemplary
professional service.
When
asked about the changes over the long years of his career, Wes says that when
he started out all of the funeral homes ran ambulance service too. Now very few of them do. “But the options and choices and
range of services provided by funeral homes has really increased over the
years,” he says. “No more
‘one-size-fits-all’ funerals.
Everyone is different.
Still, in some ways, we’re all the same.” Asked the secret to his long professional career, Wes says,
“Loyalty, faith and family…and it helps to live a long time too!”
Now
both in their late 80’s, Betty and Wes Rice show no sign of slowing down. Wes still reports to the office every
other weekend and Betty still works with a variety of church and civic
charities when they aren’t traveling to see their daughter and sons,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A community open house will be held in
Wes’ honor at the Milford Methodist Church on Sunday, May 24th from
2-4PM. Everyone is welcome to
attend.