Parkesburg Through the Eyes of a Funeral Director

Front porch of Wilde's Main Street Funeral Home

Note: When my father died on May 1st, I interacted at least once a day for the next week with the funeral director my father and stepmother had selected to manage what is euphemistically called, their 'final arrangements.'  I was impressed with Mike Oron the funeral director at Minshall Shropshire-Bleyler Funeral Home in Brookhaven and reached out to Caleb Wilde who writes the Confessions of a Funeral Director blog at www.calebwilde.com about exchanging posts.  I suggested I write a post about my experience with a funeral home for his blog and he write a post for Parkesburg Today about living and doing business Parkesburg.

His post on Parkesburg follows.  Enjoy!

By Caleb Wilde

For those of you who don't know me, let me introduce myself.  My name is Caleb Wilde and I'm the youngest of the Wildes at the Wilde Funeral Home on Main Street in Parkesburg.  I represent the sixth generation of our family’s business, which has been serving the community for over 150 years and serving in Parkesburg over the last 100 years. 

For those of you who know my family, but don’t know me, I'm Bud's grandson and Bill's son.  Older Jim is my great Uncle and younger Jim would be my first cousin once removed. 

If that confuses you, or you're not sure who's who, suffice it to say that I'm the least Wilde out of the bunch.

We have the privilege of having a special relationship with Parkesburg … a relationship that privileges us to some of the vulnerable moments and some of the most difficult times in the lives of those in our community. 

In some sense, funeral homes see the heart of a community. 

We see the love, the care that the community extends during times of loss and grief.  We see the attention that Art and Doris Polk put into the flowers that are sent by folks as tokens of remembrance and condolence.  We see the meals that are made for the post funeral luncheons by auxiliary groups at our churches and our VFW.

We see the compassion extended by Parkesburg’s pastors and churches; and the fraternity of local civic groups.  We get to read the beautiful, respectful and gracious condolences that are posted on our website for the families of those who have lost loved ones.  We get to see the respect of the Parkesburg Police who go out of their way to clear a path for our procession lines. 

I’ve often heard stereotypes about Parkesburg, often from people who live outside of the borough.  Stereotypes that assume Parkesburg isn’t the greatest town to live in. 

But I know different.   Very different. 

I’ve seen the heart of our community and trust me when I say it’s good.  This town is full of loving, caring people, whose genuine hearts I get to see on display nearly every week.  And it’s a privilege.  It’s a privilege that has helped me to love where I live … love the people I live around … and love this community that I proudly call my own. 

Caleb a licensed funeral director, and he’s also a seminarian who will graduate this June.  He volunteers at the Parkesburg Point, serving on the Executive Board; and he blogs at www.calebwilde.com.  Caleb is especially thankful for Ken’s work here at www.parkesburgtoday.com