“Paddy Bauler died on my 25th anniversary, of a stroke,” says Bill Herdegen, examining an old ledger to jog his memory. “I had to go out to Gottlieb Hospital in Melrose Park to pick up the body. In the end I buried Paddy’s four sons, though I didn’t get the missus. She was buried out of a home on North Avenue. She wanted to be buried with me. I don’t know what happened.”
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The mortuary was full of dark wood and stained glass, including a mural depicting an angel cradling two children. “People would say they loved that place, that it was so homey,” says Herdegen.
“The first funeral I had came from 1503 N. Clybourn,” he says. “George Kneitz was the name. He was 60 and had heart disease. I buried eight people out of that family, and they were related to the Schnellers–I handled all of them, too. Back then I was dealing either with friends of my father or friends of mine, or people who came to me through Saint Alphonsus.”
The facility, dating from 1925, has a foyer, two chapels, and a parlor. Herdegen, his wife Maureen, and a mortuary student who helps out live upstairs. Mrs. Herdegen helps out with the books. In the basement are an embalming lab and a showroom arrayed with caskets–wood or metal boxes with quilted interiors. An average funeral about $5,000 all told.
Another reason business is up, and a tragic one, is the AIDS epidemic.
When Scott McPherson, Danny Sotomayor’s lover and the author of the play Marvin’s Room, died, Herdegen took care of his body too. The memorial service took place in Herdegen’s chapel, a stately room with oak wainscoting, stucco walls, and a yellowish 3-D portrait of Jesus up front. “For Scott the chapel was set up for 184 people, but that wasn’t enough for the crowd,” Herdegen says. “People were standing in the back, and we had to open the windows so those outside in the hallway could hear.”
“We could never go anyplace on the holidays because so many people died then. Still do–we had five deaths this Christmas week, and six the week of Thanksgiving. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s the anxiety people feel around the holidays or what.
