TONY and Monica Conway have called it a day after 40 years as funeral directors.
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The Wodonga couple have sold up and retired.
Conway Funeral Home, bought by a group of Albury business people, will retain the name and its South Street location.
Glenn Puttick is the new manager and the home will honour all pre-paid funeral arrangements made with the Conways.
Wodonga-born Mr Conway had worked for stock and station agents before opening Conway’s sports store in High Street in 1961.
Mrs Conway was raised on a dairy farm near Tallangatta and was a nurse when her husband saw an opportunity to buy established funeral directors McCullough & Dunstan in 1971.
“I worked behind the scenes for the first few years,” Mrs Conway said.
Mr Conway said the funeral business was slow at first.
“I think we just had a hearse and about three coffins when we started, and only nine funerals a year,” he said.
Later the couple gave up the sports store.
“The business grew to between 250 and 300 funerals a year, and as many as 12 a week,” Mrs Conway said.
Funeral practices have changed a lot since 1971, with most now held in chapels of rest instead of churches and cremations more common than burials.
Music has also changed, a move Mrs Conway welcomed as she said people had more choice about picking songs the deceased person had loved.
“Hymns are still favoured in church services, but in recent years the songs of Johnny Cash, Slim Dusty and Frank Sinatra have been popular and Vera Lynn made a comeback about five years ago,” Mr Conway said.
Asked if they had enjoyed their work, Mrs Conway she had found it satisfying.
“Hopefully I’ve been able to help people, and I’d do it again,” she said.
The couple will remain in Wodonga.
