Ellsworth Purdy, 98, Man With Compassion, Owner Of Funeral Homes

Sad movies moved Ellsworth L. Purdy to tears. Sad people, particularly those who had lost a loved one, inspired his compassion even more.

Yet he still found time for a gentle laugh with colleagues or clients.

All of which helps explain the 64-year longevity of the Purdy & Walters with Cassidy Funeral Home he founded in Everett, and other homes owned in Washington and Oregon.

"He was a very sensitive guy," said Jim Letson of Mukilteo, a grandson-in-law who worked for Mr. Purdy. "He cared about people and was really proud of what he did."

Mr. Purdy died of heart failure Tuesday (Nov. 11). He was 98.

Born to a couple who were embalmers in Cardington, Ohio, Mr. Purdy moved in 1908 to Snohomish, where his father founded E.E. Purdy & Sons Funeral Service. Mr. Purdy joined the business after serving in the merchant marine in World War I.

"He started in the funeral business (in Monroe) in 1923 when Pilchuck Jack and Pilchuck Julia (a Native-American couple) died of black smallpox after refusing to take the vaccine offered them by the government," The Herald newspaper in Everett reported several years ago. "No one would dig the grave. It was (the Purdys') first experience in handling contagious diseases.

"But Mr. Purdy and his father made the caskets themselves, dug the graves and buried the beloved Indian couple. Decades later Mr. Purdy wove a wreath of evergreens to place on Pilchuck Julia's grave on Memorial Day."

In 1926, he moved his business into an old church in Everett. In 1933, he built a new funeral home at Wetmore and Pacific avenues. (Service Corp. International, a Houston-based chain of funeral homes, bought the company in 1995 but Mr. Purdy's relatives continue to manage it.)

Mr. Purdy, hard-pressed to obtain financing during the Depression, got the home built by offering coupons that builders and contractors could redeem for cash or funeral services.

"He was an ingenious businessman," Letson said. "He set a pattern for our companies that continued through several generations. He felt things will change. But so long as we understand our purpose is to help people through difficult times, other things take care of themselves."

In 1933, Mr. Purdy brought in Kenneth Walters as a partner, freeing time to travel. Eventually, he acquired homes in Port Angeles and Blaine, Whatcom County, and sold funeral cars and ambulances. He held a distributorship for the West Coast and Hawaii.

He bought additional funeral homes in Eastern Washington and in Portland, where his Chapel-of-the-Chimes was the first on the West Coast to install electric carillon bells.

In 1984, his family bought Lynnwood's Floral Hills Cemetery, now Purdy & Walters at Floral Hills.

Mr. Purdy liked to cruise the state in his Cadillac limousine, call on funeral homes and buy trunkloads of fresh produce to hand out along the way - especially his favorite vegetable, Walla Walla sweet onions.

Other survivors include his wife, Irma Purdy of Lake Stevens; his sons Ellsworth D. Purdy, Vancouver, Wash., and Richard Purdy, Cincinnati; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Services have been held.

Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is: cbee-new@seatimes.com