Over the next thirty-five years he buried more than 2000 people. Early in the business many people were buried without being embalmed. This required burial shortly after the death. Many of those who were embalmed were done so in their home, usually by kerosene lamps. Due to heath hazards, embalming is now required to be done at the funeral home.
In 1925, Mr. Shiflett’s son-in-law, Charles L. McMullen, Sr. received his license and went into business with him. Mr. Shiflett’s daughter, Ollie Shiflett McMullen, received her funeral directors license in 1937. The business ran under the name of Shiflett & McMullen Funeral Home until Mr. Shiflett’s death in 1932. Mrs. McMullen was one of the first female funeral directors in the state and held her license until her death in 1991.
On June 19, 1943 a grandson Charles L. McMullen, Jr. graduated from Eckols College of Embalming in Philadelphia, Pa. He received his license in 1946 after serving military duty in the Navy from 1943-1946. He also held his license until his death in 2008. In 1951, the McMullen family purchased the W.L. Rosenberg Funeral Home in Bridgewater which they operated until 1977 when they built a new funeral home changing the name to McMullen Funeral Homes, Inc. They sold the Bridgewater location in 1990. In 1966 William L. McMullen received his license after graduating from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and became associated with his grandparents and father in the family business. Andrea M. (McMullen) Strawderman, the fifth generation of McMullen’s’ graduated from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in December 1997, receiving her Bachelor of Science Degree in Mortuary Science. Amber ( McMullen ) McIntyre also works for the funeral home serving as secretery.
