It was the spring of 1991 when I was first required to walk through the doors of Henderson Office Supply on Main Street in Henderson, Tennessee. The business was owned by the Casey family—the same Casey family who owned Casey Funeral Home—the same Casey family from whom we had just purchased both. Although we weren’t quite certain where an office supply store fit into the business plan, it proved a useful addition, offering space for the funeral home’s business office (without which we’d have had no place for recordkeeping and such), and giving us a lovely discount on all our office supply purchases.
That was where I met Marty Rowland.
He had begun working with the Caseys in 1986, had enrolled in John A. Gupton College not long after, and was on the verge of graduating and becoming a fully licensed funeral director and embalmer. I was there to help set up the giant handwritten journals and ledgers for the businesses—the funeral home, the office supply store, and Leon Johnson Funeral Home, which we had also acquired and which now shared office space with their former nemesis. To say having life-long competitors working out of the same building was interesting is probably one of the greatest understatements ever made. But everyone tried to play nicely together, and over time the competition became teamwork instead.
Not long afterwards, necessity drug us into the computer age with Marty following right along behind, tackling the day-to-day entry of information for the office supply store and basically being the responsible party for all things related to inventory and pricing. Over time we discovered he had a knack for the computer work—and that Quick Books could be a tool of Satan if you ever allowed it to go rogue—an observation that has absolutely nothing to do with this blog but had everything to do with whether or not Marty and I could manage to balance the office supply store bank account.
Over the years we developed a good working relationship. I knew Marty was dedicated to the business and the families we served, an area he could focus more on once we closed the store and sold the building to a local attorney. His aptitude for computers allowed him to easily adapt to the latest technology (like when we introduced memorial videos) . . . and his compassion and empathy for the grieving families allowed him to assist them at a time and in a way that very few others could. It was a responsibility and a ministry he took seriously with a dedication that defined his work as a funeral director and embalmer.
But Marty was more than his profession and, as is so often the case, I didn’t know how much more until I read his obituary. I had no clue he was an athlete, being named the Most Valuable Player on Chester County High’s football team his senior year. And I didn’t know his proficiency in baseball earned him a scholarship to Freed-Hardeman from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration before coming to work with the Caseys. I did know he was a motorcycle enthusiast—I just didn’t realize that was how he met his wife Melissa. Which probably explains why the Bumpus Harley Davidson dealership in Jackson hosted their wedding.
If you want to know what Marty enjoyed in this life, then read his obituary. But if you want to know the impact he had on this world, then go to our website and read the messages left on his Tribute Wall by those who have known him the longest or experienced his compassion and professionalism during their times of loss. The words found there speak of a life well lived, one committed to serving his fellowman. They speak of the life of Marty Andrew Rowland.
About the author: Lisa Shackelford Thomas is a fourth-generation member of a family that’s been in funeral service since 1926 and has worked with Shackelford Funeral Directors in Savannah, Tennessee for over 45 years. Any opinions expressed here are hers and hers alone and may or may not reflect the opinions of other Shackelford family members or staff.
