Funeral home damaged by storm gets new location

Feb. 04--Ellen Gladden could feel the weight of the commitment she had made to the original owner as she sloshed through the flood-damaged Paye Funeral Home the day after Hurricane Matthew blew through town.

Gladden had returned to her hometown of Fayetteville after retirement in 1998 to help her sister, Maybob, and her brother-in-law, Jimmy Paye, run the business. Paye Funeral Home is one of the city's oldest African-American funeral homes, established in 1957 in the Payes' residence on Bragg Boulevard.

Jimmy Paye died in 2005, his wife four years later.

About two weeks before Matthew hit on Oct. 8, 2016, a September tropical storm unleashed severe flooding to parts of Fayetteville and the Cape Fear region. The funeral home on Murchison Road had flood damage, and employees were refurbishing the place.

The funeral home never closed after that first storm in late September.

Then Hurricane Matthew hit.

"When I walked in there," she said, alluding to the day following that ominous Saturday in October, "I felt like I was totally defeated. I felt there was no future for me and Paye Funeral Home. I felt like I was going against the commitment I made with Mr. Paye."

But even then, the funeral home remained in business, thanks to a good Samaritan in the same line of work.

Come Thursday, Paye Funeral Home is holding a ribbon cutting and relocation opening at 11 a.m. at its new facility at 2013-B Ramsey St.

The former site, a large brick building with a memorial chapel at 515 Murchison Road, has been condemned, according to Gladden.

"We'll never be in there again," she said from the new building, former home to International Minute Press and Daily Walk Ministries. "Our hope is to build another funeral home on Murchison Road, across from Fayetteville State, on heir property left by mom and dad."

She said the former building was a total loss, and she was unable to draw financial assistance from the government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency does not offer grant assistance to businesses; the agency does provide referrals for business owners.

Paye Funeral Home did not have insurance coverage, Gladden said. She added that the money to get the mortuary back in full operation -- more than $500,000-- was provided by her and her sister, Dolores Brinkley of New York City.

Lost in the flooding was vintage furniture, lamps, tables, records and other paperwork.

"This is the blessing," she said with dramatic flair.

Ben Chambers, the general manager of Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home, got in touch with Gladden and offered Paye Funeral Home space and whatever was needed.

"She was worried that a lot of people would think they were closed," said Jernigan-Warren operations manager James Lancaster. "They just wanted to help those who did call. They didn't have anywhere to meet families except in their homes. Whatever they needed, Ben wanted to make it happen for them."

"I shouted to the Lord," Gladden said, her face beaming.

"Can you believe it?"

For about a year, Lancaster said, Paye Funeral Home probably used its facilities about 10 times.

When the director of the N.C. Funeral Board told Gladden she could not keep the business pre-need files at her home, where she maintained a temporary office in her living room, they began looking for something temporary.

The new site is less than a mile from the former Murchison Road location.

"It's a legacy. We're very happy to be back," she said. "It's not a job for us. It's a calling."

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at mfutch@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.

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