Margeret McKenny DuPree and her unusual career choice
Margaret McKenney had a dream: she wanted to become a funeral director. At that time, in the first half of the 20th century, morticians and preachers were the two most respected professions in the black community, her son explains to me when I visit him in the family’s funeral home in North Philadelphia.
Margeret McKenney made her dream come true. She was born in Belvedere, South Carolina, on July 8, 1921, when segregation was still the law. But at the age of 6, Margaret moved with her family to North Philadelphia – and thus to the northern United States, where there was no official racial segregation. In 1949, she earned her license as a funeral director. Two years later, she married Troy E. DuPree, Sr. With him, she started her own funeral home and also raised four children. After her husband’s death, she continued the family business with her youngest son, Kenneth.
Margeret McKenny Dupree is now 101 years old. She lives in the apartment above the funeral home. His mother is in good spirits, says Kenneth DuPree, but an interview would be too strenuous for her. Very sad. How I would have loved to meet the old lady in person.