Beauty Softens Grief

Isaiah Owens and his Funeral Home business at West 120th St. Harlem

At the Owens Funeral Home on Malcolm X. Blvd and West 120th St. in Harlem, a dedicated professional will restore the deceased to a marvelous condition. Mr. Isaiah Owens has adopted the motto "where beauty softens your grief" as the way to highlight his art of making the custom of open caskets not only bearable but uplifting. In a documentary film about him, he said "If you gotta die, it's me you want to bury you... I'm the guy who puts a smile on your face. Other places, you just look dead." (Christine Turner "Homegoings" 2013).

For funerals, Mr. Owens often wears a top hat and tails to match the high style and seriousness of the farewells he stages. Casket deliveries arrive every day, and Owens directs over 300 funerals a year at the business he founded more than 40 years ago. His send-offs for such beloved figures as the National Black Theatre founder Dr. Barbara Ann Teer have become famous as elaborate community participatory rituals.

Owens Funeral Home surrounded by local churches

To manage his business amidst the traffic on the Avenue, he has to pull up his hearse on the sidewalk of the wide Boulevard. His workers have to maneuver down the steps to the lower level of the brownstone. This whole section of Malcolm X Boulevard is landmarked, and the facade of his business is well-maintained in the style of the early 20th century row-houses that lined the prosperous street.