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Bayonne Life on the Peninsula Spring | Winter 2022/2023
Migliaccio Funeral Home & Cremation Services
Story by Daniel Israel Photos Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
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Kennedy Boulevard is a small local business that has been operating in Bayonne for more than a century. Currently under the management of Kevin Stapleton, his wife Hermineh and their Co-Director Michael Bruzzio, the business has remained in the family for all those years.
The business was founded as Migliaccio Funeral Home in 1919 by Calabrian immigrants, husband and wife Ferdinand and Filomena Migliaccio who were also Kevin’s great-grandparents. They originally opened the business out of a storefront apartment at 20th Street and Avenue C in Bayonne.
Current Location Circa 1953
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Celebrated 100 Years in 2019
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
A staple in the community for over 100 years
“We operated from a storefront for a long time, because that’s where funeral homes were at the time,” Kevin said.
21st and Boulevard Location
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
However, shortly after opening the business, tragedy struck. Ferdinand was hit by a bus and faced life-threatening injuries.
“He got hit by a bus practically right after they started the business,” Kevin said. “But he didn’t die. He was comatose for a while, and Filomena was taking care of him and taking care of the business.”
While it was a tough world for female business owners during that time period, Filomena persisted. Kevin said this was because she not only ran the business but cared for her wounded husband Ferdinand.
“Back then, if it was a woman running a business, she wouldn’t have gotten any respect,” Kevin said. “She
actually wouldn’t have been able to do it. But because she was taking care of her ailing husband, she was given the respect of a man by the men in the community.”
Ferdinand died in 1921, but the business was kept alive by the strength of Filomena. That was not an easy task for a woman during that time as Kevin noted, but she kept things going.
William takes over from Filomena
The business was eventually handed over to Ferdinand and Filomena’s young son William Migliaccio, Kevin’s grandfather. They also had another daughter Rose.
“They had two kids, Bill and his sister Rose,” Kevin said. “She was not suited for the funeral business, but he
William Migliaccio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
35th Street Location in 1952
William Migliaccio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Flyer for Migliaccio's Circa 1961
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Current Location Circa 1912
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Filomena Migliaccio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Ferdinand Migliaccio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Kevin Stapleton
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
wanted to do it from a young age and went to school for that. He took over and he was working it with my greatgrandmother.”
William and his wife Mildred moved the funeral home to a new storefront location at 21st Street and Kennedy Boulevard, then known as Hudson County Boulevard. The funeral home eventually outgrew that location.
The funeral home briefly moved to a house on West 35rd Street. However, in 1953, along with their only child and Kevin’s mother Carol Ann, William and Mildred moved the business to its current location at 33rd Street and Kennedy Boulevard.
Mildred Migliaccio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Carol Ann Stapleton
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Mildred, Kevin, and Carol
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Peter Stapleton
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
Michael Bruzzio
Courtesy of Migliaccio Funeral Home
“Bill ran the business with my grandmother, Millie,” Kevin said. “She didn’t have a license, she just had a great personality. So she ran the business with my grandfather until he passed and then she was here as a figurehead.”
The business continued to grow, but then in 1968 at the age of 56, William passed away. Shortly after William’s death, Filomena passed away too. Once again, the women in the family stepped up.
Mildred Migliaccio’s dynamic personality continued to fuel the business alongside a temporary manager. That was, until their daughter, now Carol Ann Stapleton, finished her licensing and became the new manager in 1976.
“Back when my great-grandfather founded it, there was no regulatory board or anything,” Kevin said. “Funeral directors were actually furniture makers. They were the ones who made caskets. That’s how the business evolved. Furniture makers would become the funeral directors, and that’s what my great-grandfather was at the time. By the time my grandfather passed away in the ‘60s, you had to be a licensed funeral director. You had to have a license to maintain the business per a state requirement. So for the next couple of years, we would hire a manager as my mother went back to college and got her license so we were able to keep it in the family.”
While raising three children, Kevin, Peter Jr. and Tricia, Carol Ann continued to grow and define the business for
the next 40 years. She was first assisted by her husband at the time and later by Peter, who was licensed in 2000. Mildred passed away in 2002 and Rose in 2009.
“My mother took over basically a few years after my grandfather died,” Kevin said. “She ran it with my dad at the time until they divorced and he left and she ran it then with my brother for quite a few years.”
Exceeding a 100-year milestone in Bayonne
However, eventually her son Kevin would take over the business in 2014. Now he, his wife Hermineh and CoDirector Michael continue the family’s long tradition.
“My mom stepped down and I came back to Bayonne in 2014,” Kevin said. “I had been doing something else for that 30 years prior.”
In 2019, the now renamed Migliaccio Funeral Home & Cremation Services celebrated the milestone of serving the community for 100 years. As of November of 2022, the business is 103 years old.
Kevin is proud to carry the torch of the now century-old Bayonne business. He said that Migliaccio Funeral Home is one of the few funeral homes in the city still open after around 100 years.
“It’s cool, you know, there’s very few local businesses that have been around that long,” Kevin said. “If you look in Bayonne, most of the businesses that have that longevity are funeral homes. I think it’s just the nature of the business. People just went where they went and that’s how it evolved.”
According to Kevin, there is even a funeral home open next door to Migliaccio Funeral Home. He said this is because there used to be different funeral homes for different ethnic groups at the time.
“Back when my grandfather bought this in the ‘50s, the Irish people went to the Irish, the Italians went to the Italians, and the Polish went to the Polish,” Kevin said. “That’s really all that was constituting the makeup of Bayonne at the time. Obviously, that’s changed, but I think it’s a very loyalistic business, or at least it was.”
Kevin keeps the funeral home alive now
Kevin grew up in Bayonne, attending the former Marist High School. After that, he went to college in Colorado.
“After college, I planned professional parties for two years,” Kevin said. “After that, I was an actor for 27 years.”
From planning parties professionally, to acting, Kevin had an array of other jobs before running the funeral home. But he knew what to do from when he used to work in the business when he was younger.
“I did this when I was in high school,” Kevin said. “That’s how I made my extra money. I worked with my mom and dad. When I was going to high school, I would work here at the funeral home. My grandmother lived upstairs, where I’m currently living, so I grew up over here. If I wanted to get my bicycle, it was always kept at the funeral home even though we lived across the street. So I was always over there and surrounded by the business.”
Living in the funeral home, Kevin’s grandparents kept the upstairs where they lived open to those visiting. Always being around his grandparents and the funeral home, he said that further exposed him to the industry.
“People would go down to visit a wake service then pop upstairs for coffee and cannolis,” Kevin said.
However, Kevin wasn’t able to just take over the business even though he had past experience. He had to go back to college to get a license, too.
“I had to go to mortuary college to get my license to be able to do this,” Kevin said. “I had already gone to college to get a degree, so it only made my mortuary schooling another year and a half.”
Passing on the Tradition
According to Kevin, it is an intensive process. He compared it to studying to go into a medical field of sorts.
“You have to learn the whole circulatory system,” Kevin said. “It’s
a medical field, except that if you make a mistake you’re not going to kill anybody.”
Now Kevin and his wife Hermineh live above the funeral home, taking on the task that Kevin’s parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did before him. They are assisted by CoDirector Michael and their new intern since March, David.
When it comes to passing on the tradition to another generation, Kevin said he is not forcing his children to learn the business. If they want to, they can, but it’s not mandatory, much like how his own parents approached the situation with him.
“I would never inflict anything upon them,” Kevin said. “My parents said that if I didn’t want to go into this, it was fine. I know when I was growing up, I didn’t. But I did learn the business from being around here and trying to make some extra money as a teenager. And now, here I am.” —
