Our Story
James (Jim) Humphrey
Jim Humphrey was a first-generation funeral director, that founded the funeral home that bears his name. Jim was a funeral director for over 40 years. He served many families over his career before passing the "torch" to his son James. As a member of the community, he always felt that it was his responsibility to help families through the most difficult time in their life and not influence them towards a choice with which they are not comfortable. Now that same philosophy continues today with the leadership of his son who continues to operate the family business.
Jim started his career in funeral services at the age of 16 having worked for a local Pottsville funeral home. After graduating from Pottsville High School in 1963 he went on to college and graduated in 1967. He then served in the Army during the Vietnam War from 1969-1972. In 1973 after his service to his country, Jim attended the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. In 1974 Jim graduated from mortuary school and returned to Pottsville to begin his year of internship. After serving his internship he received his funeral directors license on December 17, 1975. He then joined many local organizations in Pottsville, as well as state organizations, such as the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association where he served in numerous capacities as, acting executive director, district governor and later served as President of the association from 1983-1984 being the first and only funeral director in Pottsville and Schuylkill County to serve as President.
In September of 1985 Jim left the funeral home he had worked at in the pursuit to open his own funeral home so he could serve the community the way he believed should be served. During this time Jim was assisting numerous funeral homes in Schuylkill County.
On November 11, 1986, Jim and his wife Linda purchased the property at 1112 West Market St., which housed the former Morgan Home for Funerals. On February 3rd 1987 they established the James E. Humphrey Funeral Home where they then raised their two sons, James and Todd above the funeral home. In the beginning, the first 6 years were difficult, Jim and Linda had only served a total of 38 families. During this time Jim helped out other funeral directors to make ends meet, but later our caring, compassionate services, attention to detail and quality and philosophy of providing for the needs of the families we've served has been allowing the funeral home to grow.
Linda & Jim Humphrey
Since then numerous updates have taken place at the funeral home. In 2003 the property at 1116 West Market St., was purchased for a small parking lot to better accommodate families for funerals. The property at 1116 W Market St., was demolished in 2008. In October of 2010 our funeral home was able to purchase the property at 1114 West Market St., which was between the funeral home and the initial parking lot. By July of 2011 the building was demolished and additional parking was added to our smaller lot, making our parking lot, the largest funeral home parking lot in Pottsville. We have also made other improvements such as new interior and exterior lighting, windows and air-conditioning.
James B. Humphrey & James E. Humphrey
Now after more than 30 years the 2nd generation of the Humphrey family is continuing the legacy. In 1992 Jim and Linda's oldest son James told his parents he wanted to be a funeral director. As a child James watched everything his parents did when preparing for a funeral and dealing with families. In June of 1996 James worked is his first funeral doing minor jobs, riding in the hearse and putting funeral flags on cars. As James got older he was given more responsibilities around the funeral home. In 2004 he graduated from Pottsville Area High School and later attended Penn State University. In 2009 he enrolled in the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science online program and graduated in 2011. Having completed his year of internship James became a licensed Pennsylvania funeral director joining his father at the funeral home. In June of 2019 James bought the funeral home due Jim's declining health and became the 2nd generation owner of the funeral home. On August 16, 2019 Jim died peacefully at home. Now continuing operations of the funeral home, James's goal is to offer a wider range of services to ease the burden on families, and to continue to serve Pottsville and surrounding area's with the same quality, care, compassion, and dignity.
