Richard W. Tilghman, 79, owned funeral home

Richard W. Tilghman, 79, of Pemberton, founder and longtime owner of Tilghman Funeral Home in New Egypt, died Saturday of multiple organ failure at his home.

After interning and working at two funeral homes, Mr. Tilghman founded his New Egypt Funeral home in 1960. In the first year, he handled just over a dozen funerals.

By the time Mr. Tilghman sold the business to his son Dennis in 2003, the funeral home was handling about 130 funerals a year.

"He liked working with people," Dennis Tilghman said. "And he was nice. If you are nice, they are going to come back."

Mr. Tilghman raised his seven children in a funeral home he purchased on Main Street in 1960. He converted the downstairs into the funeral home and the upstairs into the family home.

"We just knew we had to be very quiet," Dennis Tilghman said.

For many years, Mr. Tilghman balanced other jobs on top of running the funeral home so he could provide for his large family, his son said. He did everything from pumping gas across the street to selling cars at a nearby dealership.

As a volunteer firefighter for the New Egypt Fire Company during the pre-cell phone and pager days, Mr. Tilghman was in charge of pushing the alarm button for the firehouse, said his wife, Mae Nixon Tilghman.

Fire calls would come in to the funeral home, and Mr. Tilghman or whoever was manning the home at the time would ring the bell, alerting area firefighters to report for duty.

Mr. Tilghman was a member and once served as president of the Burlington County Funeral Directors Association. He also belonged to state and national associations.

Born and raised in Jobstown, Mr. Tilghman graduated from Pemberton High School in 1950.

After high school, Mr. Tilghman worked a few different jobs before he was offered a job at his sister's husband's funeral home, Collins & Son, in Pemberton.

"He had thought about being a minister," his wife said. "He thought doing this [funerals] he could help people in a similar way."

Mr. Tilghman went to Eckels College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia and in 1957 received his funeral director license.

For a few years he worked at Shevlin Funeral Home in Mount Holly before starting his own funeral home in 1960.

Mr. Tilghman was involved in numerous community organizations. He was one of the founders of the New Egypt Elk club in 1977. He was also member and president of the New Egypt Lions Club and the Woodruff Rod and Gun Club.

Shortly after his first wife, Ethel Sever Tilghman, died in 1987, Mr. Tilghman moved to Pemberton. He married Mae Nixon in 1990.

Despite his grim business, Mr. Tilghman was known as a jokester with a good sense of humor, his wife said.

"Everybody loved him," she said. "He sat on the front porch and always had a crew to talk to."

He was also strong-willed and particular with certain business details.

"What dad wanted, dad got," his son Dennis said.

It came as no surprise that Mr. Tilghman left behind specific funeral arrangements: from typing up his own death certificate to ordering his casket. The luncheon at the New Egypt firehouse is planned, as are the flower arrangements.

"He knows what families go through," his wife said.

In addition to his wife and son Dennis, Mr. Tilghman is survived by sons Douglas and Mark; daughters Debra, Wendy, Heidi, and Kim Redford; 11 grandchildren; and two brothers.

Calling hours will be from 3 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Atkinson Hall in New Egypt. A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Juliustown United Methodist Church in Juliustown.

Interment will be in Jacobstown Cemetery in Jacobstown.