There was only one thing that would keep Marion Dollar from renewing his licenses in the funeral services industry: Death. Though he’d been retired since 2005, he still kept his state license current, friends and family said.
“It was his way of keeping connected to the industry, and to his friends,” said his daughter, Gloria L. Dollar. “He was determined to keep up with all that was going on, and get his licenses renewed when it was time.”
Marion Wilbur Dollar, of Atlanta, who ran his own funeral home from 1973 until he retired, died March 4 from complications of a stroke and cardiac problems. He was 78.
A graveside service has been scheduled for noon Monday at South-View Cemetery, Atlanta. Young Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Dollar’s interest in the funeral industry began when he was a high school student at Gillespie-Selden Institute, a Presbyterian boarding school, in Cordele. After he graduated in 1955, he moved to Atlanta with plans to attend mortuary school. Dollar worked for six months to save money so he could enroll at the Atlanta College of Mortuary Science. While in school he worked at Ivey Brothers Funeral Home and after he graduated in 1957, Dollar moved to Miami, Fla., where he worked for another funeral home.
In 1959, Dollar moved back to Georgia and worked for Banks Funeral Home for several years, before opening his own funeral home, Dollar Funeral Home, in the Kirkwood neighborhood, said his daughter, who lives in Atlanta.
Before he opened his funeral home, Dollar married the former Betty G. Peeks. The couple had two children and were married for 27 years when she died in 1993.
Dollar not only ran his funeral home for 32 years, he took time to mentor those new to the industry. Nathan Gilbert met Dollar in the ‘80s, and remembers the veteran funeral director’s willingness to talk to others about the profession.
“He’d teach you everything he knew, if you were willing to learn” said Gilbert, who owns Darien Funeral Home in Darien. “He was so committed and dedicated to his profession, I think the only thing that would separate him from it was death.”
During his nearly 50 years in the funeral services industry, Dollar served as a mentor, adviser and counselor to students attending the Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Services in metro Atlanta.
Even in retirement, Dollar had a lot of good information to share, Gilbert said, adding, “He never passed up an opportunity to talk to people about the funeral business.”
In addition to his daughter, Dollar is survived by his son, Marion S. Dollar of Atlanta; sisters, Margaret McBride and Rosetta Dollar, both of Pompano Beach, Fla., and Lourie Edwards of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; and one granddaughter.
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