John Cox can tell you almost anything about Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home.
He's worked there for nearly 70 years.
The former owner of the funeral home will finally retire on May 31, when it closes its doors for good.
At 86, Cox still serves as the funeral director.
He was only recently notified by Houston-based Service Corporation International, which owns the business, that it would close at the end of the month.
Wilson Funeral Home, which operates out of the same building at 513 Tennessee Ave., will also close.
Cox owned Bartlett-Burdette-Cox from 1976 to 1996 before selling it to Stewart Enterprises Inc., which was later acquired by Service Corporation International.
Cox said he noticed that business started to decline after he sold the home.
In the 1990s, "I was doing 250 [funerals] a year over a five-year period," he said.
Service Corporation "just lost business to everyone."
But that wasn't enough to keep Cox out of the firm that's employed him since he was a teen.
"It's my life. Thats the only reason I'm working now - I've served the people of the community all these years," Cox said.
While he no longer owns the business, Cox owns the property it sits on. He is considering selling the real estate when the lease is up in November.
"I can't do anything until then," he said.
He first started working at the funeral home washing cars as a senior in high school.
After owner Garnet Burdette died in 1974, Cox said, he bought the funeral home from Burdette's estate in 1976.
One of Charleston's oldest funeral homes, it first opened in 1918 on the East End before the owners built its current site, which was finished in 1930.
In those days, funeral homes were rare, Cox said.
"Back then, everyone just used houses," he said. "They built a brand new building ... it had a pipe organ and everything."
Cox's decades-long career inspired others to pursue the funeral industry, such as Terry Bollinger, who owns Bollinger Funeral Home and Good Shepherd Mortuary.
Bollinger got his start in the business working for Bartlett-Burdette-Cox as a teenager doing the same odd jobs Cox was tasked with in the 1940s.
Bollinger said that experience set the stage for his own career in the funeral industry.
He said seeing the home close is "sad, because the building brings back so many memories."
"I didn't anticipate this happening," Bollinger said.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.