LITTLE VILLAGE — The first time Manny Martinez stepped inside the funeral home at 25th and Pulaski, he was terrified.
"I was 5," Martinez, now 50, said. "I remember clinging to my mom and not letting go of her side. When you're from [Mexico] ... they always scare you as a kid by telling you these scary stories about the dead — and that the dead come back to life. So if you're going to a funeral home ... yeah, you're going to be scared."
But when Martinez returned to that same building 40 years later, it was with a mix of pride and excitement.
The longtime funeral director and embalmer had purchased the property at 2534 S. Pulaski Road and renamed it Martinez Funeral Home.
It's the only funeral home in all of Little Village — a West Side neighborhood that houses nearly 80,000 people — according to Jaime di Paulo, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.
And September marks six years since Martinez set up shop.
Most of his clientele is local, and as many as 60 percent of clients ask for help shipping their loved ones home to a native country such as Mexico, Guatemala or Ecuador.
"I think a lot of immigrants come [to the U.S.] with aspirations of working and making their little fortune, and then returning to their homeland," Martinez said, "especially with Mexico and Latin America being so close."
Martinez himself was born in Mexico and emigrated to Chicago when he was 5 years old.
After he finished school, Martinez worked as a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department before he realized, "I can't see myself being 40 and working as a paramedic," Martinez said.
Switching to the funeral-home industry seemed like a natural progression for the then-25-year-old.
Since he already had a strong science and anatomy background from his paramedic training, Martinez said learning how to embalm came easily. And he loved being able to help people through rough times.
Martinez inside his office at 2534 S. Pulaski Road. [DNAinfo/Erica Demarest]
"I saw it as an opportunity and as a service to the Hispanic community, to people who come from the same place [as me]," Martinez said.
"I believe you're born to do this because it's not an easy job to do," he continued. "You have to deal with the living when they're in their worst moments after they've lost a loved one. And you have to deal with embalming, the science aspect of it. You wear multiple hats in this business."
And that business runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Once his office is closed for the day, any phone calls to his building are transferred to Martinez's cell phone.
On the day of his interview with DNAinfo Chicago, Martinez started work at 4:30 a.m. when someone called asking him to retrieve a body. Transporting bodies, even locally in a car, requires special licensing and insurance that very few people have, he said. Martinez then oversaw a wake and burial and wasn't planning to head home until 6 p.m.
"He does a lot to give back," di Paulo said, noting that Martinez is a founding member of the Little Village Rotary Club. "And he charges a fair price."
When relatives want to bury a loved one in Mexico, for instance, Martinez charges $4,000. That includes embalming, a viewing and service, commercial airfare to send the body to Mexico City or Guadalajara, and help navigating paperwork with the Illinois Secretary of State and Mexican Consulate. Di Paulo said he's seen similar services in other areas run as high as $8,000.
Martinez (far left) helped found the Little Village Rotary Club. [Facebook/LittleVillageRotary]
"The chamber sees him as a very good asset in our community," di Paulo said. "It's one of the types of businesses that nobody thinks of ... until something happens to you."
Despite the long hours, Martinez said he loves his job.
"You're still human," he said. "You still have cases that tug at your heart, and often times, it's not easy."
But Martinez has made running his business a family affair. His mother and sister help out with visitations, and two of his nieces work in the office on weekends.
As for his kids? Martinez used to bring them to funeral homes when they were young — just as his mother once did.
"We played hide-and-go-seek," Martinez said. "I made it fun. It was normal."
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
