History & Staff
Our History & Staff
We have years of experience caring for families, from all walks of life. Each family comes to us because they know we are leaders in our profession, dedicated to excellence in service, and have the highest integrity.
Our History
Mothe Funeral Homes, LLCs, a leader in death care serving Southern Louisiana with funeral services and cemeteries, is continuing a pattern of growth and geographic expansion by maintaining the values with which the company was founded in 1895.
Six Generations Strong
• First Generation: Guillaume Mothe (1847-1907)
• Second: Emile J. Mothe, Sr. (1876-1944)
• Third: Emile J. Mothe, Jr. (1905-1960) & Charles J.D. Gerrets, Jr. (1907-1988) (husband of Camille Mothe)
• Fourth: Emile J. Mothe, III (1930-2003), Boyd L. Mothe, Sr. (1933–present), & Charles J.D. Gerrets, III (1933-2004).
• Fifth: Boyd L. Mothe, Jr. and Laurie Mothe Knowles
• Sixth: Nicole Mothe, Kathryn Mothe Illg, and Boyd “Beau” Mothe, III
Guillaume Mothe began business operations as “G. Mothe & Co., Entrepeneurs de Pompes Funebres et Embaumeurs” in New Orleans, LA providing carriages for all occasions and undertaking services across from the old French Opera House at 817 Rue Toulouse between Bourbon Street and Dauphine Street in the French Quarter.
Emile J. Mothe, Sr. became one of the first licensed embalmers in New Orleans and held funerals in private homes. In 1895, he opened the first funeral home operations on the Westbank of New Orleans located at 222 Morgan Street in Algiers Point, which was destroyed by the 1898 Algiers fire. He moved to 40 Morgan Street, and later 619 Seguin Street which was large enough to house an Embalming Room, Casket Selection Room, and Garage for Carriages. Additional locations were acquired including 313 Opelousas Avenue in Algiers and 505 Amelia Street in Gretna.
Emile J. Mothe, Jr. and Charles J.D. Gerrets, Jr. made historical steps in the family business by building the elegant colonial style home in 1938 at 1300 Vallette Street, the ‘Showplace of Algiers,’ which remains in operation today.
Boyd L. Mothe, Sr. obtained his Funeral Directors License in 1959. During this time, further progress was evidenced by the addition of the funeral home at 2100 Westbank Expressway in Harvey in 1961, and the first funeral home in Plaquemines Parish at 151 East Gulf Drive in Buras/Triumph in 1966. Hurricane Camille destroyed this site in 1969 and the entire facility was rebuilt that same year. This location was again destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina.
Boyd L. Mothe, Jr. obtained his Embalmer and Funeral Directors License and joined the family business in 1979. The Mothes built the Westbank’s first formal Chapel at the Harvey home, acquired Westlawn Memorial Park Cemeteries in Gretna in 1987, Brown-McGehee Funeral Home and Hillview Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bogalusa, LA in 1991, and Falgout Funeral Homes in Houma, Raceland, Lockport, and Galliano, LA in 1994. In 1995, under the guidance of Boyd L. Mothe, Jr., the Mothe family celebrated their 100th Anniversary with the opening of the new Acadian-Colonial style funeral home located at 7040 Lapalco Boulevard in Marrero. Samart-Mothe Funeral Homes, LLCs in Matthews, LA and Cutoff, LA were purchased in 1997.
Laurie Mothe Knowles becomes a licensed Funeral Director and is named Secretary-Treasurer in 2000. This same year, the Boyd L. Mothe, Sr. Trust purchases all Mothe Funeral Homes, LLC Holdings. In 2008, Boyd L. Mothe Jr. purchases all Mothe Funeral Homes, LLC Holdings, becoming Chief Operating Officer.
In 2006, Nicole Mothe joins the family business and becomes a licensed Funeral Director. Kathryn Mothe Illg joins the family business in 2010, also as a Funeral Director.
The Mothe Funeral Homes, LLCs family-owned business thrives where other family businesses have failed. The company's success can be attributed to its ability to combine an old-fashioned business philosophy (of personal attention, service and hands-on-approach) with sophisticated growth strategies. “What has enabled us to survive and grow is the ability to maintain a professional business climate within our family structure,” Boyd Mothe, Jr., vice president of Mothe Funeral Homes, LLCs, says in explaining the company’s growth and success. “We combine that with a dedication to providing uncompromising service and value.”
"You can walk into our business and ask to see the owner and one of the Mothes will be there. We make ourselves available and pride ourselves on traditional family values and traditional funerals."
Mothe says personal, caring service and a willingness to work with families on the smallest of details have contributed to Mothe Funeral Homes, LLC’s success.
“Families tell us what they would like us to do and we get those things done,” he says. “We coordinate religious rites along with the place of interment and we customize the needs of the family to create a memorable service.”
Together they will continue to serve the death-related needs of these communities, and have helped to project and expand this family business into the 21st century.
