New Waterford and Glace Bay are coal mining communities and this is where founder McGillivray worked prior to attending and graduating from the Boston School of Anatomy and Embalming in 1936. It was agreed by mine manager Dave Morrison at the time, that McGillivray’s job would be open in the mines if he did not like the funeral profession as a career. It is a matter of record that he dedicated his life to the profession and the rest is history.
In 1938, McGillivray purchased the F.M. Brown Funeral Homes. The new name of the funeral home was McGillivray and Dunlop, the latter being Archie Dunlop, brother-in-law of McGillivray.
