San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari said his decision to take up a second job, running his late father's funeral home, has been a struggle.
Ferrari's father, Vince Ferrari, died at the age of 70 in December of last year and the sheriff shortly after took up running his father's funeral home, according to a KRQE news story.
The late Derald "Vince" Ferrari
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"I still struggle with it, to be honest with you," Ferrari said. "I haven’t had time to mourn my father because I’ve been trying to help everybody else through their loss right now."
About seven years prior to his death, Vince Ferrari and his wife, Helen, owners and operators of Wal Art Gallery and Arroyo Trading Co, started Farmington Funeral Home. It was in the funeral home that Ferrari "found his true calling helping people at their worst time," his obituary said.
"He never knew a stranger," the obituary continued. "He cared deeply for his community and took pride in those he served."
The elder Ferrari's death left his son as both sheriff and the funeral home's new co-owner in the middle of a ongoing pandemic.
"We were extremely busy," Ferrari said. "It was difficult. It was difficult on mom."
COVID-19 has hit San Juan County and the local sheriff's department very hard.
"It's just the amount of loss we've experienced," Ferrari told KRQE. "You know, per capita, we're in the national spotlight. We've had deputies and some of my civilian staff that have contracted COVID, which is problematic."
It was Ferrari who secured a mobile morgue for the county in November as COVID-19 related deaths surged.
"The amount of decedents we were taking in (we were) coming very close to not having the ability to properly house them," he said.
The funeral home's decedents is up at least 30% because of the pandemic, and November was its busiest month ever. Ferrari said that on especially difficult days, his father's advice helps him keep going.
"My dad taught me long ago, he said, 'Son, take care of business now and panic later,' and that's exactly what I've done," Ferrari said.