102 Green Green
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Undertaker’s life
Green joe louie Green YEARS IN BUSINESS louisa louie yook ching wong sandy wong brian wong BUSINESS BUSINESS YEARS IN BUSINESS
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Third generation runs Brusie Funeral Home
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Owners
Serving delicious Chinese food in Butte County since 1912, Tong Fong Low has become a popular, familyfriendly, locally owned and operated restaurant in Oroville. Just five years ago, Tong Fong Low opened a second location in Chico and it has quickly become a local favorite. Flavorful dishes and generous portions can always be found at Tong Fong Low, but this restaurant is more than just great food. The fast and friendly staff make you feel right at home. Don’t be surprised if they get to know you on a first name basis!
Tong Fong Low’s family members would also like to express much gratitude to their patrons for voting Tong Fong Low the “Best Restaurant in Oroville” for the past 5 years and “Best Asian Restaurant” for the past 3 years. Happy dining and good health to you!
Now celebrating over 100 years in business, the Tong Fong Low family is sincerely grateful to the community for it’s continued support.
chico / 2072 e. 20th st #100 / (530)898-1388 oroville / 2051 robinson st. / (530)533-1488 www.tongfonglow.com
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rape crisis Green intervention & prevention YEARS IN BUSINESS
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BUSINESS The next time you’re BUSINESS in a room with 6 people, think about this:
1 in 3 teens experience sexual or physical abuse or threats from a boyfriend or girlfriend in one year. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men were sexually abused before the age of 18. 1 in 5 men have experienced some form of sexual victimization in their lives. 1 in 3 women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. Why should you care?
They’re the person you share your dreams with, the people in your church group, your teenager’s best friend, the guy on your soccer team, the friend you meet for coffee, your daughter or son. The silence and shame must end! Since 1974, Rape Crisis Intervention & Prevention has been shedding light on this darkness. They are there to listen. Tell everyone you know: No. It is a complete sentence.
These are not numbers. They’re your mothers, grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, girlfriends, boyfriends, co-workers, extended family, next-door neighbors, friends and children.
530.342.rape (24-hour hotline) www.rapecrisis.org 26 CN&R February 20, 2014
M
arc Brusie has a distinct calmness about him as he speaks slowly and thoughtfully while answering questions about what it is like to own and operate a business that not only deals with death, but also actually relies on it to stay afloat. He is sitting in an office of the Brusie Funeral Home, which has occupied the same building, located at Broadway and Seventh streets in downtown Chico, for the past 72 years. The building itself is more than 125 years old and has housed a funeral home for the past 110 years. Brusie’s grandfather and grandmother, Warren Pope and Helen Brusie, bought into the business in 1941 and took it over the following year. The interior of the building is quiet and simply decorated with flower-print carpeting and antique furniture. There is an open box of tissues sitting on one of the pews in the funeral room and another in the adjoining waiting room. While somber, perhaps, the inside atmosphere is More info: more comforting than Learn more about depressing. Brusie Funeral Home at While Brusie has carwww.brusiefh.com ried on the family busior call 342-5642. ness, he said doing so was his choice after attending both Butte College and Chico State and dabbling in other professions, including road construction. “My parents never encouraged me to come into the business or discouraged me,” the 46-year-old Brusie explained. “It was the same with my sister Amy, who is also in the business. We grew up always knowing that if we would like to work in the business, that it would be available, but that they weren’t
Marc Brusie tried his hand at other professions before deciding to run the family business. PHOTO BY TOM GASCOYNE
expecting it.” Brusie’s wife, Janice, whom he married in 1995, is the business’ chief financial officer. They have two children, ages 16 and 18, and put no pressure on them to take over when the time comes. He said the job of running a business that deals with death on a daily basis is not as difficult as an outsider might think. “When people come here, they don’t come here for counseling,” he explained. “They don’t come here to discuss with me their grief. Although they are grieving, they are not here for me to take care of that. They handle the grief within their family, or maybe with their minister—people they are very close to.” He said the funeral home’s job is providing a service that involves timing, logistics, phone calls to vendors and services. “We have that expertise on who to talk to, what to ask for, how to get those things done and in place with services such as the cemetery, the grave digger, the grave liner and the casket. “I think the public’s perception is that there is a lot of crying, a lot of grief and that it must be very difficult for us to deal with. It is tragic when young people pass away— those get to you,” he said. “But on the whole, we are working hard to get a lot done so there is a meaningful funeral for that family.” —Tom Gascoyne tomg@newsreview.com
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