Rob Marggraf

By: Colin Nollet and Mae Rines

Most people see death but once in their life; some see it every day of their lives. Rob Marggraf is one of those people who see death on a 9:00 to 5:00 basis. Rob is one of the lead workers at Tasker’s Funeral Home in Dover. He has been in the business since a very young age, following in the footsteps of his father. When he was young, Rob lived in Massachusetts where his father practiced as a funeral director. His father never owned a funeral home, but Rob frequently heard about his dad’s work at the dinner table.

His father never brought his “real” work home, so Rob didn’t see a dead body until he was around ten or eleven. While running errands, Rob’s dad took Rob to the funeral so that he could finish a few things. Rob waited for his dad in the embalming room while his dad picked up a few things. He described the room as having tables with bodies on them and that all he could help but do was just stand and look around. The bodies weren’t of people he knew so he didn’t feel sad; he was only impressed. When he saw his first embalming, Rob said that he wasn’t disgusted by it; instead, the process fascinated him.

His father’s field of work intrigued him, but he didn’t pursue that field at first; Rob went to college for European history in hopes of becoming a teacher. After college, Rob worked in the marketing business but was not happy with what he was accomplishing. Sometime in the ‘90s Rob started working on and off with his dad, helping out with all the different jobs. In 1994 he finally decided to go back to school at UNH to get his degree in mortuary science. He has been a licensed Funeral Director since ’96.

Rob didn’t start out at the Tasker Funeral Home. He first started working for a larger funeral company. He lived in Dover with his wife and three kids, during this time, and commuted to Manchester for work. He ended up becoming part of a Dover “Gravestone committee.” Rob met Grover Tasker through this board, for Grover was one of its head members. When Grover’s son, Lee, quit the family business, Grover asked Rob to take Lee’s place at the Tasker Funeral Home.

Rob has been a supervisor at the Tasker Funeral Home for five years now and does many things there. Rob acts as a head for parts of the business and does anything from taking phone calls to embalming the bodies. He is part of the process for every body and funeral and his part varies so that he always has something to do. He is grateful to the Taskers for the job but he is also very close to them. He described the Tasker family as very good people in their business and their community. He really loves his job and his family and he would love to meet you, but you might have to die first.