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JANUARY 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
An exquisitely illustrated, uplifting story reminding us all that
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“Although we are missed, we’re not really gone.
We’re right here still, and life moves on.”
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As seen on Lifetime Television Network’s
The Balancing Act
WINNER
OF SIX
LITERARY
AWARDS
Living Legends of AAMI and PIMS
1899 he founded
Churchman Funeral Home
in Orange,
NJ at 3 Baldwin Street. He was the first African American to
own a hearse and coaches during a time of horse drawn livery.
His son,
J. E. Churchman, Sr.
was licensed in 1918.
James E. Churchman, Jr. was born in 1924, and was a 1948
graduate of
McAllister School of Embalming
. James, Jr. at-
tended Howard University in Washington, DC before being
drafted into the United States Navy during World War II,
where he worked as an operating room technician.
He joined his father in the business when he returned
home from the service, and
has owned and operated the
business for over 60 years.
In 1976, his children
James
Churchman, III
and
Dr.
Edith Churchman
became
fourth generation New Jersey licensed funeral directors and
embalmers who serve the community.
Joseph A. “Sonny”Walton – Virginia Beach, Virginia
Joseph “Sonny” Walton
began his career in funeral ser-
vice shortly after graduation from Norfolk’s Booker T. Wash-
ington High School in 1950. With a desire to serve human-
ity he enrolled in the
McAllister School of Embalming
Class
of 1952 in New York City. Upon graduation, he enlisted in
the United States Army and served proudly during the Ko-
rean Conflict. Upon discharge from military service, Sonny
Walton took and passed the National Funeral Exam after be-
ing away from funeral studies for more than three years. This
is a feat he is still proud of today and never hesitates to en-
courage young students studying for their license. In 1955,
he began work as an apprentice for the late
Daniel Brown
of
Brown’s Funeral Service
in Lawrenceville VA. He often
remarks about his daily task which included washing dishes
Joseph A, “Sonny”Walton
and cars, light duty construc-
tion, and of course removals
and embalming.
Trustworthiness, compas-
sion and prayers have been
benchmarks of the
Walton
Funeral Home
of Virgin-
ia Beach, which opened its
doors in 1967, founded by
Joseph and his late wife,
June
S. Walton
of Princess Anne
County, VA. Joseph Walton
welcomes the addition of
his son,
Joseph Frank Wal-
ton
as a licensee to the firm
and the funeral education di-
rector at
Tidewater College,
making the Walton Funeral
Home a true family affair.
Theodore Jay “Teddy” Lee
–White Plains, New York
When
Theodore Jay Lee,
Jr
. was born in 1937,
The-
odore Jay Lee, Sr
. was es-
tablished in funeral ser-
vice, having founded
Lee’s
Funeral Home
in White
Plains, NY in 1915. Teddy
grew up around the funer-
al business, and as he grew
up he did various chores
around the funeral home
such as cleaning, casketing
the bodies, taking death cer-
tificates to the local clerk,
filing paperwork, and also
riding in the hearse when a
body had to be transported.
He’d also go with his father
to a nearby cemetery for col-
ored people with staff to dig
graves. As young Teddy got
older he received more so-
phisticated tasks around the
family business. He gradu-
ated from high school and
spent three years in the Unit-
ed States Army, and then re-
turned home and graduated
Cum Laude from
McAllis-
ter School of Embalming
in
April 1962.
Also in 1962, Teddy met
Jo Anne Futrell
, a regis-
tered nurse. They married
in 1964 and she became a
licensed funeral director in
1968 so she could spend