April 2019

Page A38 APRI L 2019 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A JUDITH KAY “JUDY”ANKROM of Republic, MO died Feb- ruary 28, 2019 at the age of 74. A licensed preneed agent, she served Meadors Funer- al Home for 35 years as a li- censed funeral director and general manager. ROY ALOYSIUS BETZLER JR of Portage, MI died February 21, 2019 at the age of 74. A licensed funeral director, he purchased Donovan Funeral Home in Ka- lamazoo in 1975 and in 1999 the Thompson & Hawley Funeral Home in Paw Paw, creating Life Story Funeral Homes . He grad- uated from Wayne State University with a degree in mortuary science. DAVID JOHN CIZMADIA of Castleton, VT died February 15, 2019 at the age of 66. A licensed funeral director, he worked at several funeral homes in Ver- mont prior to managing the Wilson-Cooper Funeral Home in Kittery, ME for 15 years. He graduated from the Simmons In- stitute of Funeral Service in 1992. THOMAS JAMES “T.J.” LESTER of Erie, PA died February 18, 2019 at the age of 69. In 1979, he began working for the Dea- ton Kennedy Co and in 1989, he and his wife, Susanne pur- chased the Louis A. Pick Funer- al Supplies Co, and renamed it Lester and Co. They contin- ued to serve funeral directors throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York. MAUREEN “BARRY” MAURER of Liverpool, NY died Febru- ary 3, 2019 at the age of 82. A licensed funeral director, she worked alongside her husband, John P. Maurer as vice presi- dent and secretary of the Mau- rer Funeral Homes in Liver- pool and Baldwinsville, NY. She graduated from the Simmons School of Mortuary Science. JOHN B. MONTS of Ladoga, IN died March 1, 2019 at the age of 76. A licensed funer- al director and embalmer, he began working for First Fu- neral Home in Clinton un- til 1981, at which time, he began working for the Ser- vices and Morgan Funer- al Home in Ladoga, where he remained working until his recent retirement. He graduated from mortuary school in 1962. JAMES FRANCIS “DIGGER” GILPATRIC of Kingston, NY died January 12, 2019 at the age of 89. He began his ca- reer as a fourth generation fu- neral director and mortician by working at his grandfa- ther’s firm, the James M. Mur- phy Funeral Home in Kings- ton. Following the death of his grandfather, Jimmy took over ownership of the firm in 1954 and in 1972, it was renamed Gilpatric-Murphy Funeral Home. In 2009, the funeral home was acquired by Har- ry VanVliet IV, who renamed the firm to the Gilpatric- VanVliet Funeral Home, and moved it to the Town of Esopus, NY where Jim continued as an adviser. He grad- uated from the Renouard School of Embalmers in 1950. CLARK W. “BILL” STOODLEY SR of Belleville, NY died March 3, 2019 at the age of 80. He served his apprenticeship with the Briggs Bros Funeral Home in Homer, NY. In 1961 he began working with his fa- ther, Ross in the operation of Carpenter-Stoodley Funer- al Home in Belleville. For the next 39 years, he served as di- rector, manager and president of the funeral home until the merger with Reed and Benoit Funeral Home in Watertown, which is owned by his son and daughter-in-law Bill and Teresa. He continued to work in the family business during his re- tirement until his passing. He graduated from the Sim- mons School of Embalming in Syracuse, NY in 1958. JAMES “JIM” WILLIAM STOUGH of Austin, MN died February 24, 2019 at the age of 62. A licensed Minnesota and Iowa funeral director, he served his internship and contin- ued to work at Henry-Olsen- Fuhrman Funeral Home in Es- therville, IA until 1989 when he went to work at Olsen Funer- al Home, which served several communities in the Fairmont area. In 2000, Jim started working at Worlein Funeral Home. A 1985 graduate of the Worsham College of Mortu- ary Science, he was a Certified Funeral Service Practitioner by the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice. JOSEPH G. SALERNO of Roselle, IL died March 2, 2019 at the age of 78. A third generation licensed funeral di- rector, he was the owner and CEO of Salerno’s Rosedale in Roselle and Salerno’s Gale- wood Chapels in Chicago. JANICE YVONNE GOFF of Highland Park, MI died February 24, 2019 at the age of 61. A licensed morti- cian and funeral director, she began her employment in 1980 with Wayne County Morgue and Thompson Funeral Home . She then spent 37 years with the De- troit Receiving Hospital and continued as a funeral director in the state of Michigan until her death. She graduated from Wayne State University. RONALD LEE KERCHEVAL of Harrison, OH died Febru- ary 19, 2019 at the age of 79. A retired funeral director, he was the owner and operator of Jackman-Kercheval Funeral Home in Harrison from 1975 until 1992. A 1961 graduate of the Cincinnati College of Embalming, he served as pres- ident of the Greater Cincin- nati Board of Funeral Directors and was a member of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association. THOMAS A. O’DONNELL of Salem and Danvers, MA died March 2, 2019 at the age of 76. A third generation funeral di- rector, he joined his father in operating the family business, Henry J. O’Donnell & Sons in Salem. Tom acquired owner- ship of the firm upon the death of his father in 1970 and was one of the first funeral directors in the United States to begin accepting pre-arranged funer- als. He acquired the Peterson Funeral Home in Danvers in 1987 and continued to own and operate the Peterson- O’Donnell Funeral Home in Danvers and O’Donnell Funeral Home in Salem until 2013, when he passed along the family legacy to his son, Anthony. A 1970 graduate of the former New England Institute of Mortuary Science, he was a member of the Massachusetts Funeral Di- rectors Association, National Funeral Directors Association and served twice chairman of the Division of Professional Licensure, Board of Funeral Directing and Embalming. Death Notices Send obituary information to Funeral Home & Cemetery News, PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 • Fax (800) 321-9040 • E-mail info@nomispublications.com a a CHRISTINE RENEE JONES of Elgin, TX died March 14, 2019 at the age of 46. She was a funeral director and operations manager of Providence Funeral Home in Bastrop and Taylor. She previously worked alongside her husband, Brad Jones at Jones Family Funeral Home in Elgin. ELAINE MCGAVRAN of Pitts- burgh, PA died March 10, 2019 at the age of 76. A li- censed funeral director, she worked alongside her hus- band, Earl McGavran in pur- chasing the Hammons Fu- neral Home in Oswego in 1969 and Quinn Funeral Home in Pittsburgh 1979. Both firms became known as McGavran Funeral Home. BENNETT GOLDSTEIN of Phila- delphia, PA died March 12, 2019 at the age of 86. He was a licensed funeral director and former presi- dent of Goldsteins’ Rosenberg’s Raphael-Sacks Funeral Home, which was established by his father and uncle in 1944. Under his guid- ance, the funeral home became one of the largest independently owned Jewish funeral homes in the nation. Goldstein served as presi- dent until his illness forced him to retire in 2016. He was past president of the Jewish Funeral Directors of America. If you have an obituary you would like to see listed here, please send information to: PO Box 5159, Youngstown, OH 44514 • Fax 1-800-321-9040 • E-mail info@nomispublications.com Featuring News Funeral Home & Cemetery online