May 2018

Page A42 MAY 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A TONY E. FERGUSON died in Miami, FL. Services were held March 21, 2018 at Hall-Fer- guson-Hewitt Mortuary, P. A., where he was a licensed fu- neral director and co-owner. SANDRA STRONG FITZGER- ALD, a lifelong resident of Ele- phant Butte and Albuquerque, NM died April 5, 2018. She was a pioneering woman in in- ternational funeral service and a fourth generation in the fam- ily funeral home. Her husband Edward J. Fitzgerald is a past president of the National Fu- neral Directors Association. JOHN “JACK” GIBBONS of Chicago, IL died March 4, 2018. A casket salesman for almost 70 years, he worked at the Curtis Casket Company in Chicago. MARSHALL EDWIN “DIG- GER” HELM of Bakersfield, CA died March 19, 2018 at the age of 79. He was the own- er and operator of Greenlawn Cemeteries, which was estab- lished by his father, Ed Helm in 1931. MICAH C. LEMME of Orlando, FL died January 12, 2018 at the age of 55. He was involved in the funeral business in and around Florida, working in all capacities of the funeral home. A graduate of the Gupton-Jones College of Mortuary Science in Atlanta, he served as past presi- dent of the Central Florida Fu- neral Directors Association. RONALD CHARLES ROMANI of Miami, FL died March 28, 2018 at the age of 68. He was a funeral director for over 33 years. He served as a parishio- ner of St. Rose of Lima Catho- lic Church since 1975. THOMAS P. ROZGA of Milwau- kee, WI died March 30, 2018 at the age of 95. A licensed funeral director for over 60 years, he was a third generation owner and op- erator of Rozga Funeral Home, which has three locations in Mil- waukee. He was a member of the Wisconsin Funeral Directors Asso- ciation and the National Funeral Directors Association. GRANT E. SMITH of Sunny- side, WA died March 18, 2018 at the age of 43. He was a li- censed funeral director at his family’s firm, Smith Funeral Home. JANE M. TARBELL of Akwe- sasne, NY died April 10, 2018 at the age of 62. She was a li- censed funeral director at the Donaldson Funeral Home in Massena for the past sever- al years. LAWSON M. VIRKLER of Lowville, NY died March 20, 2018 at the age of 88. He was president of the Virkler Funer- al Home, Inc., which was es- tablished by his father, Maurice N. Virkler in 1926. He held that position for 27 years until his retirement in 1981 at which time the business was sold. He graduated from the Cincinnati College of Embalming. TERRENCE R. VANSUCH of Louisville, OH died April 1, 2018 at the age of 65. A licensed funeral director for over 25 years, he had worked at the Wasko Fu- neral Home in Campbell, OH before joining Arnold Funer- al Home in Canton, OH in 1983, retiring in 2017. He was a 1976 graduate of the Pitts- burgh Institute of Mortuary Sci- ence and was a member of the Ohio Funeral Directors As- sociation and the National Funeral Directors Association. BARBARA JEAN TWIBELL of Ab- erdeen, WA diedMarch 25, 2018 at the age of 77. She and her hus- band, Doug Twibell purchased the Mills & Mills Funeral Ser- vice in Olympia in 1980, sell- ing it in the 1990s. In 1994, they purchased Fern Hill Funeral Home from Gordon Peterson. They brought their son, Keith, on to manage the firm. Barbara established a Widow/Widower support group in Olympia, Aberdeen and at Westport called Solos. She graduated from the California College of Mortuary Science in Los Angeles. FRANKLIN DEE THOMSON of Vernal, UT died March 10, 2018 at the age of 81. A licensed funeral director and embalmer, he worked for Union Mortuary in Layton, UT before becom- ing manager of the Bountiful & Layton Union Mortuaries. In 1972 he and his wife, Sharol purchased Vernal Mortuary in Vernal and operated the Thom- son Vernal Mortuary for the next 28 years. He graduated from the California College of Mortuary Science in Los Angeles, CA in 1962. WILBERT L. SHANNON SR of Wheatland, PA died March 11, 2018 at the age of 83. He was a licensed funeral director and em- balmer in Ohio and Pennsylva- nia and was formerly licensed in New York and West Virginia. He was the owner and operator of the Wilbert L Shannon Funeral Home Ltd and in 2001 he served as interim manager of the Myron N. Howard Funeral Home in Youngstown, OH. He was ap- pointed in 1968 to the Pennsylvania State Board of Funeral Directors and was elected board chairman in 1972, making him the first African American and Mercer County resident to be a member of the Pennsylvania Board. A graduate of the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, he was a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, Ohio Embalmers Association, and the Mercer County Funeral Directors Associa- tion, where he served as past president, secretary, and treasur- er. He was recognized by the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association for 50 years of service to the profession in 2007. FRANK MCMILLIAN of Mexia, TX died March 13, 2018 at the age of 81. He was a licensed fu- neral director and embalmer in Kentucky and Texas. Through- out his career he worked at Lotts Mortuary in Dallas, Dorsey & Keatts Funeral Home in Mexia, Community Funeral Home and Emanuel Funeral Home, both in Teague. He was the first funer- al director in charge of Moore’s Angelic Funeral Home in Teague. He graduated from the Kentucky School of Embalming. STEPHEN A. KERTESZ of Akron, OH died March 17, 2018 at the age of 91. A licensed funeral di- rector and embalmer since 1966, he began his career working at the Kertesz Funeral Home, which his father established in 1928. He later opened his own funeral home on Manchester Road and in 1987 Kertesz Funeral Home merged with Kucko-Anthony Funer- al Home, where he continued to work until his retirement in 2000. He was a member of the National Funeral Directors As- sociation, Ohio Funeral Directors Association and served as past president of the Summit County Funeral Directors Association . TIMOTHY “POPS” DULANY of Shreveport, LA died February 26, 2018 at the age of 69. He worked in the funeral business for over 50 years, having served as manager of operations for Os- born Funeral Home, a firm that he has been working at since 1982. A graduate of the Dal- las Institute of Funeral Service, he was elected Funeral Director of the Year for the 1997-1998 by the North Louisiana Funeral Directors Association. Tim was a member of the Internation- al Order of the Golden Rule, the Northwest Funeral Directors Association, and the Louisiana Funeral Directors Association, where he served as treasurer in 2015, chairman of the fi- nance committee and was appointed president in 2017. ROBERT J. BIGGINS of Hanson, MA died March 29, 2018 at the age of 61. He was a first gener- ation funeral director, embalmer and chief executive officer of Ma- goun Biggins Funeral Home, a family owned and operated firm that he purchased in 1986. He graduated from the New Eng- land Institute of Funeral Service in Newton in 1977, which later became Mt. Ida College . He re- mained involved at the college for several years as a mem- ber of the board of Academic Overseers, Presidential Search Committee and later as a member of the College Board of Trustees. Biggins served as president of both the Massachu- setts and National Funeral Directors Association, was a mem- ber of the Board of Trustees for the Funeral Service Founda- tion are the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice . RAYMOND LOY “R.L.” DUFFIE of Bernie, MO died March 27, 2018 at the age of 89. He served his internship with the E. L. Watkins Funeral Home in Dex- ter, MO and the current Cotrell Funeral Home in Poplar Bluff, MO. In 1955, he and his wife Martha Duffie purchased the DrumFuneral Home in Bernie, MO and owned it until selling to Ray and Lucille Rainey in 1959. Raymond continued to manage the Duffie-Rainey Funeral Home until 1976. Raymond worked a total of 38 years for Roller Funeral Homes of Arkansas, having served as assistant manager of the Roller-Citizens Funeral Home in West Memphis and later as manager of the Roller-Daniels Funeral Home in Searcy. He continued to work for the Roller Funeral Homes in the collection department from his home in Bernie, MO after retiring from active funeral service. He graduated from the St. Louis College of Mortuary Science in 1947. 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