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OCTOBER 2013
FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS
S ec t i on A
Death Notices
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MARVIN E. BRANTLEY, JR
of Kuttawa, KY died September
1, 2013 at the age of 88. He was a licensed funeral director
at
Dunn’s Funeral Home
from the mid 80’s until 2005. He
continued as a part time funeral director until earlier this year.
ROBERT LEON “BOB” BRE-
ITENBACH
of Middletown,
OH died August 26, 2013
at the age of 70. He was the
owner and operator of
Bre-
i tenbach-McCoy-Leff ler
Funeral Home
since 1977.
He served on the
National
Funeral Directors & Morti-
cians Association
board for six
years. He graduated from the
Cincinnati College of Mortu-
ary Science
in 1963.
ROBERT J. BURNS SR
of Philadelphia, PA died Septem-
ber 9, 2013 at the age of 67. He was a funeral director,
owner and partner of the
Burns Funeral Home
in the
Fishtown area of Philadelphia, which was founded by his
parents,
Martin J. Sr.,
and
Grace R.
(McNeill)
in 1939.
RALEIGH ISRAEL BUTLER SR
of Fort Lauderdale, FL and
Nassau, Bahamas died August 9, 2013 at the age of 81. He
owned and operated
Butler’s Funeral Homes and Crema-
torium
alongside his wife,
Rose Marie Butler
for 60 years.
He was a pioneer in the funeral business in the Bahamas, and
was the first to install a crematorium. He trainedmany young
Bahamians who today own and operate their own business-
es. Butler’s daughter,
Loretta Butler Turner
, became the first
female funeral director and embalmer in the Bahamas.
BOB CRAIN
of Cairo, IL
died August 29, 2013 at
the age of 77. He served
families for over 57 years
as a licensed funeral direc-
tor and embalmer at
Crain
Funeral Homes & Ceme-
teries.
Up until 1974, he
also provided ambulance
services.
LARRY BRUCE JUSTICE
of Se-
wickley, PA died August 17,
2013 at the age of 61. He de-
signed mausoleums for
Mat-
thews’ Gibraltar Mausoleum
Construction Company
in
Pittsburgh, PA. He previously
worked for
Mausoleum Con-
tractors of America
and
Mau-
soleum Builders, Inc
, based
in Georgia. Larry designed
more than 1000 mausoleums
over the course of a career that
spanned three decades.
MICAH REX MORRIS
of
Sandy, UT died August 10,
2013 at the age of 28. He
was a licensed funeral di-
rector at
Russon Brothers
of Bountiful, UT. He grad-
uated from the
Gupton Col-
lege of Mortuary Science.
JAMES LAMAR MUNN SR
of
Baker, LA died September 7,
2013 at the age of 73. He was
a funeral director and former
owner of
Munn Transporta-
tion
for over 50 years. He was
also the former manager of
Roselawn Memorial Park
in
Baton Rouge. He was a former
member of the
Louisiana Funer-
al Directors Association
and was
Funeral Director of the Year in
2000 for the
Southeast Louisiana
Funeral Directors Association.
RICHARD ARTHUR “DICK” PERSCHEL, SR
of Durham,
NC died August 12, 2013 at the age of 92. In 1985, he was
elected chairman of the board of
Mastercraft Casket Com-
pany
Inc
of Graham, NC, having served as the founding
vice president in 1979. He was a New York State licensed fu-
neral director, and previously worked for the
Frasier Funer-
al Home
in Syracuse and spent 25 years of his career with
the
Marsellus Casket Company, Inc.
He graduated from
the
American Academy of Mortuary Science
in 1945.
MARION RUSSELL PINE
of
New Paltz, NY died July 8,
2013 at the age of 105. She
was a licensed funeral direc-
tor at
Pine Funeral Home,
a family business that her
husband,
Gordon D. Pine
operated until his death in
1957. She then assumed
ownership, operating along-
side her son,
Vanderlyn
un-
til retiring at the age of 82.
VERNON VALLANDINGHAM
RECORD
of Louisville, KY,
died May 7, 2013 at the
age of 91. He had been a
licensed funeral director
and embalmer serving in
the profession since 1946,
maintaining his licenses un-
til his death. He was a grad-
uate of the old
Kentucky
School of Mortuary Science
.
EUGENE R. RINALDI
of Montgomery, NY died September
1, 2013 at the age of 79. He was a retired funeral director. He
was a graduate of the
McAllister School of Mortuary Science.
ALICE L. SCOTT
of Newark, NY died August 16, 2013 at the
age of 93. She and her late husband,
B. David Scott
owned
and operated the former
Scott Funeral Home
, now the
Nor-
man L. Waterman Funeral Home, Inc.
They purchased the
firm in 1951, and operated it until their retirement in 1987.
OTIS J. “PETE” TAYLOR
of McComb, MS died August
23, 2013 at the age of 63. He was the owner and opera-
tor of
Cook’s Enterprise Funeral Home
.
STEVEN ROSS ST. PIERRE
of Greenwood, IN died Au-
gust 5, 2013 at the age of
61. He was president of the
family business,
Wilson St.
Pierre Funeral Service &
Crematory.
He previous-
ly operated both the fu-
neral home and ambulance
service in Pendleton before
returning to Indianapolis in
1985. He was a member of
the
Indiana Funeral Direc-
tors Association, National Funeral Directors Association,
and the
Selected Independent Funeral Homes
. He was
a graduate of the
Indiana College of Mortuary Science.
JIMMY L. “JIM” RUSH
of
Cleveland, TN died Sep-
tember 9, 2013 at the age of
74. He was a licensed Geor-
gia andTennessee funeral di-
rector and embalmer, and
founded the
Jim Rush Fu-
neral Homes.
In 1964, he
worked at
Buckner Funeral
Home
, managing it after it
was bought by another com-
pany, then
Ralph Buckner
Jr.,
and he bought the firm
and the two became part-
ners, renaming it
Buckner Rush Funeral Homes.
Ralph
Buckner Jr., sold his share of the business to Rush in 1978,
and it was wholly owned by the Rush family.
Greg Rush,
the
oldest son of
Jim
and
Judith,
managed the business after it
was sold to
Prime Succession
in 1993. In 2003, the Rush
family bought the business once again, making it a family
owned business. Jim was a graduate of the
Cincinnati College
of Mortuary Science.
He was asked to be the commencement
speaker at the graduation at
Gupton Jones Mortuary College
is
Atlanta, GA. He was a member of the
Tennessee Funeral Di-
rectors Association,
serving as president from 1993 until 1994.
AL BREMER
of Naples, FL,
formerly of Mason City, IA,
died August 15, 2013 at the
age of 82. He was a funeral
director and owner of
Mc-
Cauley-Bremer
Funeral
Home,
previously known as
McCauly-McKassen Funer-
al Home.
He later partnered
with
Chuck Hogan,
owner
of
Hogan’s Colonial Cha-
pel,
forming
Hogan-Bremer
Colonial Chapel
. Together
they established the
Colonial
Funeral Homes
in Northwood, Manly, Nora Springs and
Clear Lake as well as
Memorial Park Cemetery & Crema-
tory
, both retiring in 1996. He was a member of the
Iowa
Funeral Directors Association
, and a graduate of the
University
of Minnesota,
earning a degree in Mortuary Science.
JOSEPH A. BUTLER III
of
Mission Hills, KS died July
30, 2013 at the age of 89. He
was a third generation funer-
al director, owner and opera-
tor of the
Joseph A. Butler &
Sons Funeral Home,
which
was established by his grand-
father in 1905. In 1964, he
and his father formed a part-
nership with
Phil
and
Paul
Gibson
. He remained presi-
dent of the firm until the time
of his death. He was elected Wyandotte County Coroner
in 1951. He served as president of the
Kansas City Funer-
al Directors Association,
and graduated from the
Kansas
City College of Mortuary Science
in 1949.
RON HAST
of Tiburon, CA
died August 20, 2013 at
the age of 74. In 1957 Ron
and
Allan Abbot
founded
a flower transport service.
Adding a constantly updated
fleet of vehicles,
Abbott &
Hast Company
became the
nation’s first full time trans-
portation/livery firm for the
trade. Between 1957 and
1985 the firm provided cars
and drivers for some of the
most prominent services in
the state, including services for Marilyn Monroe, Natalie
Wood and Clark Gable. In 1960 the partners created the
Casket Airtray and introduced a Conversion vehicle to
be used primarily for removals. In 1973 Abbott & Hast
began acquiring funeral homes in the greater Los Ange-
les area. They created the
Cremation Society of Los An-
geles
and offered cremains scattering through
Tributes,
Inc
. In 1975 they acquired
Berg Publications, Inc
.,
eventually changing the name to
Abbott & Hast Publi-
cations, Inc
. The publishers founded the
Funeral Moni-
tor
while continuing to publish
Mortuary Management
Magazine
. Ron’s editorials were enlightening and infor-
mational, his knowledge leading to his mentoring many
and to his popularity as a speaker across the country.
MICHAEL G. THORNWELL
of
RockHill, SC died August 28,
2013. He was a licensed fu-
neral director and embalmer
at
Robinson Funeral Home.
He was the founding mem-
ber and secretary of
100 Black
Men of Funeral Service,
as well
as a member of the
National
Funeral Directors &Morticians
Association, Inc.
He previous-
ly served as a director for the
South Carolina Board of Fu-
neral Service,
and served in
various offices of the
South Carolina Morticians Association.
He graduated from the
Kentucky School of Mortuary Science.