December 2018

Page A32 DECEMBER 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Phone: 877-770-TIES (8437) Fax: 276-466-3474 E-mail: customerservice@tiesforyou.com www.tiesforyou.com STYLISH MATCHING TIES FOR PROFESSIONALS Any Size Group or Organization Personalized Cap Panels and Cremation Posters from $99 Call: 888-626-6491 Newly Designed Showroom Samples Now Available IN THE DEATH CARE INDUSTRY Dedicated and focused, Bill’s knowledge and experience of the death care industry provides you with value added services in connection with audited financial statements, trust fund compliance audits, multi-state taxation and much more. Bill Newman, CPA Partner withum.com tended college for two years followed by a year of study at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, then served a year of internship before taking their state board exams. John T.’s son, John R., the sixth-generation, attended col- lege for two years prior to serving a two-year apprentice- ship before taking his state board exams. His brother Jay- son attended college for two years prior to entering the Mid-America College of Funeral Service in Jeffersonville, IN. In 1923 Latour built one of the first electrified and modern funeral establishments in southern Ohio. Like 1914 Hearse Continued from Front Page Lafferty celebrates 170 Years many other funeral homes, the Lafferty family oper- ated an ambulance service for 75 years and owned the first motorized ambulance in Adams County. In 1935 Bill Lafferty, the founder’s great grandson, bought the Smith Grimes mansion on Cherry Street and relo- cated his funeral business from Main Street. Bill served as a funeral director with his family’s firm for just short of 60 years. He preserved many of the firm’s fu- neral carriages, including a 1914 hearse purchased by his father. This hearse, with its high seat and brass fittings, has been the highlight of many Fourth of July parades in West Union. Bill traveled the country and made addi- tional acquisitions of horse drawn vehicles. He also col- lected materials related to mortuary practices. When Bill died in 1987, his sons, John T. and Richard led the pro- cession to West Union Cemetery in the 1914 hearse. To honor Bill, JohnT. and his wife, Elaine Lafferty opened the William Lafferty Memorial Funeral and Carriage Collection in 1994. The museum is dedicated to preserving the tools and artifacts of the funeral profession. Interesting relics of the Lafferty Funeral Home on display include buri- al clothing, hundreds of historical photographs, certificates, several century-old biers and cooling boards, home visita- tion equipment, casket veils, horse rigging, buggy jacks, wicker baskets used for removals during the flu epidemic, and all types of funeral lights. Visitors may examine one of the $3 child caskets manufactured by W.V. Lafferty. Other items of particular interest include Lafferty’s first elec- tric embalming machine and the complete sets of embalming valises which were carried to the home. The valises contain make-up, wax, embalming instruments, an oil cloth to place under the body while embalming, and bottles of embalming fluid dating to the early part of the century. Another rare- ly seen item is a two-gallon bottle of embalming fluid in its wooden shipping case with the shipping label still attached. “We have around 300 visitors a year tour the property. I don’t think another funeral service museum has as much equipment passed down through one family as we do. We just can’t esti- mate the worth of the museum,” said John R. Lafferty, current president and sixth generation to lead the firm.