Reid's Funeral Chapels in Greene and Marble Rock, Iowa

My staff and I are dedicated to serving your family
Our mission statement best speaks to the ideals of our firm.

There is a right way and a wrong way of doing everything. Continuing professional training, strict attention to details, plus a true spirit of sympathetic service within the means of all, enables us to conduct a funeral with efficiency and dignity. In our firm, everyone knows their duties and can be relied upon to help create the perfect tribute.

Code of Ethics

I, as a Funeral Director, acknowledge my individual obligation to the public, especially to those I serve, with an additional responsibility for the benefit of the funeral service profession as a whole.

I pledge vigilant support of public health laws; I support proper legal regulations for the members of our profession and am devoted to a high moral standard of service.

I observe confidential business practices and keep relationships professional. I cooperate with the customs of all the various religions and creeds. I provide due respect for the deceased and am highly competent in the services I perform. I provide truthful representation of all funeral service offered.

I support high educational standards and licensing laws. I encourage scientific research and adhere to sound business practices. I adopt improved techniques and observe the legal standard of my competition.

I subscribe to the principles set forth in the Code of Ethics of the National Funeral Directors Association and pledge my best efforts to make them effective.

Our Logo

One who has seen a western sunset rarely—if ever—forgets it. Its beauty is impressive and inspires a sense of peace. Our service is one in which we strive after the same. A service gives one peace of mind knowing that every detail will be given professional attention.

Award of Excellence

The Iowa Funeral Directors Association with the Award of Excellence has recognized Reid’s Funeral Chapels for the third time. This award is given to outstanding firms for the quality services they provide to their families and communities.

CONTINUING A TRADITION OF SERVICE

Since 1961 Reid's Funeral Chapel has been continuing a tradition of funeral service which was started over a century ago in Greene by Richard Miner. In 1879 the newly incorporated town of Greene boasted a population of 700. The town had 30 businesses. one of which was the local furniture and undertaking establishment owned and operated by Richard Miner.

Richard Miner was a native of Jefferson County, Ohio, who moved to Iowa, settling in Clay County and later moving to Greene in 1877 where he opened the first furniture and undertaking establishment of its kind in the community. Miner was instrumental in the incorporation of the town of Greene and served on the Town Board for many years.

Being called upon as an undertaker, Miner faced many challenges that today people basically take for granted. Embalming was relatively new and practiced with limited success. As part of his equipment, a special cabinet with a tank inside. along with an abundant supply of ice. was used to keep the body until a funeral was held. When a death occurred, a family member would usually come to the furniture establishment to notify him of the death. Old timers tell of bringing in a willow stick or corn stalk representing the exact height of the deceased.

Miner kept a supply of ready-made coffins of different sizes available along with stock handles, pillow sets, and nameplates. The coffin, which was usually wide at the shoulders and narrower at the head and feet, were constructed out of pine, oak, cherry, or walnut.

In 1897 the telephone service in Greene was no longer in its infancy. Already, there were thirty subscribers to the system and changes for expansion were underway. Richard Miner subscribed to that system that year offering this new service to his clientele with telephone No. 57. This telephone number is still in use today by the funeral home.

In 1903, Miner sold the business to Harry Leete, who was the son of Alan Leete, pioneer settler of Jackson Township, and later furniture dealer and undertaker in Clarksville. Young Harry worked with his father as an apprentice and supplemented his education by attending an embalming course in South Dakota. In 1907, examinations were required and licenses were issued to practicing undertakers.

During this time, Leete erected a brick business block adjacent to the Buchholtz building which housed the largest furniture store and well-appointed undertaking parlor in Butler County. The Business name changed to Leete and Moore, with the addition of William "Billy" Moore who was in charge of the undertaking department.

As the new automobile gained popularity, so did Mr. Leete's interest in this new business, and in November 1919 he sold the furniture and undertaking business to George R. Watterson, in order for him to establish the first Buick dealership in Greene.

George Watterson was the son of early Greene settlers, Thomas J. and Martha (Ralston) Watterson. He received his education in the rural and public schools in Greene and as a young man was employed by the First State Bank in Greene. He was married to Alice Hesalroad of Greene.

After acquiring the new business, Watterson attended the Hoehenschuh School of Embalming in Des Moines for a course of study for six weeks and then returned to serve his internship under his employee Billy Moore.

The 1930s marked some significant changes in funeral service in Greene. During the stinging years of the Depression, the funeral director was paid for his services much like a doctor, a dollar a week, produce or meat until the bill was paid.

An advertisement appeared in an October 1932 issue of the Iowa Recorder announcing Greene's new modern funeral home. Arnold Rembold and Helmeth Grossman acquired the former Soesbe residence at 420 North Fourth Street for the first funeral home in Greene. As stated, both members of the firm were specialists in embalming, derma surgery, and funeral directing and had years of experience which enabled meeting any unusual situations. The next year, Rembold purchased Grossman's interest in the firm and Grossman continued his interests in a funeral home in Charles City.

In 1935, Rembold sold the funeral business of L. O. Guenther who operated the firm for five years. Leonard O. Guenther was a progressive funeral director for the Greene community. He introduced the concept of burial vaults and the Mem-O-Records which were handed out at the funerals. In 1940, the business changed ownership when Mr. Forrest M. Hann of Des Moines purchased the business. Mrs. Hann added a flower shop in conjunction with the funeral home.

In 1937 Watterson offered to the public the use of his residence at 216 S. Main for visitations and funerals. The family would make their arrangements and make their casket selection downtown at the furniture store. This continued until 1952 when Watterson retired and sold his business to Paul G. Hamilton and Forrest M. Hann.

Paul G. Hamilton was born in Greene, a son of George and Vera (Shook) Hamilton and graduated from the Greene public schools in 1939. He served in the United States Air Corps during World War II and following his discharge he attended San Francisco College of Embalming. In 1950 he returned to Iowa where he worked in Callendar, returning to Greene in 1952, where he became associated with the Hann Funeral Home until Mr. Hann's Death in February 1955.

In May 1955, Hamilton and Dale W. Ott purchased the Home of Mrs. Mary Ingram at 519 North First Street and opened the Greene Funeral Chapel with George Watterson as Licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer. Watterson died later that year.

Later that year, Mrs. Hann announced that Mr. Harold F. Williams of the Nelson Berger Mortuary in Sioux City had moved to Greene to manage the funeral home. The following year Williams purchased the firm from Mrs. Hann. Williams was a native of Finchford, Iowa, and had fifteen years experience as an embalmer before coming to Greene.

Ott and Hamilton operated the furniture business in Greene in conjunction with the funeral business. Mr. Clair Weiss joined the furniture business in 1955 following his discharge from the armed forces and later became a partner in the business in 1959. By 1961, Hamilton was operating funeral homes in Greene, Marble Rock, Shell Rock and Glenwood. In September of that year, he sold the funeral business to Andrew Reid of Madrid, Iowa.

Hamilton purchased the Lilly Funeral Home in Des Moines and by 1966, having personally acquired several other firms, he was no longer involved in mortuary duties and turned his energies to management. That year he founded International Funeral Services, a publicly-owned company designed to consolidate funeral service. By 1981, the corporation had grown to 130 mortuaries and cemeteries. That year, the corporation merged with Service Corporation International to form the largest funeral corporation in the world with Hamilton as the group's vice chairman and as a member of the executive committee and board of directors.

Andrew Reid was born in Madrid, Iowa, a son of Scottish immigrants. He received his education in the Madrid public schools graduating in 1935 and as a young man worked for the Ford Garage and part time for A. M. Sundberg local undertaker. In December 1940, he began working for Dunn's Funeral Home in Des Moines until he enlisted in the United States Army. Following his discharge, he attended St. Louis College of Mortuary Science where he was a member of Delta Phi Honor Fraternity. Following his graduation, he returned to Dunn's Funeral Home where he remained until 1954 where he joined partnership with J. Edwin Sundberg Funeral Home in Madrid. That partnership was dissolved in August 1961 when the Reid family moved to Greene.

For over a quarter of a century, Andrew Reid served the residents of Greene and Marble Rock with quality funeral service. In 1965, Reid purchased the Williams Mortuary and consolidated the two businesses into one. October 15, 1968, marked the end of funeral home ambulance service to Greene and Marble Rock. Reid was instrumental in the creation of the Greene Volunteer Ambulance service in Greene. Reid also served as mayor of Greene for two terms.

January 3, 1988 marked the end of another generation of funeral service to the people of Greene and Marble Rock when Andrew Reid died. Shortly thereafter, his son John A. "Jack" Reid purchased the firm from the estate.

Jack received his education in the Greene public schools graduating in 1972. He received his education from the North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City and graduated from the Mid America College of Funeral Service in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1983, where he was a member of Pi Sigma Honor Fraternity. He returned to Greene and completed his internship under his father and has since remained with the firm. Following the death of his father on, he became the second generation to own the firm.

Jack has served on the Board of Governors of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association. He has been recognized by the Iowa Funeral Directors Association by receiving the Award of Excellence in Funeral Service three times, charter member of the Funeral Ethics Association, member of the Iowa Mortuary Emergency Response Team, and is listed in the Cambridge Who’s Who, 1996-97 edition.