Wasson Funeral Home Continues Traditions

Business Originated in 1889, Still Going Strong in Siloam Springs

It is the relationships that are formed with clients and their families that make the Wasson family members love their jobs. The average business person might question the idea that owning a funeral home would be uplifting, but the owners of Wasson Funeral Home find they have extremely rewarding careers.

“In the funeral home business you have the opportunity to offer services and help people at a time that is very difficult,” says Sharon Wasson, the company’s office manager. “And when you can see that you have helped make that situation easier, it is very rewarding.”

The path less traveled

Leon Wasson had planned to be a lawyer.

He was a law student at Vanderbilt University when he took a part-time job with a funeral parlor in Nashville and fell in love with the business. Soon he left law school and began working at a series of funeral homes in the four-state area until 1927 when he took advantage of an opportunity that would allow him to return to his hometown of Siloam Springs.

Wasson’s cousin, Emma McArthur, was the owner of McArthur and Son Furniture and Undertaking Co. in downtown Siloam Springs. The business had originated in 1889 as a combination furniture store, produce stand and undertaking business. Later, when T.C. McArthur’s son, Stuart, joined the business, it became McArthur and Son.

No one knows if McArthur, a Civil War veteran, was the first person to open an undertaking business in Siloam Springs, but when the local Herald and Democrat printed an atlas of the town in 1903, his was the only one in the area.

In the fall of 1927, Leon Wasson purchased the business and closed it for temporary renovations. He reopened it in January of 1928, which, his son now notes, was not the best time to open a business.

During the Depression, families could not afford to bury their dead. Leon Wasson and several other funeral directors from around the state lobbied the Legislature to allow burial associations, small cooperatives in which the members collectively contributed to the cost of each member’s burial. Although several changes have been made over the years, the Wassons’ Ozark Burial Association still exists today, and Bob Wasson says the passage of time and the mobility of society has spread its members to all 50 of the United States.

Unlike his father, current CEO Bob Wasson always knew he would enter the funeral home industry. Up until a few years ago, he had lived his entire life — with the exception of his college years — on the grounds of the funeral home. When Wasson’s was located in downtown Siloam Springs, the family had an apartment on the second story of the building. After their marriage, he and Sharon lived in the house next door. When the business moved to a new, modern location on U.S. Highway 412 in 1971, the Wassons moved with it. Now Danny Wasson, Bob and Sharon’s son, lives in a house behind the funeral home.

The good old days

There was a time when America’s funeral parlors also provided its ambulance services, and Wasson’s was no exception.

“It was a public service, we just did it for the public relations value,” remembers Bob Wasson fondly. “We never thought of making a profit out of it.” The service charged $12.50 for a local ambulance trip and $3.50 for a rural trip, both of which were a fraction of the cost of operations.

The service existed until 1968, when the Wassons realized that mounting federal regulations, training costs and personnel salaries were no longer making it feasible to continue. Although the decision made obvious sense from a business standpoint, the family was reluctant to let go of that part of the business.

“You had to have people ready 24 hours a day,” remembers Sharon Wasson.

“On emergency call, not just on call,” adds her husband.

“It changed the operation of the business [when we discontinued the service],” she concludes, remembering the day when she and 4-year-old Danny stood in their front yard and watched the ambulance make its last run through town.

Customized services

The Wassons may not drive an ambulance anymore, but they do offer a variety of other services.

“Everything’s customized. Nothing’s standard,” says Bob Wasson, who estimates that about 150 hours of planning go into each funeral service. The business can arrange everything for the client’s family, from air and ground transportation to contacting the local minister and arranging for the purchase of a cemetery plot.

“We gather a lot of information they don’t realize we are gathering, so, if they are fumbling around, we can make a suggestion to personalize [the arrangements] to make [them] really significant to them,” says Sharon Wasson. One example is of a local woman who was known for her quilting abilities. The home arranged to have her casket draped with one of her beautiful creations in lieu of flowers.

The new building has an on-site chapel that can hold about 200 people and can be expanded to 400 if necessary. A room off to the side allows the family to mourn in private while still allowing a full view of the pulpit and casket.

An organ is available, but the chapel also has a modern stereo system. The home has a full library of classical and spiritual music, or families may bring in a favorite piece.

After the service, the families are offered “after care” in the form of bereavement support groups and literature containing advice on coping with death and grief.

“Especially around the holidays, we send special literature to everybody we’ve served prior to that, giving them suggestions on things they can do to help themselves during that time,” says Sharon Wasson.

Wasson’s state-of-the-art computer system not only records information about deceased clients but also helps write obituaries, obtain death certificates and notify the Social Security office. It also contains the business’ records all the way back to the first few years of the century, which Sharon Wasson says has not only been helpful internally but has also helped several people in the area trace their family trees.

“We help a lot of people with insurance claims after the death,” says Sharon Wasson. “All those forms and questions can be daunting if you are not used to it.”

New trend, more business

Bob Wasson says much of the family’s recent business has been in prearranged funerals. Especially when people reach middle-age or retirement, they tend to have strong ideas about what they want to happen after they die.

“It’s been a really popular thing for older people because it secures the price of the funeral,” says Bob Wasson. “Particularly with the inflation we had in the 1980s, people found that appealing. And there are people who like to take care of things themselves. We did not anticipate the response we’ve gotten when we started this. It is a consumer-driven thing, mostly from people who walk in off the street.”

“Families who have people who have done this are always very pleased because it eliminates a lot of decision making,” says Sharon Wasson. “It is sometimes difficult, especially for a large family, to make a decision.”

A long history combined with the recent population explosion in the area ensure good business for Wasson’s Funeral Home. A small garden at the rear of the building sits on a slab of foundation concrete the Wassons had added to the building plan, just in case they ever decided to add on. The family is considering expanding their current building to add more office space and another viewing room, a possibility they considered 20 years ago.

“And it spans generations,” says Bob Wasson. “We’re burying people now that we buried some of their folks four generations back.”