Grimes family buys cemeteries, prepares for the 3rd generation

July 18, 2024/Business, Cemetery/

Johnny and Stacey Grimes are the owners of the Grimes Funeral Home in Kerrville, Texas, and according to this article from the Hill Country Community Journal they recently purchased the two Garden of Memories cemeteries in Kerrville to expand their business.

More often you see family funeral homes acquire other funeral homes in a quest for expansion but as Johnny Grimes stated in the article, “. . .Owning cemeteries goes hand-in-hand with our business. It’s good for the community.” And, from our perspective at Funeral Director Daily, when you see the plight of some rural cemeteries in America, it is probably a very good sign for a cemetery to be controlled by a going-concern funeral home to make sure that maintenance and other areas are not neglected.

Grimes further explained in the article, “. . . families who use the cemeteries as the “final resting place” for loved ones expect “perpetual care” to be a part of the cemetery services. They want to know that it’s going to be taken care of. It’s a great responsibility to take care of people’s loved ones in this community for so many years. It involves a little bit of love, and a little bit of tears. Our goal is to be responsive to the needs of the community…not just in helping with final arrangements, but also as a friend and resource when neede.”

The Grimes family also used the article to explain that their two sons, Hunter and Walker, both intend to work at the funeral home in the future which, if they did, work make the funeral home a 3rd generation business as Johnny and Stacey had purchased the funeral home from his parents in 2007.

Hunter is a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas where he played on the baseball team and Walker is presently a Senior at Texas A&M University.

Grimes Funeral Chapels website

Funeral Director Daily take: I found this article interesting for a couple of reasons that may be common among funeral home generational families. Johnny’s parents, John and Susie Grimes, purchased the funeral home in 1977.

One of the things I find interesting about “generational funeral homes” is that the elder owners many times have great deal of patience in waiting for a child to take over. Many times a child who eventually takes over tries another avenue in life before they decide to go into the mortuary business. . . . and, if the parent had sold in the meantime, the generational aspect of the business would be severed. In that regard, I think the ownership of a family funeral home is a lot like the agricultural life where family members return to the farm because it is something they remember fondly.

In the Grimes case, the article points out that Johnny Grimes “roped” on the rodeo circuit full-time before coming back to Kerrville. I also found it interesting that Johnny’s wife, Stacey, also competed in rodeo roping competitions.

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