<BillNo> <Sponsor>
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 178
By Gant
HJR0178
003069
- 1 -
A RESOLUTION to honor and commend Peebles Funeral Home.
WHEREAS, the members of this General Assembly are pleased to recognize those
long-standing businesses that have provided outstanding service to the citizens of their
community; and
WHEREAS, one such business is the family-owned Peebles Funeral Home, which has
stood as a pillar of respectful concern for those who have lost family, friends, and loved ones in
West Tennessee since 1884; and
WHEREAS, Peebles Funeral Home takes pride in its roots, with a history stretching back
to the first undertaker in Fayette County, Colonel Simon H. Walker, a cabinetmaker by trade
who started making coffins in Somerville in 1826; and
WHEREAS, Colonel Walker was known as an honest businessman and served in the
undertaking business with his stepson, Thomas E.A. Fraser; after Colonel Walker's death in
1862, Mr. Fraser inherited the undertaking business from his stepfather; and
WHEREAS, the funeral business experienced a big change in the 1850s, as small
cabinetmaking and woodworking shops that employed carpenters and craftsmen to make wood
coffins had to adjust to accommodate an alternative kind of coffin made by cast-iron stove
manufacturers that made metallic cases for burials; and
WHEREAS, Thomas E.A. Fraser continued to manufacture wood coffins, as well as
providing metallic coffins, as a sole proprietor until 1870, at which time he collaborated with
another Fayette County undertaker, William W. Greenway, until 1872; and
WHEREAS, in 1878, at the age of fifty-nine, Stewart Freeman Woodruff became an
undertaker; a decade later, his nephew D. Reddick Cleaves, a carpenter, purchased the
- 2 - 003069
undertaking business in Mason, while Mr. Woodruff continued his undertaking business in
Somerville; and
WHEREAS, after Mr. Woodruff's death in 1895, his daughter, Mary Woodruff Wetzler,
inherited her father's undertaking business and its stock of coffins, materials, hearses, and
horses; Mrs. Wetzler was married to John Wetzler, who had worked with and learned the
undertaking business from his father-in-law; and
WHEREAS, John Wetzler, who had graduated from the Oriental School of Embalming in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892, established the first funeral home in Fayette County; John and
Mary Wetzler's son, John Howard Wetzler, graduated from the Gupton-Jones School of
Embalming in Nashville on July 6, 1920, and continued operating the family business until the
1950s; and
WHEREAS, as Fayette County continued to grow, so did the funeral business; Henry F.
Bryant owned and operated Bryant Funeral Home in Moscow from 1946 to 1949, while John
Wilson Simmons, owner of Simmons Funeral Home, also operated in Moscow in 1947; and
WHEREAS, Harry Crawford began operating Crawford Funeral Home in Somerville in
1951 and was joined by Herbert Wright in 1959; and
WHEREAS, Crawford Funeral Home and Simmons Funeral Home directed until January
1972, at which time they were purchased by Thomas Gordon Peebles and consolidated into
Fayette County Funeral Home in February 1973; and
WHEREAS, the present Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes and Cremation Center
- Main Chapel, located at 18020 Highway 64 in Somerville, was built in 1974; it was the first and
only full-service funeral home facility built specifically for a funeral home in Fayette County, and
it is still being utilized today; and
- 3 - 003069
WHEREAS, in anticipation of changes in the funeral industry, the Peebles Cremation
Center was built in 2003; the West Chapel, cremation center, and cemetery are all located on
the same property; and
WHEREAS, on May 30, 2014, Michael and Jennifer Tilghman were blessed with an
opportunity to purchase the funeral homes, cemetery, cremation center, and pet business; prior
to purchasing the business, Michael Tilghman had worked with Mr. and Mrs. Peebles for a
period of five years; and
WHEREAS, since 1884, Peebles Funeral Home has rendered sterling service to the
good people of West Tennessee, and it is wholly fitting that we honor this exemplary Tennessee
institution; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED
FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE
CONCURRING, that we honor and commend Peebles Funeral Home upon providing 141 years
of service to its community and applaud the long-standing commitment to excellence and
dedication exhibited by its owners and employees.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that an appropriate copy of this resolution be prepared
for presentation with this final clause omitted from such copy and upon proper request made to
the appropriate clerk, the language appearing immediately following the State seal appear
without House or Senate designation.