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Cobb
Funeral Home was established in 1890 by Mr. J.C. Cobb.
The original name was the J.C. Cobb Undertaking
Company – a small business operation.
Because most people were embalmed at home, the
funeral home did not have a preparation room or
embalming tables. Initially,
the embalmer would take his instruments in a large bag
(much like a medical doctor’s bag) and what was then
known as a “cooling board”. He would embalm and dress the
deceased person at the individual’s home.
It was customary for the family to come to the
funeral home and choose a casket which would be taken to
the home and the body placed inside.
The “wake” would be held continuously
at the residence until the time of the funeral.
There
was no funeral home chapel in those days.
Most services were held in the family’s church
or at their home. Cobb
Funeral Home still has an original horse-drawn hearse on
the premises, which was used in those early days.
In
1914, William H. Stovall, Sr., came to Blytheville having
completed embalming school in Nashville, Tennessee. He came as an embalmer hired by Mr. Cobb.
Within two years, Mr. Cobb died and Mr. Stovall,
yet a very young man, formed a stock company with
several local residents and bought the funeral home from
Mrs. Cobb.
As the
years went by, Stovall gradually paid back all his
investors, and the funeral home belonged to him. The first Cobb Funeral Home building was built on North
Second Street adjacent to the present city hall building. It was built by Mr. Stovall in the 1920’s and was one of
the first funeral home buildings in Arkansas built as a
funeral home only.
This building is still standing and is currently
being used to house private law offices.
In the
early 1940’s Cobb Funeral Home was moved to its
present location at Main and Sixth Streets into a
building originally built as a lodge with private living
quarters. The
Stovall family lived in this building until 1955 at
which time the building underwent major reconstruction
and a new air-conditioned chapel was added.
William
H. Stovall, Jr., became associated in an official
capacity with Cobb Funeral Home after his graduation
from the University of Arkansas and the St. Louis
Mortuary School in 1949. He was actively involved in the operation and growth of the
firm serving as president from 1985 until his death in
1997. Under
his leadership, the firm expanded the scope of the
funeral home operation in all areas – cemeteries, the
Memorial Insurance Company, and active establishment of
the pre-need funeral offering.
It was under his guidance that Cobb Funeral Home
acquired the former Howard Funeral Home (a long-time
competitor) in 1971.
The
company’s current president, William H. Stovall, III,
came into the firm in 1973, after graduation from the
Dallas Institute of Funeral Service. Like his father, he
too was a graduate of the University of Arkansas.
In 1977, he saw the need to construct a newer and
better designed funeral home building, and with the
agreement of his father and grandfather, he employed and
worked with J. Stuart Todd Architects of Dallas, Texas
to design a new building that was subsequently built at
the familiar Main Street Location.
The
main calling of Cobb Funeral Home since the earliest
days of the company has been to deliver the very best
service to every family that we serve regardless of
their circumstances or means.
It is the goal which inspires us each day, now
and into the future.
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