Fall 2016 • 7
W
ith many local businesses
selling to larger companies with
headquarters in other states,
it becomes more difficult to find locally
owned companies with deep roots in the
community where they serve. Locally owned
businesses are valuable to a community’s
vitality and quality of life. Just ask Jeff Stout,
owner and operator of Stout & Son Funeral
Homes & Crematory, a business that’s been
around for 126 years.
While other children were occupied with
concerns of middle school, dating, and
weekend plans, Jeff was more intrigued by
the family business. Grandson of Kennard
Stout of Stout & Son Funeral Home in
Russiaville, he began working at the funeral
home at the age of 12 in 1977.
“I was 12 years old and I started following
[my] grandfather, Kennard around. I was
working weekends and helping out in the
evening,” he explained. “I pretty well knew
I wanted to do this at a very young age.”
Seldom do you hear of a child wanting to be
a funeral director and Jeff is the exception.
Jeff graduated from Kokomo High School
in 1983, and started buying into the family
business the same year. “I got out of high
school and made a commitment to go to
mortuary school and started buying into the
business,” said Jeff.
Founded in 1890 by Albert Stout just north
of Russiaville, the family business originated
as a small shop, called “The Small Concern”
selling furniture and monuments, while
offering funeral services as well. Nowadays
a much greater concern, Stout & Son
Funeral Homes and Crematory has multiple
locations spanning the area along with
several partnerships; Bob Hasler at Hasler
& Stout in Greentown, Bill Shirley and Matt
Grecu of the Shirley & Stout Funeral Home
on Lincoln Road and Jefferson Street in
Kokomo.
“Bob Hasler had sold to a large company,
I asked him if he would be interested in
partnering with me and purchasing his firm
back from the large company and he did. I’m
grateful to him. The business had fallen off
a bit but we have worked at it and it’s doing
great,” said Stout.
A funeral director in Kokomo since 1961,
Shirley had previously worked with the Fenn
family and later became a partner before the
Shirley Brothers in Indianapolis purchased
Fenn Funeral Home.
“I found out that Shirley Brothers was
thinking about getting out of Kokomo. Bill
and I purchased the funeral home returning
it to local ownership, and at the same time,
Matt became a partner with Bill and I.”
Coming from a long lineage of funeral
directors, it should come as no surprise that
the funeral business was right for Jeff. Unlike
the progeny of many family businesses,
the choice was his alone - he never felt
forced into it. And he is in fact, the fourth
generation of Stouts to be involved.
“This was what I wanted to do, my
grandfather Kennard was my role model,
my idol. I like the funeral business. I liked
the way he worked to earn the respect of
families,” said Stout.
Even with their half-a-century age
difference, the two were always close, and
with time, came change. With Jeff coming
into the business, Kennard started spending
winters in Florida.
“We talked every day and worked together
- the 50-year age difference was never a
problem,” Jeff said. “He was ready to retire
and I was bringing in new ideas. Working
with Bill and Bob reminds me of working
with Grandad and I value their mentorship
and friendship greatly.”
Throughout the century, the company has
had some hardships.
“It wasn’t always easy,” said Jeff. “There was
a fire in 1937 in Russiaville; the hatchery
caught fire and burned down the entire
block to include the funeral home and
furniture store. My great-grandfather
Wallace rebuilt and then came the 1965
Palm Sunday tornado.” Kennard and his
wife Reba rebuilt the business with the
future in mind.
The funeral home in Russiaville, as well as
Stout & Son Flooring & Furnishings, has
been at the same main location for almost
50 years on the north side of IN 26 where it
was relocated after the tornado.
Many of the families Stout, Shirley, Hasler
and Grecu serve are ones they have known
for years, but whether a new acquaintance
or an old friend, they treat each one with the
same importance.
“Funerals are not just traditional
funerals anymore. There is a lot more
memorialization and personalization by the
family,” Jeff said. “Every family has its own
way to celebrate the deceased person and
we’re involved in assisting the coordination
of a meaningful, affordable service.”
Being a family business, Stout, Hasler,
Shirley and Grecu understand the
importance of family, and utilize their values
when serving their families and loved ones
that have passed.
“I think, as you serve families, you have to
continue to earn their respect and work
tirelessly to earn their trust,” Jeff said. “You’re
constantly serving a new generation. You
have to work hard to assist and educate
them so that they are confident that they
have made the correct decisions with regard
to celebrating their loved one’s life and
honoring their loved one’s belief system.”
Along with a new generation - millennials,
many choose funeral options like cremation,
which is why Jeff and Bill built the first
locally owned crematory in Howard County
which assists many families who choose
cremation. Again, designing a meaningful
service still involves the funeral home
since a “majority of the families still want a
viewing and the funeral service followed by
the cremation. They still want to say their
goodbyes in a meaningful way,” he said.
The future of the Stout Funeral Homes
remaining locally owned looks promising
in that Jeff ’s two sons, Jeffrey and Jacob are
studying mortuary science in college and
plan to enter the family business in the near
future and carry on Albert’s concern that
local is always better.
AFFORDABLE OPTIONS
Locally owned and serving Howard County for over 125 years.
