By Betsy Finklea
The Dillon County Historical Society recently met at the picnic shelter at the Little Pee Dee State Park for their quarterly meeting. Members and guests enjoyed the beautiful setting complete with a meal from Shuler’s BBQ.
Chris Daniels, the president of the Historical Society, made an excellent presentation on the history of funeral homes in the Dillon area. Daniels said that the funeral business has a rich history in Dillon County. He represents the fourth generation in his family to be involved in the funeral business. Daniels said his great-grandfather, Luther Daniels, and his grandfather, Fred Arnold Daniels, both worked in the funeral business. As a teenager, his father, Allen Ray Daniels was a gravedigger. His great-great-uncle, Wingate Emory Hayes, was also a gravedigger.
Daniels made the following presentation:
“The present-day Kannaday Funeral Home facility at 1252 Hwy 57 South (formerly 1901 South Fairway Drive) in Dillon was originally constructed and opened February 9, 1967, by Marion Graham (1923–2007) and Mary Kathleen Nicholson Cottingham (1923–2013) and named Cottingham Funeral Home. This was the first modern-day facility that was built solely for the purpose of funerals in Dillon County. Before 1967, all funeral homes were located in houses or hardware stores that were converted to be used as a funeral home. In 1970 the Cottingham Family purchased Bethea Funeral Home (the business, not the facilities) from William Thaddeus (1896–1972) and Oriana Manning Berry Bethea (1898–1983).”
“Cottingham Funeral Home facility was later purchased by Lyde Daniel Blanton Jr. (1943–2005) around 1976 and renamed Blanton-Cottingham Funeral Home (also known as Blanton Funeral Home). Mr. Blanton brought together five Dillon County funeral homes in 1979 and made an agreement to discontinue the lending and rental of tents or canopies to churches, civic groups, or the public. The reason for the agreement was the costs of labor, supplies, and insurance. The agreement went into effect as of June 1, 1979, and was published in the local newspaper. After forty years two of the funeral homes represented in the agreement still observe the decision. Four of the five funeral directors to sign included Lyde Blanton Jr. of Blanton-Cottingham Funeral Home, Jack B. Witherspoon of Jackson-Witherspoon Funeral Home, Monroe Raymond Kannaday of Kannaday’s Funeral Home and Alton Cook of Prevatte Funeral Home.”
“Mr. Blanton retired from the Funeral Business in 1989 and sold the facility to Monroe Raymond Kannaday (1928–2011). Kannaday and his wife and their only son held an open house on July 23, 1989, with hundreds of visitors touring the facility. Mrs. Kathleen N. Cottingham would also work for Lyde Blanton and Raymond Kannaday in Dillon. Prior to Raymond Kannaday purchasing the facility from Lyde Blanton, Kannaday Funeral Home (known as Kannaday’s Funeral Home prior to 2009) was located on the corner of E. Main Street and S. 6th Ave in Dillon for about two years. After the purchase from Mr. Blanton in 1989 the old facility on Main Street was sold to Carolina Funeral Home.”
“Kannaday Funeral Home was later purchased on July 21, 2009, by Ryan L. Kannaday Jr., the nephew of Monroe Raymond Kannaday and former owner of a vault company based in South Carolina. In 2007, prior to purchasing the funeral home, Kannaday purchased Greenlawn Cemetery (founded in 1957), which adjoined the property of Kannaday Funeral Home from Henry Leroy Richbourg (1925–2014).”
“Prior to 1935 the former Bethea Funeral Home of Dillon, was originally founded as the Bethea- Henagan Funeral Home. William Thaddeus “Thad” Bethea was born in Dillon and his wife Oriana M. Berry Bethea was born in Latta. After their marriage they moved to Richmond County, N.C., where they had their first child, William Thaddeus Bethea Jr. Thad was an insurance salesman, and Oriana sold books. Between 1930 and 1935 they moved to Dillon and entered the funeral business. Bethea-Henagan Funeral Home conducted their first known funeral services in 1935, according to the death certificates filed with South Carolina. After 1940 the name of the funeral home was changed to Bethea Funeral Home, which would later move from the corner of E. Main Street and S. 6th Ave. (the future location of Kannaday Funeral Home from 1987 to 1989) to 502 S. 14th Ave. Bethea Funeral Home business (not the buildings or property) was sold to the Cottingham Family in 1970. It was said that the badly worn records of the Bethea Funeral Home were burned after the funeral home was sold. After the sale to the Cottingham Family, around 1974, the Bethea Funeral Home facility on 502 S. 14th Ave was purchased by Harold G. Jackson (1935–1994). Like the Cottingham Family, Harold G. Jackson purchased the Williams Funeral Home business but did not use the facility that was located at the corner of 18th Ave. and E. Harrison Street (across from present-day East Elementary).”
“Williams Funeral Home can be traced back to around 1910 to a hardware business that was founded by Benjamin Franklin Williams (1875–1933). In 1936 the Williams Funeral Home was formed from the hardware store that was operated by Benjamin’s sons, Leon Power Williams (1907–1981) and Carlie Williams (1909–1992). Leon and his future wife, Sarah Nettie Arnold Williams (1916–1993) both would later own and operate the business until the sale to Harold Gene Jackson and Faye Jackson. Leon briefly partnered with another funeral home in 1970 but soon returned to his funeral home and remained active until 1974.”
“Harold G. Jackson opened his new facility under the name of Williams Funeral Service in 1974 and soon after renamed it Colonial Funeral Home (also known as the Jackson Colonial Funeral Home). In 1978 the funeral home was once again renamed Jackson Funeral Home and in 1979 as Jackson-Witherspoon Funeral Home (burned around 1980). Bethea Funeral Home’s early facility at the corner of Main Street and 6th Ave was the former Ed Hamer residence where he resided and reared his family. From 1970 to 1987 this facility was also used by another funeral home that had a brief partnership (a few months in 1970) with Leon Williams of Williams Funeral Home.”
“Other early funeral service providers serving the Dillon area were the Palmetto Hardware Company (founded prior to 1915 by Jewell P. McLaurin and J. F. Thompson), Dillon Hardware Company (founded prior to 1915, located at the corner of Main Street and North Railroad Ave.), Dillon Funeral Home (founded around 1927 by J. S. Coe, Jr.), Whitner Funeral Home (founded around 1935), Henegan and Frazier Funeral Home (founded around 1935), Diles (operated by Rola Dile and located in the Hamer Community around 1916), Smith Funeral Home (was in operation in Dillon briefly around 1990), Quick Funeral Home (was in operation in Dillon briefly around 1960), United Funeral Services (located at 1309 Calhoun Street), House of Thomas Funeral Home and Mutual Funeral Home.”
House of Thomas Funeral Home was opened April 3, 1989, and closed in August of 2021. Kevin T. Thomas (1963-2016) obtained financial backing from his late father, Tyrone Thomas and his father-in-law. The funeral home was originally located at 300 S. 2nd Ave. He moved across J.V. Martin Middle School at 300 Martin Luther King Blvd in September 1992. I (Christopher H. Daniels) served as the manager in 2018 and 2019.”
“Mutual Funeral Home (founded as Mutual Undertaker Company prior to 1932) was founded by Herman Cain and he had an additional facility located in Lake View (located on 7th Avenue). In the 1970s Mutual Funeral Home was renamed Mutual-King Funeral Home under the management of Rosana D. King. When they closed the business in the late 1980s, they were located on the corner of Calhoun and Highway 57 in the Newtown Community of Dillon.”
Please note, Cooper Funeral Home, which opened in 1970, was mentioned, but was not part of the written document quoted here.
Daniels gave many other interesting facts. He said Henry Berry of Berry’s Crossroads was the first recorded cremation in South Carolina. He said he has been to 288 cemeteries in the area. He said there is a great deal of history in the funeral home business, and he is proud his family played a part in it.
During the business meeting, Daniels reminded the members that the Dillon County Museum in Latta and the Dillon House Museum in Dillon were both open to the public monthly on the third Sunday from 2:00-4:00 p.m. They have been organizing the Dillon County Museum. One of the things they have done is organize all of the school pictures into one area. Daniels has added notebooks about the Dillon County Sheriffs, John H. David, and the history of Native Americans. He said the Palmetto Leadership Class visited both museums.
The next meeting will be July 16th. The guest speaker will be Carolyn McDaniel.
