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BOYER FUNERAL HOME

     Boyer Funeral Home was established in Leadwood in 1906 by John S. Boyer.  At that time it started as undertaking and blacksmith trade and was located on Bird Street which is now called Warner Drive.  John Boyer's sons, Bert L. and Zeno both learned the trade while working with their father.  In 1919, Zeno moved to Desloge.  His son Bert L. had been associated with the firm since he was 17 years old.  When Bert's father John died in 1949, Bert L. Boyer assumed complete management of this business.

     By this time, the Boyer family had bought the two story home on Bank Street.  (This same house, in earlier years was the home and office of Dr. D. H. McKenzie.)

     About 1941, a funeral parlor in the Boyer home was opened.  Mr. Boyer also owned two stores in town.  One was the hardware store and the other being the embalming shop.  During this period, Boyers would prepare the body, but the majority of people were laid out in the their homes for the wake.

     Bert L. Boyer operated the funeral home with his two sons.  William  (Bill) assisted until he entered the ministry.   Then Bert R. assisted his father Bert L. Boyer from 1959 until his father's death in 1970.  From 1970 until 1992, Bert Robinson Boyer assumed complete management of the professional business of the Boyer Funeral Home in Leadwood, including remodeling the funeral home into the modern funeral home it is today. 

[The preceding article was "compiled through interview" and published in EARLY DAYS OF LEADWOOD, MISSOURI, copyright 2000, by Nedra Queen.] 

ZENO BOYER IN UNDERTAKING BUSINESS 22 YEARS
Published by THE LEAD BELT NEWS, Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO, Fri. July 4, 1941.

About twenty years ago, in fact in will be twenty-two years next month, a tall gawky fellow blew in from Leadwood and started in the undertaking business in Desloge. There had been undertakers in Desloge before he came, but they did not do so well, mainly because the service they rendered did not attract patronage. The service of an undertaker is very exacting, because his clients are always upset and off balance when such services are needed.

C. Z. Boyer, most people call him Zeno, first located in the building now occupied by the post office, later moving into the Giessing building. After a few years he bought the Joe Thurman property, a two story frame store building, which was located on the site of his present property. For some time he operated a hardware store in connection with the undertaking business but later went out of the hardware business and wrecked the frame building to make room for his present modern funeral home and service station.

His first hearse was a Model T Ford, very modern in those days. He now serves the public with a Packard Funeral Car, a Packard Ambulance and a Packard Sedan. Both Mr. and Mrs. Boyer and their son, Berlin, who has been a partner in the business for several years, are always thoughtful and attentive to those whom they serve.

Mr. Boyer, like other undertakers and professional men, has rendered a great deal of service without pay and has always been glad to do so.

During the twenty-two years he has been in business in Desloge he has advertised in the Desloge Sun and The Lead Belt News every week. He placed an ad in The Desloge Sun the week he opened his business and has kept it going thru all these years.

PURCHASE FUNERAL HOME
Published by THE DAILY JOURNAL, Flat River,
St. Francois Co. MO, Tues. Oct. 27, 1992.

    Ted and Charles Boyer, owners of the C.Z. Boyer & Son Funeral Homes of Bonne Terre and Desloge announce the purchase of the Bert Boyer Funeral Home in Leadwood. Bert and Bea Boyer, longtime owners of that business are retiring.

    The Bert Boyer Funeral Home was originally the J.S. Boyer Undertaking Company, founded in 1906 by John S. Boyer and his fourteen year old son, C. Z. "Zeno" Boyer. Bert is the grandson of John, and Ted and Charles are grandsons of Zeno.

    In the early years of this business, wagon making, black-smithing and undertaking were all services offered to the community. As the custom of keeping the deceased at home until the time of burial gave way to the use of funeral "homes", the business became devoted entirely to funerals.

    C. Z. Boyer and his wife moved to Desloge in 1919 and opened the C.Z. Boyer Funeral Home. Burlin, his son, joined the firm in 1932. Burlin's son Ted became a part of the family business in 1959, and Charles joined in 1975.

    The Benham Funeral Home of Bonne Terre was purchased in 1955. Before this business became a part of the Boyer Family tradition, it had been operated by the Benham family since 1882.

    With the purchase of the Leadwood facility, that location is now under the ownership and management of the fourth generation of the Boyer family.

    Because the C.Z. Boyer Firm now consists of three family owned and operated locations, there will be a greater availability of staff and equipment.

C. Z. BOYER & SON COMMEMORATE 75TH YEAR IN DESLOGE.
FAMILY BUSINESS SPANS FOUR GENERATIONS DATING BACK TO 1906.
Published in the Daily Journal on April 26, 1995

    It was 1906 at Leadwood, Mo., when John S. Boyer and his son (Charles) Zeno Boyer added the vocation of undertaking to their already established trades as blacksmiths and wagon makers.  Then in 1919 Zeno and his wife Lottie Womack Boyer moved to Desloge where together they started the Boyer Hardware & Undertaking establishment.  In 1932 Burlin Boyer became a business partner with his father Zeno.  Together they established the C. Z. Boyer & Son Funeral Home as one of the most modern in its era.

     In June of 1955 the Benham Undertaking Company of Bonne Terre (established in 1896) became a part of the C. Z. Boyer & Son family owned business.  In 1960 a fourth generation family member joined with father and grandfather to carry on the family tradition.  The Boyer Funeral Home in Bonne Terre was enlarged and modernized.   Ted Boyer became the manager and continues to head the present day operations of the C. Z. Boyer & Son, Inc.  In November of 1970 a completely new funeral home was built at the present location of 1116 North Desloge Drive.  In 1976 Charles Boyer joined his brother Ted and his father Burlin to become a part of the tradition of family involvement in the funeral home and funeral service business.

     One of the most recent events to take place has been the acquisition of the Bert Boyer Funeral Home of Leadwood.   When Bert R. and Bea Boyer retired from the funeral business in November of 1992, the funeral home at Leadwood began operating as the C. Z. Boyer & Son Funeral Home.   This added a third location to the Boyer family funeral service business and expanded the area served.  As once stated by Burlin Boyer, who is now retired, "We have always felt as though we were not serving just two or three small communities, but that we were serving all of the surrounding area.  This has included parts of the surrounding counties and in many cases, the, the county and city of St. Louis.  People will continue to move from this area and to an area where their work skills may be needed, but because 30 or 40 years ago, we took care of a member of their family, they will continue to call on our funeral home when a death has occurred."  

     A total of 89 years has passed since the "UNDERTAKER" sign first appeared on the John S. Boyer Blacksmith Shop in Leadwood; but from this humble beginning has developed a family tradition rich in service and care giving that continues to be at the forefront of funeral service in today's community. 

  Sports facility honors Ted Boyer
Published in Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 24, 2001

    "We support the league with proceeds from a golf tournament and donations. The expansion to seventh grade level will require new equipment, which is very expensive. People have been very supportive of us in the past and I know they will now," said the third member of the R.J.F.L. officers Wesley Straughn.

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