TERRE HAUTE —
Three Wabash Valley funeral homes have closed their doors, including the longtime Mattox-Ryan Funeral Home on South Seventh Street.
Service Corporation International, a Houston-based corporation which owns several Wabash Valley funeral homes, closed the Mattox-Ryan Funeral Home in Terre Haute, the Mattox-Fox Funeral Home in Riley and the Mattox-McHugh Funeral Home in Shelburn.
The doors to the businesses already have been closed and their customers have been directed to the Mattox-Wood Funeral Home at 4660 Lafayette, a company official said.
“It was a hard decision,” said Peggy Wesley-Fitzthum, general manager of SCI funeral homes in the area. All pre-arranged funerals set up through one of the closed locations will be honored by Mattox-Wood, she said.
Two jobs will be lost due to the consolidation, Wesley-Fitzhum said.
The decision to close the small-town funeral homes and the longtime Mattox-Ryan facility came after several years of consideration, Wesley-Fitzhum noted. Business was simply not strong enough to justify keeping them open, she said. At the small-town locations, business was so slow that people in those communities were likely not surprised by the decision, she said.
“It’s in response to the changing economic climate,” said Jessica McDunn, a spokeswoman for SCI in Houston. “After a review of the properties, it was a strategic business decision,” she said.
Service Corporation International is the largest provider of end-of-life services in the industry, according to the corporation’s website. It employs more than 20,000 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Puerto Rico.
In addition to Mattox-Wood, other SCI-owned funeral homes in the greater Terre Haute area include the Thomas Funeral Home at 2200 N. 13th St., Roselawn Funeral Home at 7500 N. Clinton St., and McClanahan-Lee Funeral Home in Jasonville. The corporation also owns two funeral homes in Greencastle.
None of those other SCI facilities is being affected by the decision, McDunn said.
The building housing the Mattox-Ryan Funeral Home at 602 S. Seventh St. had been a funeral home for about 60 years. Prior to that, it was listed in Terre Haute City Directories as a photography studio.
The Ryan funeral home business was founded in 1875.
In 1990, owners Patrick and Mary Ryan joined the Mattox staff. Other Mattox facilities at the time included locations in Fontanet, Sullivan and Terre Haute.
The total number of funeral homes in the United States has declined from about 21,000 in 2000 to about 19,680 in 2012, according to the National Directory of Morticians Redbook. About 89 percent of U.S. funeral homes are owned by individuals, families or closely-held private corporations. About 11 percent are owned by one of five publicly-traded corporations, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at 812-231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis On the list: The Mattox-Ryan funeral home on South Seventh street in Terre Haute is one of three funeral homes in the area that will be closing.
Discussion
National decision closes doors at Wabash Valley funeral homes
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