Birch Funeral Home to close after 131 years

Local funeral home Wilson-Griffin to take over responsibilities
In 1892, J.F. Kiblinger established the business now known as the Birch Funeral Home. With the exception of the time it was sold to Clint Trogdon in 1927 to the time when James Birch, Kiblinger’s grandson bought it back in 1950, it has remained in the possession of Kiblinger’s family for the better part of its 131-year history. However, within a few weeks, that will change.
Jimmy Birch, James Birch’s son and Kiblinger’s great-grandson, will be the last member of the family to own the business. Now 81, he is retiring and selling the funeral home to Kasey and Rachel Griffin, owners of Wilson-Griffin Funeral Homes, based in Ash Grove.

Birch knew he wanted to be an undertaker at an early age
Birch made up his mind that he wanted to be an undertaker at the age of 12, because his father, James Birch, was one. Birch said that while his father was pleased that he wanted to follow in his footsteps, he also made certain that Birch knew what all the job would entail.
“My dad, when I told him I wanted to go to mortuary school,” Birch said, “he was just proud as punch that I wanted to do it, but he wasn’t going to let me hang around and think I was going to have a picnic, and he told me everything in the world why nobody in their right mind would be an undertaker. (But) he couldn't run me off.”
Birch got a little taste of the business a couple of years later when he made his first ambulance call at the age of 14 (at that time, undertakers in the area provided medical transport for those needing to get to a hospital); at 15, he made his first death call.

Career interrupted by war
After graduating from Ash Grove High School in 1959, Birch attended Drury University for two years before attending mortuary school in Dallas, Texas in 1961. After finishing his training, he went to work at the Sheil Funeral Home in Kansas City, in April of 1962 before returning to Ash Grove in July of 1966 to work for his father.
However, the Vietnam War was going on at this time, and three months after returning home, Birch was drafted into the United States Army—on his birthday, no less. He served in the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, where he drove an armored calvary assault vehicle (at one point, he also drove a tank).
After his time was up, Birch was asked to extend his service for another six months, but as he was wanting to get home to his wife, Linda, he declined.
“I said, ‘No, I can’t do that; there’d be a Hungarian woman in Ash Grove, Mo., by God, who would be over there to beat you to death,” Birch said with a laugh.

Birch wanted someone who would take care of his customers
After returning home, Birch continued to work for his father. With the death of James Birch on March 30, 1999, Birch took ownership of the funeral home. Today, Birch said, he is selling his business to the Griffins because he believes they will provide the highest level of service to their clients.
“We’ve known them for years,” he said. “They’re nice people, and that’s what we wanted. I mean, people to take care of the pre-needs that we had. We wanted to see our people done right.”
For his part, Kasey Griffin said he was “honored” that Birch chose him and his wife, Rachel, to take over the Birch Funeral Home.
“My wife Rachel and I are very honored to be able to purchase the Birch Funeral Home,” he said. “As a family, we felt that it was important for us to be the ones to continue serving the families in this community. We are thankful that Mr. Birch has seen what we have been doing in the community for the last seven years and has entrusted us to continue that. Rachel and I had a wonderful visit with him about his family legacy and how important it was for him to know that we would carry on taking care of families in their time of need. We hope to have everything finalized with the sale, the last week of February or the beginning of March.”

Parting thoughts
Though he is about to end his career, Birch had some advice for those who want to go into business for themselves. One was to always pay your bills.
“If you run a business,” he said, “you can't expect other people to pay you if you don't pay them.”
His other bit of advice was to always do right by your customers.
“It doesn't take much to do people right.”