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Sedgwick County, Kansas

Funeral Home Site Adjacent to Cemetery

Construction is to begin about March 1 next year on a funeral home just west of Resthaven Gardens of Memory, a cemetery at 11800 W. U.S. 54, according to Hap Bledsoe, Resthaven owner.

To be a one-story structure with a white, chipped onyx exterior and copper roofline trim, the funeral home will cost about $230,000, Bledsoe said, with about $30,000 in furnishings. It will be on a landscaped, four-acre site including parking for 175 cars, with the parking project expected to cost about $15,000, and the landscaping, about $60,000. Completion of the proejct is to take four or five months.

The 11,000-square-foot structure will include a 180-seat chapel with reserve space for 100 seats; offices; a garage; coffee shop; family reception rooms; lounges; and, later, a flower shop. A funeral director and staff of about eight will be hired, Bledsoe said.

Local architects Feagins and Kirsch designed the structure. Consulting architect was Charles Todd, Dallas, Tex., and building contracts are to be let about Feb. 1.

Noting Resthaven has sold "twice as much property as any cemetery in Kansas in its nine years of operation, or 11,000 spaces," Bledsoe said the need has become apparent in that time for bringing the costs of funerals down. "I feel that by having Resthaven Funeral Home close to the cemetery, the only such facility in Kansas, we can eliminate a lot of expenses, such as the cost of the police escort for the procession.

"Nobody really likes the idea of the procession, and it's a necessity with separated facilities, not a dignified procedure."

(Wichita Eagle ~ Sunday ~ 24 Dec 1967)