Removed

[Marcia Moore]

     Removed.

[W. Gray]

My folks moved from Howard to Independence, Missouri, in the late forties and there were several funeral homes each operating an ambulance service.

The city was divided into districts with each funeral home serving a specific district.

When one needed an ambulance, they called a central number manned by the police dispatcher. From time to time, a funeral home director got into a dispute with the police because the police called an ambulance from another district. The dispute made the newspapers in the early 1960s.

The problem was each funeral home only had one ambulance—a converted Cadillac hearse painted red and white and emblazoned in large letters with the funeral home name. One might say a rolling advertisement.

When an ambulance of the proper district was out on a run, the police called an ambulance from another district. The complaining funeral homes apparently believed the police should wait until their ambulance was available.

When I came back from the service on leave in the early 1970s, I noticed the city had its own funeral service but never learned why. It must have been a similar Missouri law that caused that action to take place.