OUR HISTORY

Ornate, decorative swirl design element in black.

In the early 1890’2, William H. Brown & Anson B. Simmons became partners in the Brown & Simmons Undertaker Business. In 1897, the partnership ended and Brown continued the undertaking side of the business. In the early 1920’s, William’s 2 sons, Carl and Ira joined their father. Ira located in Paradise and Carl remained in Christiana. The third generation brought Carl, Jr and Lee Brown into the family business. Steve Shivery worked at both funeral homes for many years, buying the Christiana home in 1994 when Carl Brown retired and purchasing the Paradise location from Lee Brown in 2007 bringing the two locations together again.

Three-story brick house with dormers, balcony, and porch, likely built in the early 20th century.
Two-story Victorian house with a porch and ornate details, behind a stone wall with trees on either side.

In 1898, a young Fred Reynolds purchased the "good will and fixtures" of Fred F. Groff Undertaker and Furniture Making to conduct furniture repair and funeral business. In 1910, he sold off his furniture inventory to concentrate solely on the funeral business. In 1950, the business was moved to its current location, the beautiful landmark home rebuilt and restyled by I. Haines Dickinson in 1906. The current Fred Reynolds sold the business and property to the Shivery Family in April of 2020.