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A historical review of early ambulance service in Stockton

Ambulance service in the Stockton area has been on the forefront of interest in recent months. The purpose of this…

By Don Levi Jun 18, 2008

Ambulance service in the Stockton area has been on the forefront of interest in recent months. The purpose of this article simply is to put Stockton's ambulance service in a historical perspective.

In the early to mid-1920s, there was competition in the funeral business in the city of Stockton. Summers and Gwinn was the name of the local funeral business headquartered in Stockton. George Nafus ran a similar business out of El Dorado Springs, but had a storefront operation in Stockton where he advertised himself as a licensed embalmer.

The first name associated with the funeral business many local residents of today would recognize is Charley Neale. Neale attended mortuary school in St. Louis in the early 1920s, and apparently worked for a time for the Summers and Gwinn Funeral Home. The early files of the Cedar County Republican did not disclose any news articles about Neale's early career, but on May 20, 1926, the weekly advertisement for Summers and Gwinn disappeared from the Republican, and was replaced by one for Neale and Summers. According to Missouri History in Cedar County published in 1971 by Clayton Abbott and Lewis B. Hoff, the exact date this new firm went into business was April 29, 1926. This is the day Charley Neale and J. W. Summers purchased the interest of Gwinn.

The location of the Neale and Summers business was not disclosed in the advertisement, but a short Republican news blip June 3, 1926, noted, "The Neale and Summers Undertaking Department had been moved to the Hartley Building over the Davis Hardware." Prior to the 2003 tornado, the location of the Davis Hardware would have been immediately west of the current offices of the Cedar County Republican.

Aug. 1, 1927, the Neale and Summers ad was replaced by one for Davis Undertaking. Claude Davis was the father-in-law of both Charley Neale and Melvin Church, who later became co-owners of the mortuary. Church became a licensed embalmer in July 1928, and he seemingly became associated with the undertaking business at or near that time. Davis apparently initially bankrolled what was to become the Church and Neale undertaking business, but these two brothers-in-law really ran the company.

The Aug. 1, 1927, Davis Undertaking ad also contains the first published reference found for ambulance service in Stockton. The ad stated in part: "Our new funeral coach and ambulance is at your disposal." If ambulance service existed prior to this time, it was not found in the newspaper records.

This one vehicle served as both a hearse for funerals and an ambulance when someone needed to be transported for medical attention. Because motorized vehicles were a rarity in those days, local residents often flocked to their windows when this vehicle went by. If the curtains were drawn across the windows, someone had died and the vehicle was being used as a hearse. But if the windows were left uncovered, this was a sign someone was being transported for medical attention. This practice of drawing the curtains or leaving them open, depending on the cargo, continued at least into the 1950s.

The principal drivers of the ambulance were Church and Neale, although several others were placed into service from time to time. Bill Neale, retired El Dorado Springs dentist, current Cedar County Coroner and son of Charley Neale, recalls the ambulance always was more of a public service than a profit center.

Charlotte (Owen) Skaggs (granddaughter of Charley Neale) provided information about earlier ambulances in Cedar County. W.T. Long, father of Paul Long and long-time owner of Long Funeral Home in Jerico Springs, initiated ambulance service as early as May 1923. Thus, ambulance service in Jerico Springs apparently preceded ambulance service in Stockton.

Church and Charley Neale did not officially become the published operators of their undertaking business until April 1943. Their first advertisement appeared in the April 8, 1943, edition, and stated:

Your last tribute from Church and Neale

Your most fitting testimonial of esteem and affection for your loved one.

It's a consoling memory and available to everyone regardless of financial condition.

For years, the Church and Neale mortuary was located in a warehouse-type building behind the W.C. Davis hardware store on the north side of the square. For the benefit of Republican readers who were unfamiliar with the businesses located on and behind the square prior to the 2003 tornado, the mortuary building was located immediately west of the location of the current Alltel telephone building.

In 1941, Dr. James Flaherty began construction of a hospital on High Street in Stockton. However, it was never used as a hospital and essentially was abandoned when it was completed and when Flaherty suddenly left Stockton.

The never-used hospital building was acquired by Church and Neale in May 1945, and they began using it to house their funeral business in June of that year. It continues to be used for that purpose by current owners Richard and Judy Brumback.

Some three years after taking possession of the hospital building, Church died, and Nov. 11, 1948, John and Geneva Cantlon purchased the funeral home and ambulance service from Neale and the estate of Church. The Cantlons operated this funeral business for almost 20 years.

The Cantlons also continued to operate the ambulance service. Daughter Jeanette (Cantlon) Adams remembers the equipment in the ambulance would be considered bare bones, or primitive, by today's standards. It had some basic first-aid materials on board, and even an oxygen tank in later years. The ambulance was driven by several different people, including John Cantlon, Melvin Wright, Jack Gunier and Gene Adams. The only legal requirement then was the drivers have a chauffer's license (now called a commercial driver's license). None of the drivers were required to have any special training as an EMT. And, reportedly, at least one driver was reluctant to make use of the oxygen tank because he feared it might explode.

Adams also remembers a fairly large number of the ambulance trips were to the Veterans Administration Hospital in either Fayetteville, Ark., or Kansas City. Gene Adams also recalls when time permitted, drivers often stopped at the A.Q. Chicken House in Springdale, Ark. for a special treat of fried chicken with biscuits and honey.

The Cantlons sold the funeral home to Richard and Judy Brumback July 1, 1968. The Brumbacks continued to use company vehicles to provide ambulance service to the Stockton area until 1973 when the Cedar County Memorial Hospital received a grant to purchase two ambulances.

Richard Brumback, together with his wife, Judy, and brother, Doyle, became qualified as EMTs (this apparently became a legal requirement in 1973) and made many runs with the ambulance. Several volunteers also rode in the ambulance on a more or less regular basis, including Franklin "Hank" Smith, Richard Campbell and Mary Phillips. Smith recalls teachers from the University of Missouri came to Stockton to provide the EMT training, and people from other nearby towns also attended these classes.

A few years later, the ambulance service returned to the private sector, and Richard and Judy Brumback again made ambulance runs when others took a day off. The last run made by the Brumbacks was in 1980.

Genealogy of early ambulance service in Stockton

Many descendants of the early ambulance service providers still have connections to Stockton and nearby towns.

Charley Neale and Melvin Church both married daughters of W.C. Davis, long-time president of the Sac River Valley Bank, acquired by Liberty Bank a few years ago. Betty (Neale) Johnson of Stockton and Bill Neale, retired El Dorado Springs dentist and current Cedar County coroner, were children of Charley and Jaunita Neale. Charley and Jaunita had another daughter, June (Neale) Owen who died in 1977. June's older daughter, Charlotte (Owen) Skaggs and husband Charles have retired in Stockton.

Melvin and Hazel Church had one child, Darrell Davis Church. Darrell practiced dentistry in Stockton for a few years before moving his practice to Buffalo. Darrell and his wife, Nancy, are retired and live in Springfield.

John and Geneva Cantlon had two children, Jeanette and Jerry. Jeanette married another Stockton High School graduate, (Floyd) Gene Adams. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and now live in Weatherby Lake north of Kansas City.

Jerry Cantlon also married a Stockton High School graduate, Marlene Marcum. Jerry played basketball at Central Methodist College in Fayette, after which he became a mortician and he and Marlene operated a funeral home in Buffalo for more than 35 years, selling it to their son-in-law 10 years ago. Marlene, incidentally, is an EMT and made many ambulance runs from Buffalo to Springfield and elsewhere over the years prior to selling the ambulance service to St. John's Hospital in 1985.