Cedar County Republican-
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.