About Us
About Us
In 1898, W.M. Cornelius and his father-in-law, E.G. Porterfield, decided to go into business together. That is when they founded Cornelius Funeral Home in downtown Hope, Arkansas. In 1899, the first rolling stock was purchased when Mr. Cornelius purchased two horse-drawn hearses. The first was a rubber-tire hearse to be used for the city, and the second was a steel rim hearse used in the country. These hearses were powered by four black horses. The driver was given two simple instructions, "Never let the horses trot, and after you start the procession, don't let it stop."
Keeping with family tradition, the funeral home passed from Mr. Cornelius to his son-in-law R. V. Herndon Sr., then down to R. V. Herndon Jr. in 1964. At that time, R. V. Herndon Jr. purchased all remaining interest from his brothers and renamed the business to Herndon Funeral Home.
In May of 2007, with no other family to pass the business to, Mr. Herndon sold the funeral home to Terry and Wendy Pharr, who renamed it Herndon-Pharr Funeral Home. In December of that same year, Mr. & Mrs. Pharr acquired Shackelford Funeral Home in Prescott, and Horne Funeral Home in Gurdon. They collectively renamed these Pharr Funeral Homes of Arkansas. Finally, they also purchased Memory Gardens Cemetery in Hope, Arkansas.
After many years of serving the Hope, Prescott, and Gurdon communities, Mr. & Mrs. Pharr sold the business to Thomas and Vickers Fuqua of Texarkana, Texas. The business was then renamed Herndon-Fuqua Funeral Homes.
Texarkana Funeral Home was started in 1939 in Texarkana, Texas. It currently owns and operates three funeral homes in Texarkana, one in New Boston, Texas, and another in DeKalb, Texas. In addition, they own Hillcrest Memorial Park and Memorial Gardens Cemetery, both perpetual care cemeteries in Texarkana, Hillcrest Crematory in Texarkana, and Unique Flowers and Gifts in Texarkana.
