Brief History of Greater Jackson Mortuary Service
After being given the opportunity to form a removal company to serve the needs of Wright and Ferguson and Baldwin - Lee Funeral Homes in Greater Jackson area (SCI Corporation), Kevin Hughes founded the Central MS Removal Corporation. With a loan of 2,000.00 dollars for a down payment on a van and borrowed equipment from the respective funeral homes, Central MS Removal Service began operation with its first call on August 28, 2009 at approximately 6:30 p.m. The company served these 2 funeral homes for the next few months, along with a few our of town funeral homes. However, because there was only one van owned by the company, and no additional employees, overland transport had to be declined for any calls made. The one van had to remain in Jackson to serve local calls. This dilemma necessitated the addition of another used van and an additional part time employee. During this era, the company serviced between 50-60 first calls per month, along with a few overland transports.
During the first 10 months of the company's existence, a solid reputation of excellence in response times, procedure, and appearance of staff began to spread abroad through Mississippi. This good name enabled Central MS Removal Service to acquire the removal of transport business of other out of town firms who had Jackson area deaths. However, the young company had another dilemma; requests for embalming had to be declined for lack of a facility.
After much thought and consideration, the decision was made to transition into Central MS Removal Service, doing business as Greater Jackson Mortuary Service. Trying to Persuade several people to lease a building for the mortuary service proved to be a very difficult task. Once in particular, Mr. Hughes was on the way to sign a lease only to be turned down after the landlord "rethought" the repercussion from his neighboring tenants.
Finally, on May 1, 2010, a small building was secured on 812 Foley Street and with minor remodeling, the mortuary service was in business. Hoping to do at least 5 calls per month to at least cover the lease payment, 25 embalming's were performed the first month.
The next several months were spent in this small facility, when out of necessity for space, an agreement was reached with Wright and Ferguson Funeral Home to administrate, operate and occupy their preparation facility. The company operated at this facility until 2012, when the present location at 1220 Vine Street was purchased.
It was also during this time that an additional building at 540 Ford Ave was secured to house 2 cremation units to serve the needs of our clients. The cremation division also experienced great growth from around 300 cremations per year, to well over 1000 cremations at present.
The present Mortuary building, being a wide open warehouse with a small office was remodeled to serve the growing needs of Greater Jackson Mortuary Service. Over the next several years, business grew and several full time and part time employees were added. In addition, several remodeling projects were completed, adding more preparation space along with the improvements to the interior of the facility. At present, the projection is for 5000 decedents to be taken into our care this year.