History

A History of Growth and Commitment 
 

Founded in 1946, Claybar Funeral Home has been committed to caring for families during the most difficult of times. The Claybar story began in 1946 when Ambrose Claybar purchased and converted the old "Bland" residence into a funeral home. As World War II ended, Lannie Claybar returned from service to join his brother at the funeral home. Later that year, Lannie purchased his brother's interest in the business and committed himself to service. Lannie Claybar and his wife, Marjorie Brown, built the business into Orange's leading funeral service provider. Lannie Claybar was a gifted individual with incredible people skills and a genuine compassion. Lannie was also an accomplished pianist. 
 

Lannie died in 1969 from surgery complications, and the torch was passed to Marjorie and David Claybar. Lannie and Marjorie had two sons, David and Brown. Upon graduation from college, Brown Claybar returned to Orange and joined the company in 1973. Under the second generation of leadership, the legacy of service continued and plans were made for a new facility. The Orange building was completed in 1973 and was the first specifically built mortuary facility in Orange County. The new funeral home was built adjacent to the original location and is located at 504 5th Street. 
 

In 1974, the firm was invited to join National Selected Morticians (now Selected Independent Funeral Homes), an international association of independent funeral directors representing the best of funeral firms. Claybar Funeral Home currently is a member of the Texas Funeral Directors Association, National Funeral Directors Association, International Cemetery and Funeral Association and the Cremation Association of North America, Better Business Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce within any community we serve. Warren Claybar, Brown's son, is a member of the Leaders Network, a national organization of larger independently owned progressive funeral homes. 
 

In 1980, Brown Claybar assumed the leadership of the corporation, while David Claybar left the funeral home to pursue other enterprises. The 1980s started a period of growth for the company. While continuing to be the leading funeral home in the Orange area, expansion into other parts of Orange County became a business strategy. In 1985, the company purchased the Clayton-Thompson Funeral Home (originally the Noguess Funeral Home) located in Bridge City. During this decade they built and operated a funeral home in Vidor, Texas and sold it to Memorial Funeral Home after six years of operations. Also during this time, Claybar Funeral Home purchased Hillcrest Memorial Gardens, Inc. from the Sutton family. In 1982, David Claybar purchased Hillcrest Memorial Gardens from Claybar Funeral Home and sold his remaining interest in the Claybar Funeral Home to Brown Claybar.  

In 1993, the Claybar Funeral Home purchased and merged operations with the Fuller Funeral Home. Burton Wilson, the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Fuller joined the staff of Claybar. A plaque honoring Mrs. Fuller, co-founder, and former owner of Fuller Funeral Home has been mounted at the front door of the funeral home, reminding us of the history of the Fuller family and the Fuller Funeral Home. 

Hillcrest Memorial Gardens and Orange Forest Lawn Cemetery were repurchased in January 1998 from David and Peggy Claybar and in January 1998, the company purchased the Lamb's Office Supply building located at 414 5th in Orange. This building was converted to the central administration building and serves that purpose today. 
 

In October 1999, construction was completed on a new funeral home in Lufkin, Texas. In August 2002, Claybar Funeral Home and Roy Carroway, Jr. formed a partnership that today owns and operates the Carroway-Claybar Funeral Homes in Lufkin and Huntington, Texas. Claybar Funeral Home purchased the assets of the Kelley-Watkins Funeral Home and Haven of Rest perpetual care cemetery and crematory and Kelley-Watkins Floral in Beaumont in July 2003. 
 

The company has chosen a course of carefully growing the business both internally and through careful acquisitions within our geographic trade area. These additional funeral related businesses will allow us to serve our client families with the entire range of funeral and memorial services and products. The larger company will also provide more employment opportunities for our staff while increasing cost efficiencies that can be passed on to our client families.