It was far back in 1858, two years before Abraham Lincoln's election
to the Presidency, that the present William H. Clark Funeral
Home was founded. Samuel B. Hoyt, an enterprising merchant,
established a home furnishings store in old Katonah. In those
days funeral directing commonly designated as "undertaking"
often was conducted in conjunction with furniture business.
Mr. Hoyt was an aggressive and progressive business leader.
He developed the finest services of which he was capable, securing
also for the community the best value in furniture and furnishings.
He was a man of high principles and soon gained for himself
a reputation for absolute integrity and fair dealing.
William H. Clark joined the Hoyt firm in 1894 He served first as an assistant.
Later, in 1899, he secured his embalmer's license under state
law, after a course of study at the Champion School of Embalming.
In 1904 he received his funeral director's license, which is now
recorded as one of the earliest in the state. The firm of Clark
and Avery was formed in 1902. This partnership continued until
1908 when it was dissolved.
From 1902 to 1904 Clark and Avery conducted the disinterment of
all of the graves in the Katonah Cemetery in Old Katonah to several
other cemeteries in the local area in conjunction with the move
of Old Katonah to New Katonah.
In
1908 Mr. Clark joined the Hoyt Brothers Company and was placed
in charge of the funeral directing department . Nine years later,
due to changing conditions, the business was discontinued and
Mr. Clark took over the funeral servicing division, which thereafter
became known under the title of William H. Clark Funeral Director.
As the result of a steady growth in the needs of the community
and in order that improved facilities would be available, the
William H. Clark Funeral Home was built in1928 at its present
location, 4 Woods Bridge Road, as a Sears-Roebuck pre-fabricated
building.
Miss Emily S. Clark joined her father in the management of the
business in 1935. She was one of the first women to be licensed
as a funeral director in New York State. She died in 1984.
Clark Associates Funeral Home also provided ambulance service to the area from
1918-1952 and was under the supervision of Michael J. Dugan, service manager for many years.
John L. Dorsett , a licensed Funeral Director, became partner
with Emily Clark, following the death of her father, and served
as manager of the firm for over 40 years. He died in 1977.
Mr.John Foulkes started in 1949 and was partner in the Clark Funeral
Home in Yorktown Heights, New York. He retired in the mid-1980's.
Eugene Lanoway was president of the firm from 1974 until his death in 1994 .
Today our staff of associates consist of six licensed funeral directors with
combined experience of over 155 years. The remaining staff of associates are
receptionist, secretarial and maintenance personnel.
Currently our Funeral Directors include: Daniel B. McManus, C.F.S.P., fourth generation Licensed Funeral Director and owner since 1994, Bruce E. Reisdorf, C.F.S.P., Licensed Manager who joined the firm in 1980, Ronald P. Ceraso, fourth generation Licensed Funeral Director who joined in 2009, Adner J. Montenegro-Lee, Funeral Director, who joined in 2009 and Joseph M. Mc Manus and Meg Dunn, C.F.S.P., both Licensed Funeral Directors, who serve in a part time capacity.
