Danny Ryder - Deceased - 1962 - 2021
PCS Life Member
Brief history: I worked for 20 years at Chapman Funeral Home and in 2000 they sold the funeral home because of wanting to retire and having no one to carry on in the family gave it up. I never went to work for the new guy. Chapman had been in business for five generations. Five years before they sold I started trying to buy their 70mm caddy combo I had driving since first day I worked there and actually drove daily doing convalescent ambulance work up until 1992 and some for funerals after that. It took me five more years after new guy bought the business to get the car as I called them every few months asking for it and one day told owner I had a limo he needed as he had expressed a desire to have one for the funeral home and he said to bring it by and within one hour of that phone call I was driving home in old blue. As most of you know I still have and will continue to have old blue. A while later he sold the limo because he didn't use much and actually he called me when he needed a limo because I had a limo business so he had access to those. Recently I turned the limo business over to my drivers after a 15 yr. run and now the funeral home was again without good way to get a limo when he needed one. My little wheels starting turning again. There was stuff in the attic some dating back to early 1900's like church trucks, equipment used for home viewing as at one time all were done, embalming equipment, registration stands for visitations, old ambulance equipment from their days of doing that, old two way radios from when they would call the cars from the office when out on runs, even the old Chapman sign that was out in the yard in front of the building at one time. Something else was about 20 baby or child caskets dating about 1950 still in shipping crates with labels where they came in by train. ALso about twenty suits and dresses that were never sold and new owner had just tossed them in the PILE of stuff. You can see where this is going. I offered to trade another six door limo to him for "What is in the Attic". I had been working on this for a few weeks and this morning it came together and I spent most of the day going up and down the stairs to retrieve my stash. I can hardly walk this evening but I feel it was worth it. I got everything I planned to except the caskets which I will go back for and deliver his car this week. IT was about 100 degrees up there and with climbing the steps about 50 times I thought I would have a heat stroke. Soooo, another interesting day was had and I look forward to opening up all the cases to see just what I did get as it would have taken too long to do while loading but just the stuff I did see was really neat. Now some of you may find this story weird but I know some who would have loved to have been there and that would have been great cause I could have used the help!