100 Years of History
Our firm enjoys the oldest continuous lineage of family ownership in our area, beginning with the Horace Link Furniture & Undertaking Company in 1902.
The Link family sold the funeral service portion of their business in 1922 to C. Franklin Morrison. Along with his wife, Ethel, Morrison continued to operate Morrison Morticians from the Link’s former parlor at the corner of Central Avenue and Washington Street, now Bicentennial Art Center. In 1935, the Morrisons designed and built a new facility on East Washington Street, the first structure in Edgar County to be designed and constructed specifically for the purpose of providing funeral service. Frank Morrison passed away in July 1949.
Horace Link Furniture & Undertaking
Morrison Morticians
Forbes-Hutchins Funeral Home
1954
In 1952, L. Ferrell Ward, a former partner in the Cook & Ward Funeral Home purchased the Morrison Chapel. Two years later, Chester P. Sutton moved his family from Blue Island, Illinois, to Paris to become a partner in the Ward Funeral Home, and the name was changed to Ward & Sutton. After the sudden passing of Ward in 1963, Chet’s oldest son, King, joined his father in business, and the firm was then called Sutton & Son.
Both Chet and King Sutton remained deeply involved in the Paris community throughout their careers, serving as leaders in many civic organizations as well as their church. The funeral home quickly earned a reputation for hard work, quality of service, and economy. The growing business prompted a desire to give back to the community, and in 1988, the Suttons designed and built the current facility on East Court Street.
In the spring of 2003, Chester P. Sutton Sr. passed away at the age of 91. Three years later, after a career of over 40 years of service to the families of Edgar County, King Sutton made the decision to retire. King remained a source of counsel, friendship, and encourangement until his death in November 2022. We thank both King and Chet for their examples of leadership and dedication to their community and profession.
W. Peter Templeton joined the Sutton & Son Funeral Home in 1991 at the age of sixteen. What started as a summer job developed over the years into a lifelong calling. Pete earned his funeral director’s license in 1996.
Pete Templeton purchased the funeral home at King’s retirement after fifteen years of working with the Suttons. The funeral home became known as Templeton Funeral Home.
The Suttons and Templetons were also proud to operate a satellite location in the former Forbes-Hutchins Funeral Home in Kansas, Illinois, from 1968 to 2019. We are thankful for the many relationships formed in our fifty-plus years of service to the Kansas community, and we are grateful that the families of Kansas continue to call upon us in their time of need.
Though names and faces have changed throughout the last century, our reputation for honesty and sincerity remains the same. We consider it a blessing to be of service to those around us, and we thank God for the opportunity to be a comfort to those we serve.