In 1897 M. N. White set up an undertaking and furniture business in what was known as the White Furniture & Enterprise Building on Main Street in Warsaw. In the mid 1930's, he moved the business to its present location in the old Farmers Hotel. The main part of the existing structure was built in the early 1840's as a hotel and stage coach stop for the Overland Stage Line during the last half of the 19th century.
In 1940 John F. Reser was a young man that had grown up thru the Great Depression of the 1930’s, just out of high school and just out of Williams Institute of Mortuary Science in Kansas City, Kansas. John’s mother had died when he was twelve years old. Her services were arranged thru a funeral home in Polk County, Missouri. He was so impressed with the solemn dignity of that experience he then and there decided to be to a funeral director. After searching for the right opportunity John purchased the funeral home in Warsaw from the White family in December of 1939, and began business as the White-Reser Funeral Home.
During World War II Reser was inducted into the United States Army serving overseas in the Pacific as a Captain in the United States Army Medical Corps. John had left his home and his business to serve his country. He was a part of the greatest military accomplishments in the history of the United States of America. He had left his business to the supervision of his father, and hired a man, a licensed mortician, to carry the load. Having fulfilled his military duty to country he returned home and dedicated himself to building the business he had long envisioned. He changed the name to “Reser Funeral Home” and went to work.
With his experience in the Army Medical Corps John began operating an Ambulance Service in conjunction with the funeral home. He had a combination hearse / ambulance that served a dual purpose. There were no hospitals in Benton County. The closest hospitals were in Sedalia or Clinton, at least thirty miles away. Generally people died at home. They didn’t have to go to the hospital for that. Babies on the other hand came about pretty often after the war. John would go to the home and pick up the mother in the ambulance, take them to old Dr. Salley’s office in Warsaw for the birth and take them home the next morning. John was there from beginning to end always willing to get involved with the community.
On November 17, 1946, he was married to Louise Barefield in Springfield, Missouri. They moved into living quarters in the funeral home. Louise was new to the funeral business and John didn’t have much time for explanation. So it was on the job training for Louise. She was a sincere and gentle person and jumped right in, always the proverbial funeral directors wife and mother.
John and Louise raised their family in the funeral home – three daughters, Marilyn, Mary Shawn and LuAnne, grew up riding bicycles on the Main Street sidewalks, and playing dolls on the chapel carpet. Friends coming to visit could always count on new experiences. In 1968 the Reser family moved out to a new home. That was a new experience for the whole family. The living quarters in the funeral home were remodeled for business purposes.
In 2001 the building was expanded with the addition of a new 150 seat chapel and family room with extensive remodeling to other areas of the funeral home. The architecture resembles “Southern Plantation Traditional” with four large wood columns supporting the tall front porch with white stucco and white brick front with shades of green dominating the interior design.
In November of 1973 Jim Miller was married to Shawn Reser, the middle daughter, and joined the business as a licensed funeral director and embalmer. In 1979 Shawn’s mother passed away and Shawn came to the funeral home on a full time basis. In 1982 Jim & Shawn became partners with John Reser as owners of the business. In 1995 Mr. Reser retired transferring his interest in the business to Jim & Shawn. At that time Family First Funeral Homes, L.L.C. was started as the business organization for the Reser Funeral Home and the Davis-Miller Funeral Home in Lincoln, Missouri, which has been owned by Jim & Shawn since 1992. In 2015, the third generation of the Reser family, Jim and Weston Miller, became partners with their parents and the tradition lives on.
Since its inception the Reser Funeral Home has been a family owned and family operated business dedicated to serving the needs of the people of this community.
