Maurice and Marjory Gould purchased the Allen Funeral Home in Richland in the Fall of 1940 and operated it alongside the Gould Furniture Store.  In 1958, they purchased the Hoskins Funeral Home (Omer Hoskins) in Brighton and operated both until I came into the picture and purchased the Brighton funeral home in 1978.  This was after I graduated from the Indiana School of Mortuary Science in Indianapolis in 1978.  I then became active with both funeral homes and eventually purchased the Richland funeral home.  I was also very active in Brighton: Cub Master in 1979, and Scout Master soon after and ran the Boy Scout program until 1999.  I joined the Brighton Fire Department and worked up to Assistant Fire Chief before resigning in 1985 to be more active with the Brighton Volunteer First Responders which started in 1978 at the request of the Fire Chief, Pete Arnold.  The First Responders are a volunteer emergency medical response team, and I started as an ERT (Emergency Rescue Tech) and later took more training and became an EMT (Emergency Medical Tech).   During these years, I worked at the furniture store installing floor covering, was a charter member of the Brighton Lions Club, holding all of the officers’ positions at one time or another, served on the Brighton City Council and worked at the Pedrick Funeral Home in Keosauqua for about 18 years.

My wife Lynne, helped in the funeral home for years while we raised our family of two boys.  Sean and his wife Leigh live in Milwaukee where he manages a Safelight facility and has two children.  Kevin and his wife Amanda live in Winterset and is a Special Agent for the State of Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation stationed in Osceola and have 4 children and 2 grandchildren.