Irwin Chapel sold its original Granite City location at 2801 Madison Ave. last year. The facility was built as a funeral home in 1924 by Edward Schildman and he operated it until his death in 1950.
John Sedlack purchased the building and operated it as Sedlack Funeral Home (along with a location in Madison) until 1967.
From 1967 until 1977, when Randall Irwin and his wife bought the building, it was used as a real estate office and later as the special education offices of school District 9.
Irwin Chapel opened at the Madison Avenue location in March of 1978, while the current Granite City location on Maryville Road opened in 1989. The Glen Carbon location opened in June of 1997.
“Growing up, I wanted to be a doctor because I liked anatomy, chemistry and biology, but that didn’t work out,” said Randall Irwin, who is a licensed funeral director and Madison County deputy coroner. “The good Lord had a plan and (working as a funeral director) is still working with the human body. I’m still able to help people through a very difficult time.”
Getting started in the business
Randall grew up in Granite City and was 16 when he started washing cars for Davis Funeral Home, whose owner, Leonard Davis, was mayor of Granite City from 1949 to 1964. He later worked for Herr Funeral Home in Collinsville and Mateer Funeral Home (now Saksa Mateer Funeral Home) in Edwardsville.
In 1977, the Irwins had the opportunity to purchase the building on Madison Avenue in Granite City and Randall decided it was time to start his own funeral home.
When Irwin Chapel opened its doors in 1978, business was slow for months and Randall wondered if their new venture would survive.
“Funeral service is very traditional, and people have a strong attachment to the funeral director they use,” said Randall, who turned 76 in October. “We had a service in February of 1978 for the father of a secretary at the school and we weren’t open yet, but he donated his body to a medical school, and we didn’t have to use the funeral home.
“We had another funeral in April right before we opened, and we went to May or June before we had another family contact us. Then we went through July, August and September (without another funeral).
“When you put everything into a business, you worry that you’re not going to make it.”
It wasn’t long, though, before the Irwins’ situation began to turn around.
“I had a talk with the Man Upstairs and asked if he knew what was in my heart,” Randall said. “I didn’t want people to die, but I wanted people to choose us (for the funeral service). We had been about two months (without a service) and it was 9:30 at night.
“Twenty minutes later, I received a phone call from a St. Louis hospital. We did two funerals in October, two in December, four in January (1979) and business has been growing ever since. Last year we had 505 calls combined for the two locations.”
Support along the way
For Linda, those early struggles provided a lesson in keeping the faith.
“When we opened the first Granite City funeral home on Madison Avenue, we were so grateful when families would call Randy to help them when they lost a loved one,” Linda said. “Since we were living above the funeral home, we could save money. I continued to teach school but there was a large bank payment, operating expenses and building improvement costs.
“There was a painter in Granite named Kenny Harper. He believed in Randy and what he was trying to do. He would allow us to pay him when we had the funds. I will never forget his kindness.
“Randy’s mother helped us in the office and later Randy’s brother, John, thankfully came to work full-time. When we didn’t have the bank payment, we would worry but God always provided.
“Mr. Herb Camren and Mr. Mel Welmsmeyer from First Granite City National Bank were so good to us.”
Linda, who was born in 1949, had parents that were from Granite City, but she grew up in Los Angeles. Her parents both died three months apart at age 39, her mother from breast cancer and her father from a heart attack. In 1962, at the age of 12, she moved to Granite City to live with her grandmother.
In 1970, she and Randall were married, and in January of 1971, she graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a degree in elementary education.
Linda started working for Granite City school District 9 immediately after college. She taught middle primary, gifted education and learning center during her 12-year assignment at Lake Elementary School. From 1978 to 1991, she served as a member of the Granite City Board of Fire and Police Commissioners. She has assisted her husband in the funeral business since 1979.
“She’s in our home office every day, and she’s a big part of the business. especially in grief support,” Randall said. “We’ve always been a team from the start.”
Linda, meanwhile, believes that her previous job experiences prepared her for working in the funeral home business.
“When I was in high school, I didn’t know I would be guided to be a teacher, so I took many business classes that helped me with the correspondence and bookkeeping responsibilities at the funeral home,” Linda said. “A good friend, Larry Reader, set up our first bookkeeping system, and we remain grateful.
“My teaching days provided me with a ‘family’ of mostly 7-year-old children, which was very fulfilling since we didn’t have children of our own. I still keep in touch with three special girls, now ladies, Mendy Dunaway, Keri Lewis and Cherie Karius.
“But really, they were all special students in their own way and all loved.”
Linda’s teaching connections included meeting a teacher named Merna Davis, who would play a role in the expansion of Irwin Chapel.
“She was well-known in the school district for teaching gifted students and for her ability to create beautiful and artistic presentations and events,” Linda said. “When it came time to build a larger facility in Granite and then a second in Glen Carbon, Merna was there to guide the projects into what you see today. Again, God provided.”
Adapting to change
Along the way, the Irwins have adapted to changing trends in the funeral business.
“Most people still want a traditional funeral service, but it’s changed in the sense that it’s not as long,” Randall said. “When I started washing cars for Leonard Davis in 1963, funeral homes closed at 10 p.m. and wakes were almost always two days.
“Nowadays, people still have viewing and a casket, but many services are held within the same day. Cremation has really risen, and some people have a viewing and then they are cremated, or they may have a service later.”
Like many funeral homes across the nation, Irwin Chapel also had to adapt its services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When COVID first started, you could have 10 people inside for services and we had outside visitations where we would place the casket and set up the flowers and have the family there and everyone else would drive by,” Randall said. “We had a young man in Granite City, Norm Kinder, who knew everybody, and when he passed away, we had 700 cars come by.
“Then it opened back up to where we had the private services with the families and then it went up to 25 people. We were able to accommodate people for visitations and a lot of people didn’t realize the government would reimburse the family if someone died from COVID.”
Comfort and community
One thing that hasn’t changed over the years for Randall and Linda is the importance of helping people deal with their grief.
“For some families, it may be the first death they’ve had to deal with (for funeral arrangements) and it’s a terrible thing to go through,” Randall said. “My aunt passed away when I was 13 in 1961 and I had to bring her clothes to the funeral home, and I remember the building was so dreary. The hearse was black and so were the drapes.
“When I started this business, I decided the building would be white and we would have light-colored vehicles. People don’t realize it, but subconsciously when they pull into the parking lot and their heart is breaking, a nice building like this can help to comfort them.”
Community service is a way of life for the Irwins, who have served as officers or members of dozens of local organizations.
“It’s just about being part of your community and it was a pleasure being accepted into those organizations,” Randall said.
One group that is especially dear to Linda is HOPE (Helping Others Provide Encouragement), which the Irwins hosted for more than 10 years.
“It involved our families and friends from both the Granite City and Glen Carbon areas,” Linda said. “We met at the Sunset Hills Country Club once a month with lunch and entertainment.
“HOPE friends were able to visit and socialize with others who had lost a loved one. Our wonderful Maggi Vaught and Merna Davis were our leaders for over a decade. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought our group to a close.”
Randall and Linda’s thankfulness for Irwin Chapel’s success extends to their employees, who they say are responsible for the business’ growth over the years.
“If you ask Randy about opening his own funeral home he will say, ‘I just wanted a small business that I could give families personal service.’ Well, that was our dream, and we will always be grateful to our wonderful staff for bringing that dream to life,” Linda said.
“God has provided us with the most wonderful people who want to go above and beyond to serve others, which is the secret to successful relationships: Mary Collett, our manager, and funeral directors Greg Modrusic, Bob Jones, Jason Denton and John Wallace and all our full-time and part-time staff members better known as ‘our family.’
“No greater honor can be given us than to have such a wonderful funeral home ‘family’ and also to have the dear families who call on us to help them through their most difficult times.”
The family theme at Irwin Chapel is echoed by the staff members as well.
“We always say that we treat families like we would want our own family to be treated,” said Collett, who has been with Irwin Chapel for 26 years.
Written By Scott Marion
Scott Marion is a feature reporter for the Intelligencer. A longtime sportswriter, he has worked for the Intelligencer since December 2013. He is a graduate of Brentwood High School and the University of Missouri School of Journalism.