About Us
The Company
The businesses now known as the Greenlee Funeral Homes originated on September 1, 1904, when James V. McDonough purchased the Robinson Funeral Home in Beallsville, PA. He operated this business until 1930, when John Bentley Greenlee, who had joined the firm in 1925, became a partner with a 1/3 interest and the funeral home changed its name to McDonough & Greenlee. When Mr. McDonough died in 1946, Mr. Greenlee purchased the remaining 2/3 of the business and, on March 15, 1949, the funeral home became known as the John B. Greenlee Funeral Home, Beallsville, PA. In 1955, Mr. Greenlee opened the Ames Funeral Home in Fredericktown with his brother-in-law, Marsh Ames.
When Gordon Greenlee, the eldest of John Greenlee's two sons, received his funeral director's license in 1957, the name of the funeral home was changed to the Greenlee Funeral Home, Fredericktown, PA. On Friday, November 13, 1965, Barrett Greenlee was also given charge as a new Greenlee Funeral Home was opened in an historic homestead in Bentleyville. After the sudden death of John B. Greenlee in 1967, the funeral homes were operated by his widow, Mary G. Greenlee, and their two sons, Gordon and Barrett, until 1974. At this time, Gordon and Barrett purchased all of the assets of the three funeral homes.
The Family
The Greenlee family has been established in the funeral directing business for many years. A native son of Bentleyville, John Bentley Greenlee entered the undertaking profession in 1925 with encouragement from his father, William Greenlee, who served as Washington County Coroner from 1920-1923. With the exception of service in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific during World War II, John Greenlee remained in the profession from that time until his death in 1967. Mr. Greenlee received his technical training at the Cincinnati College of Embalming. Both sons, Gordon and Barrett, followed closely in their father's footsteps. Gordon and Barrett both graduated from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science in 1957 and 1960, respectively, at which point they began their official work with their father.