H ow we began.


Herndon-Pharr Funeral Home was organized in 1898 by W.M. Cornelius and his father-in-law, E.G. Porterfield, the great-grandfather of Rufus V. Herndon, Jr.

In 1899, the first rolling stock was purchased with two horse-drawn hearses: a rubber tire hearse of the city and a steel rim hearse for the country. These hearses were powered by four black horses with driver's instructions to "never let the horses trot, and after you start the procession, don't let it stop."

R.V. Herndon, Sr. and W.M. Corneilus, in partnership, founded the Hope Furniture Company. In 1927, Terrell S. Cornelius joined the organization under the partnership. In 1954, Mr. Cornelius sold his interest to R.V. Herndon, Sr. and his son R.V. Jr. When R.V. Sr. died in 1964, his son purchased the stock of his late brother, W.R. Herndon.

In May of 2007, Terry and Wendy Pharr aquired Herndon Funeral Home. In December they aquired Shackelford, in Prescott, and Horne, in Gurdon. We have also added a cemetery (Memory Gardens), and a monument company (Brown-Pharr Monument Company), collectivley doing buissness as Pharr Funeral Homes of Arkansas.

Pharr Funeral Homes today has eighteen associates: Terry & Wendy Pharr, Scott Brown, Mike Chandler, Jerry Long, Amy Booker, Lori Cox, Pam Chappelle, Nell Avery, Pat Haneline, "Doodle" Franklin, Al Brown, Don Worthey,David Porterfield, Linda Johnson, Jerry and Linda Brown and Kenny Clark.

Read the recent article about Herndon-Pharr Funeral Home in The Hope Star.