New owners at Williams Funeral Services
MANSFIELD - Pamela Williams-Briggs, funeral director of Williams Funeral Services, 753 McPherson St., is retiring with her husband Larry after almost 40 years in business together serving the Mansfield community.
The minority-owned business has been purchased by Marlan Gary of Marlan J. Gary Funeral Home, The Chapel of Peace in Columbus. The transition to new owners was effective April 1.
Pamela Williams Briggs said she and her husband took over the funeral home in July 1981 from Marlan s uncle, the late David Gary. The funeral home initially operated as Gary-Williams Funeral Services.
Born and raised in Mansfield, Pamela Williams Briggs said she was always interested in helping people, the funeral service and the ministry and after college she pursued it, but there were few women in the industry when she started.
MANSFIELD - As essential businesses, funeral homes never ceased operations during the coronavirus pandemic. The mission of delivering healing experiences to bereaved families became a challenge when client families feared for their own safety. Protecting the health of the directors and staff, sourcing scarce PPE and writing new operations protocols were juggled with creating options to expand the funeral experience beyond the walls of the funeral home, J. Todd Snyder, CEO of Snyder Funeral Homes, said this month. Most sectors of the culture speak of when things will return to normal, yet the funeral profession knows that the pandemic has changed the very way we grieve, and since our funeral process is a reaction to loss a response to death and reflection of our grief the future of funerals will forever be changed by the COVID 19 pandemic, Snyder said.