Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes Commemorate 100 years of Service and are honored as Best of the Best

Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes Commemorate 100 years of Service and are honored as Best of the Best

Coal City, IL –Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes have been awarded the prestigious 2024 Pursuit of Excellence Award by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). This accolade is a testament to the unwavering dedication, innovation, and service that has been the cornerstone of their practice for a century. Among the elite group of honorees, they are further distinguished by being one of only three funeral homes internationally to receive the esteemed Best of the Best Award in 2024.

The Pursuit of Excellence Award recognizes funeral homes that demonstrate exceptional proficiency across key areas of funeral service, including adherence to stringent ethical standards, community involvement, and providing exemplary programs to bereaved families. This recognition reflects their commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in serving the families and communities of Grundy and Will counties, and beyond.

Our Best of the Best Award was earned through our innovative “Furever in our Hearts” program, which honors the role of beloved pet family members during times of loss. This initiative highlights our dedication to acknowledging every member of the family, understanding that pets grieve too.

**Editor’s Note: If you find the story here of value, consider clicking one of the Google ads embedded in the story. It costs you nothing but Google will give the website owner a few cents. This is a way to help support local news at no cost to the reader.

Matt Baskerville, carrying forward the legacy of the Reeves family, expressed his gratitude: “Receiving this honor, especially as we celebrate 100 years of service, is incredibly humbling. Our commitment is to provide compassionate care and innovative services that meet the evolving needs of our community. We are honored to be recognized by the NFDA and remain committed to serving with dignity and respect.”

Reeves Funeral Home, Coal City’s oldest business, has been a pillar in the community since 1924, when Wilfred and Anna Reeves first established their funeral service establishment. Their sons James and Charles followed in the family business, as did James’s son Leo into the third generation. With a rich history of service and a forward-thinking approach, they continue to be a leading force in funeral service excellence.

Matt Baskerville joined Leo and Karen Reeves in 2003. “We went a long time without Matt, because there wasn’t a Matt available. I couldn’t have taken someone into the family business that I wasn’t comfortable with.” Says Leo Reeves, who compliments Baskerville’s work ethic and dedication to the communities. Since then, the funeral homes have expanded to acquiring funeral homes in Gardner, as well as Wilmington. Matt is proud to be a part of significant changes and growth in the business over his short two plus decades, and this also included the addition of a crematory in 2023. Transitions Crematory, Ltd was incorporated into the Gardner funeral home and offers onsite cremation for all the families that we serve.

“I have done my best to continue to be a trailblazer in funeral service, no different than our founder, who was one of the first area funeral directors to take wakes from the family’s homes to a stand-alone funeral home facility” stated Matt Baskerville. “So many of the service details consumers expect as mainstream today, such as a funeral home website, video tributes, life story obituaries, funeral service celebrants, on staff certified therapy dog, and flameless cremation (to mention a few), all were piloted and introduced at our funeral homes.”

Matt has also been active in being an advocate for funeral service on both the state and national level. He is currently the immediate past president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, which has a mission of advancing the funeral service profession through advocacy and value and upholds a vision of positioning funeral service professionals as vital to the well-being of families and communities. His work over the past 7 years with the state association has had a significant impact on every funeral home provider in the state of Illinois. In addition, he serves on the National Funeral Directors Association Spokesperson Team Workgroup, which works with media outlets to ensure the best representation of the profession. “As funeral service professionals, we are helping families and doing wonderful things for individuals and our communities every day.”

Reeves and Baskerville Funeral Homes perform approximately 250 funerals each year, and over the past 20 years, cremation as a form of disposition has gone from 5% to nearly 50%. “It has been an interesting era of funeral service, having seen such changes in the business, with more expected to come in the years ahead.” – said Baskerville

“Every day our commitment is witnessed firsthand by people who have lost loved ones, and every year we have been blessed to be recognized by our colleagues and organizations locally, nationally and worldwide.” says Baskerville “As we commemorate 100 years of service to Grundy, Will and the surrounding counties, we are humbled to be only a select few distinguished funeral homes to not only be a Pursuit of Excellence recipient, Readers’ Choice Best of the County, Illinois Funeral Home of Distinction and now Best of the Best. Our greatest honor however is working with area families in THEIR time of need… We are grateful to the communities and families who call on us every day. This is simply just our first century of service.” – Matt Baskerville

For more information on Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes and Crematory, visit their website (www.Reeves-Baskerville.com) or contact any one of the funeral home locations in Coal City, Gardner, Morris or Wilmington directly.