The following information was provided by Lyndon Crist (1963)

"This is a scan of the Ward Funeral Home. This nice looking relic is probably long gone, but I may be proved wrong. It was on 1st Avenue North, north of city park and two and a half blocks from the lake. It was probably a real showpiece as a residence before being taken over by Ward and Van Slyke. This was such a lovely area of town in the old days, and now none of those stately old homes are standing. One could listen to the band concert on Saturday night, and with all this 19th century background, almost be transported back in time to a much simpler and enjoyable era.

I have included the Ward-VanSlye Funeral Home in the Clear Lake Remembered section because of it's importance in the history of Clear Lake. The following is mostly about the architecture of the building and some of it's history.

It appears to be the only funeral home in Clear Lake at the present time.

Ward-VanSlyke Colonial Chapel

101 N 4th St

Clear Lake, Iowa 50428

Phone: (641) 357-2193

(Thanks to Charlie Zirbel for this picture)

"Funeral homes are probably not the most pleasant subject for a

"Clear Lake Remembered link"

but they are a part of the history of Clear Lake,

thus I feel they deserve to be included.

Julie Hayden Traub"

If someone knows what use is being made of the building, please let us know. Lyndon Crist took the photo in the fall of 2003, and vaguely recalls it might have been adapted for use as a real estate office, but he's not at all certain.

This is right across the street from where Lyndon lived so it is fairly established in his memory. "I always liked the streamline era quality of the place - the flat roof and wood stringers accentuating the wall planes' says Lyndon.

Wilcox Funeral Home..

from a different angle than Lyndon's picture...

The part on left between the 2 evergreen trees

is the door to the office of Doug Grabinski, Attorney

(Mavis Whelan 1963)

The Wilcox Funeral Home was on my block. We were at the other end of the alley on the opposite side. There was this nice old man (Mr. Winnie) who lived next door to the funeral home when we moved to Clear Lake just before 5th grade. I think he died a couple of years later and my dad took me over to the funeral home for his visitation - that was my first time to see a dead "body". It wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be! I also remember looking out of our windows and down the alley and noticing the lights on in the embalming room - it usually meant another death. Always a strange feeling! Bonnie Steinberg Christensen CLHS 1965