The thing about gravestones is that by the time you really need one, you’re not in a very good position to pick one out for yourself.
Which is why, according to Amber Barrett, the manager at Iola’s Reeble Monuments, the majority of their customers are — to use a term of art in the burial business — “pre-need.”
Reeble Monuments, located at 202 S. State St., is Iola’s newest business, and Iola — after Emporia and Ottawa — is now the third Kansas town to host a Reeble Monuments showroom.
Lebo native Shawn Miller purchased the 70-year-old company in September of 2016 and has been doing swift business ever since. Miller opened the Ottawa office in mid-December and the Iola office only two weeks later.
The enterprise is truly a family affair. Barrett is Miller’s younger sister. Their other sister is the office manager in Ottawa. Their mother fills in where she’s needed.
The bulk of the work, though, falls to the 33-year-old Miller, who also owns and operates Lebo-based Miller Concrete Construction.
Reeble offers customers a wide variety of monuments, which are all handcrafted by Miller himself in his Emporia studio. Miller also provides monument repairs, customization, full restoration, and he delivers and sets the stone markers, too.
Most of Reeble’s pre-need clientele, explained Barrett, decide to purchase their final monument in their retirement years, in an effort not to burden their families with the posthumous task.
And the variety of monuments, as one glance in Reeble’s catalog of granite goodies will attest, is huge. “There are all kinds of things you can do,” explained Barrett. “The first thing you do when somebody comes in, you ask them what kind of stone they want. You’ve got your uprights. Ones that are slanted backwards. Ones that lay flat. Individuals. Doubles. Basically, you figure out what kind you want, then what color you want. Do you want it polished? Do you want it rough? What do you want it to say? Do you want something on the back? You can add vases for flowers. It just depends on your preference [and your budget.]”
Still, not every customer has the luxury of being “pre-need.” Barrett recalled a recent gravestone designed by Miller. It was of a baseball; a large white-granite headstone with two curves of red stitches engraved in the right places. It was for a 3-year-old boy. Miller carved the boy’s name in the center of the rock and inscribed a favorite phrase of the boy’s — “I love you too much!” — at the base. The boy’s parents names were at the top (“Son of…”), his siblings names just below that (“Brother of…”). Most of Reeble’s monuments take between 6 – 12 weeks to arrive from the quarry, which would have put the arrival of this particular marker sometime just after the first of the year. The boy’s parents, though, were hoping to have it before Christmas. Miller had it installed for them within two weeks.
For more information, call Reeble Monuments at 620-363-5005 or visit reeblemonuments.com.
PHOTO: Amber Barrett is the manager of Iola’s Reeble Monuments outlet. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
