George L. Grunnagle dies at 83; long-time funeral home director
George L. Grunnagle, 83, resident of San Benito County for more than six decades, died in a local hospital Friday following a short illness.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Grunnagle came to San Benito County in 1913 to work with the W.W. Black Mortuary.
Before joining the local firm, he was an employee of the J.C. O'Connor Funeral Home in San Francisco and was also associated for five years with N. Gray Company in the Bay City. While working with the latter firm he performed mortuary services for the wife and two daughters of General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing and the couple's daughters perished in a tragic fire at the San Francisco Presidio.
Mr. Grunnagle served with the Stanford Hospital Unit at Clermont –Ferrande, France during World War I and was in charge of mortuary service for four base hospitals. During World War I he participated in a lasting contribution to the service, the introduction of metal identification tags for service personnel. Before the introduction of metal tags servicemen carried their identification on a piece cardboard in a glass vial. This was proved impractical a s the glass broke easily and , with the help of an army chaplain, Mr. Grunnagle devised a metal disc with the bearer's name stamped on one side, the forerunner of the familiar "dog tag" of today's service personnel.
Following the war he returned here to purchase the Fred Reimer Mortuary which became the George L. Grunnagle Funeral Home. He operated the funeral home until sale and incorporation of the firm in 1970, Mr. Grunnagle retaining an active role as a director on the board.
He was affiliated with the California Funeral Directors' Association and the National Funeral Directors' association and was long-time member of the international and invitational organization, the National Selected Morticians. He was named the latter group's "man of the Month" in 1971.
Active in the community, he was a member of Sacred Heart Church and Immaculate Conception Church Knights of Columbus council No. 1972, Post no. 9242 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post No. 69 of the American Legion, Hollister Elks Lodge No. 1436, the Hollister Rotary Club, the SDES and UBE, both of Hollister.
Mr. Grunnagle was married 47 years ago in Mission Santa Barbara to the former Mary Sullivan, who survives him. The family home is at 82 W. Fifth St., Tres Pinos.
Surviving family members, in addition to Mrs. Grunnagle, include several nieces and nephews including Helen M. Brown, San Francisco; two sisters-in-law, Florence McNamara, Hollister, and Harriett Mann, Sequim, Wash., and a brother-in-law, Clarence Richardson, Monterey. Mr. Grunnagle was the uncle of the late Rev. Ralph H. Brown S.J..
Rosary services will be held at 8 this evening in the chapel of Grunnagle Funeral Home. Memorial services by members of Hollister Elks Lodge will follow the recitation of the Rosary.
The funeral will be conducted from the mortuary at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Entombment will follow in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum.
George L. Grunnagle, 83, resident of San Benito County for more than six decades, died in a local hospital Friday following a short illness.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Grunnagle came to San Benito County in 1913 to work with the W.W. Black Mortuary.
Before joining the local firm, he was an employee of the J.C. O'Connor Funeral Home in San Francisco and was also associated for five years with N. Gray Company in the Bay City. While working with the latter firm he performed mortuary services for the wife and two daughters of General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing and the couple's daughters perished in a tragic fire at the San Francisco Presidio.
Mr. Grunnagle served with the Stanford Hospital Unit at Clermont –Ferrande, France during World War I and was in charge of mortuary service for four base hospitals. During World War I he participated in a lasting contribution to the service, the introduction of metal identification tags for service personnel. Before the introduction of metal tags servicemen carried their identification on a piece cardboard in a glass vial. This was proved impractical a s the glass broke easily and , with the help of an army chaplain, Mr. Grunnagle devised a metal disc with the bearer's name stamped on one side, the forerunner of the familiar "dog tag" of today's service personnel.
Following the war he returned here to purchase the Fred Reimer Mortuary which became the George L. Grunnagle Funeral Home. He operated the funeral home until sale and incorporation of the firm in 1970, Mr. Grunnagle retaining an active role as a director on the board.
He was affiliated with the California Funeral Directors' Association and the National Funeral Directors' association and was long-time member of the international and invitational organization, the National Selected Morticians. He was named the latter group's "man of the Month" in 1971.
Active in the community, he was a member of Sacred Heart Church and Immaculate Conception Church Knights of Columbus council No. 1972, Post no. 9242 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post No. 69 of the American Legion, Hollister Elks Lodge No. 1436, the Hollister Rotary Club, the SDES and UBE, both of Hollister.
Mr. Grunnagle was married 47 years ago in Mission Santa Barbara to the former Mary Sullivan, who survives him. The family home is at 82 W. Fifth St., Tres Pinos.
Surviving family members, in addition to Mrs. Grunnagle, include several nieces and nephews including Helen M. Brown, San Francisco; two sisters-in-law, Florence McNamara, Hollister, and Harriett Mann, Sequim, Wash., and a brother-in-law, Clarence Richardson, Monterey. Mr. Grunnagle was the uncle of the late Rev. Ralph H. Brown S.J..
Rosary services will be held at 8 this evening in the chapel of Grunnagle Funeral Home. Memorial services by members of Hollister Elks Lodge will follow the recitation of the Rosary.
The funeral will be conducted from the mortuary at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Entombment will follow in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum.
George L. Grunnagle dies at 83; long-time funeral home director
George L. Grunnagle, 83, resident of San Benito County for more than six decades, died in a local hospital Friday following a short illness.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Grunnagle came to San Benito County in 1913 to work with the W.W. Black Mortuary.
Before joining the local firm, he was an employee of the J.C. O'Connor Funeral Home in San Francisco and was also associated for five years with N. Gray Company in the Bay City. While working with the latter firm he performed mortuary services for the wife and two daughters of General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing and the couple's daughters perished in a tragic fire at the San Francisco Presidio.
Mr. Grunnagle served with the Stanford Hospital Unit at Clermont –Ferrande, France during World War I and was in charge of mortuary service for four base hospitals. During World War I he participated in a lasting contribution to the service, the introduction of metal identification tags for service personnel. Before the introduction of metal tags servicemen carried their identification on a piece cardboard in a glass vial. This was proved impractical a s the glass broke easily and , with the help of an army chaplain, Mr. Grunnagle devised a metal disc with the bearer's name stamped on one side, the forerunner of the familiar "dog tag" of today's service personnel.
Following the war he returned here to purchase the Fred Reimer Mortuary which became the George L. Grunnagle Funeral Home. He operated the funeral home until sale and incorporation of the firm in 1970, Mr. Grunnagle retaining an active role as a director on the board.
He was affiliated with the California Funeral Directors' Association and the National Funeral Directors' association and was long-time member of the international and invitational organization, the National Selected Morticians. He was named the latter group's "man of the Month" in 1971.
Active in the community, he was a member of Sacred Heart Church and Immaculate Conception Church Knights of Columbus council No. 1972, Post no. 9242 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post No. 69 of the American Legion, Hollister Elks Lodge No. 1436, the Hollister Rotary Club, the SDES and UBE, both of Hollister.
Mr. Grunnagle was married 47 years ago in Mission Santa Barbara to the former Mary Sullivan, who survives him. The family home is at 82 W. Fifth St., Tres Pinos.
Surviving family members, in addition to Mrs. Grunnagle, include several nieces and nephews including Helen M. Brown, San Francisco; two sisters-in-law, Florence McNamara, Hollister, and Harriett Mann, Sequim, Wash., and a brother-in-law, Clarence Richardson, Monterey. Mr. Grunnagle was the uncle of the late Rev. Ralph H. Brown S.J..
Rosary services will be held at 8 this evening in the chapel of Grunnagle Funeral Home. Memorial services by members of Hollister Elks Lodge will follow the recitation of the Rosary.
The funeral will be conducted from the mortuary at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Entombment will follow in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum.
George L. Grunnagle, 83, resident of San Benito County for more than six decades, died in a local hospital Friday following a short illness.
A native of San Francisco, Mr. Grunnagle came to San Benito County in 1913 to work with the W.W. Black Mortuary.
Before joining the local firm, he was an employee of the J.C. O'Connor Funeral Home in San Francisco and was also associated for five years with N. Gray Company in the Bay City. While working with the latter firm he performed mortuary services for the wife and two daughters of General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing and the couple's daughters perished in a tragic fire at the San Francisco Presidio.
Mr. Grunnagle served with the Stanford Hospital Unit at Clermont –Ferrande, France during World War I and was in charge of mortuary service for four base hospitals. During World War I he participated in a lasting contribution to the service, the introduction of metal identification tags for service personnel. Before the introduction of metal tags servicemen carried their identification on a piece cardboard in a glass vial. This was proved impractical a s the glass broke easily and , with the help of an army chaplain, Mr. Grunnagle devised a metal disc with the bearer's name stamped on one side, the forerunner of the familiar "dog tag" of today's service personnel.
Following the war he returned here to purchase the Fred Reimer Mortuary which became the George L. Grunnagle Funeral Home. He operated the funeral home until sale and incorporation of the firm in 1970, Mr. Grunnagle retaining an active role as a director on the board.
He was affiliated with the California Funeral Directors' Association and the National Funeral Directors' association and was long-time member of the international and invitational organization, the National Selected Morticians. He was named the latter group's "man of the Month" in 1971.
Active in the community, he was a member of Sacred Heart Church and Immaculate Conception Church Knights of Columbus council No. 1972, Post no. 9242 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post No. 69 of the American Legion, Hollister Elks Lodge No. 1436, the Hollister Rotary Club, the SDES and UBE, both of Hollister.
Mr. Grunnagle was married 47 years ago in Mission Santa Barbara to the former Mary Sullivan, who survives him. The family home is at 82 W. Fifth St., Tres Pinos.
Surviving family members, in addition to Mrs. Grunnagle, include several nieces and nephews including Helen M. Brown, San Francisco; two sisters-in-law, Florence McNamara, Hollister, and Harriett Mann, Sequim, Wash., and a brother-in-law, Clarence Richardson, Monterey. Mr. Grunnagle was the uncle of the late Rev. Ralph H. Brown S.J..
Rosary services will be held at 8 this evening in the chapel of Grunnagle Funeral Home. Memorial services by members of Hollister Elks Lodge will follow the recitation of the Rosary.
The funeral will be conducted from the mortuary at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church. Entombment will follow in the Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
