COUNCIL BLUFFS — After an interruption of almost a century, Cutler-O'Neill-Meyer-Woodring Funeral Home will again be conveying caskets to local cemeteries with a horse-drawn hearse.
A newly refurbished carriage is to be put into service this morning in a procession to follow a funeral service for Walter Watson of Council Bluffs, who died Feb. 15.
Funeral home officials got the idea while cleaning out a building at Walnut Hill Cemetery to prepare for remodeling and construction of an addition, said Steve O'Neill.
"When we started in on that cemetery building, we had to take everything out of it," he said. "We found these old pictures — one in particular — of a funeral up there with a horse-drawn hearse."
They tracked down the hearse and had it refurbished. Then there was the matter of the horses to draw the hearse.
"A friend of ours owns a horse farm, and he found us three horses," O'Neill said. "An Amish family owned them."
He said the horses have been "used to pull buggies, they've been used to pull carriages — that's all they've ever done."
The trio includes two white draft horses and a somewhat smaller black horse, he said. The white horses — Coupe and DeVille — are to pull the hearse during the Watson funeral procession. Belle, the black horse, has the day off.
When the old-fashioned hearse is used, a motor escort still will lead the procession to clear traffic, O'Neill said. The carriage will come next, with the horses diapered to keep the roadway clean. The carriage is equipped with hydraulic brakes, in case of emergency.
The horse-drawn hearse will be available for families who request it, O'Neill said. There is no extra charge.
"In all funerals, there is a charge for a hearse," he said. "It is the same price as the motorized hearse."
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