Opening that year was Rockdale and Caldwell with Giddings opening in 1938. There was also a Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home in Belton, Texas but was closed years ago. Today Phillips & Luckey still operates funeral homes in Rockdale, Giddings and Caldwell with a office and visitation area in Lexington. Phillips & Luckey was established by E.B. Phillips & P.E. Prior to opening the funeral homes they
formed Phillips & Luckey Burial Association that grew to be the largest Burial Association in the State of Texas. Luckey and E.B. Phillips both worked for Henne and Meyer Hardware where they also sold coffins. Henne and Meyer closed in 1933 due to the Depression. Mr. Phillips was a licensed undertaker and Mr. Luckey was a carpenter. Phillips kept the office and did the embalming and since they had no money for the purchase of coffins, Mr. Luckey built them in a workship behind his home. This home was located just west of the present City Hall. The first funeral home was located at 240 Burleson in a large home. On Thanksgiving Day 1943 the home burned to the ground. The funeral home was rebuilt at that same site. World War II was going on and the lumber and other materials were hard to come by. As the story goes, because they built caskets they were able to get the materials to build a new funeral home. Later Mr. Luckey's son Don Luckey and Mr. Phillips's son-in-law Boswell Newton joined the funeral home and later became owners of the funeral homes and insurance company becoming the second generation to operate Phillips & Luckey Co. After the death of Boswell Newton and later Don Luckey, the funeral homes in Rockdale, Giddings and Caldwell were sold to two long time employees, Clyde Jones and wife Wilma of Rockdale and Alfred Zoch and wife Vernelle of Giddings in May of 1972. The sale did not include the insurnace company. The insurance company later sold in 1980 to Landmark Life Insurance Co. in Brownwood, Texas. The funeral homes kept the name of Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home and the only change was moving the Rockdale office from 233 N. Main to the funeral home at 240 Burleson. Clyde Jones had started working with Phillips & Luckey in 1946 in Rockdale. He worked several years in the Giddings business before moving back to Rockdale. Clyde was active in many civic organizations in the city as well as his funeral home business. His children were ever present in his life. When Wilma came to town with the two boys, Wallace and Stephen, you would see them in Clyde's shadow. In 1992 Clyde Jones died and in 1995 his son Wallace Jones purchased his interest in the business, starting the second generation of family ownership. Also involved in the business is a brother, Stephen Jones, and a sister, Gracile Lillard, and daughter, Amanda Jones. Later in 1992 the funeral home moved from Burleson St. in Rockdale to a new location at 1041 West Hwy 79 in Rockdale. Since 1992 the old funeral home has been used by Rockdale I.S.D. for class rooms, the Rockdale Police Department used it as a weight room, as well as the past home of Rockdale Rotary Club. Phillips & Luckey also formed the Pre Need Corporation to offer pre paid funeral program. Phillips & Luckey was one of the early pioneers in Texas to form a pre arrangement trust. We still maintain the Pre Need Corporation. Years ago most ambulance services were operated by the local funeral home. Phillips & Luckey operated Rockdale's ambulance service for many years. On March 1, 1969 the City of Rockdale took over the ambulance service and two ambulances were sold to the city for $1.00 each. One Phillips & Luckey employee stated that day was the best day of his life when the city took over.
