Frank E. Lewis

Frank E. Lewis established the Frank E. Lewis Funeral Home in San Antonio in 1909 in a two-room house on the eastside.  Lewis operated the African-American funeral parlor independently until 1932 when his stepson Vernon E. Larremore joined the business.  Lewis formed a partnership with Larremore and changed the company name to Lewis Funeral Home in 1947. That same year he moved the facility to the old St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church at 230 Center Street in St. Paul Square.  A 40th anniversary celebration was held in 1949 at the Colored Branch of the San Antonio Library and Auditorium (now the Carver Community Cultural Center). The funeral home remained in the former church until 1979 when it was again relocated to Hackberry Street.  Following Lewis’ death in 1960, Larremore became president of the company until 1989 when his wife’s nephew, Robert Washington, Jr., took over the business. The funeral home remains in operation today at a new facility at 811 South W.W. White Road.  (Armstrong, Yvonne M., Black Trailblazers of San Antonio Texas: Their Businesses, Communities, Institutions, and Organizations. Inkbiyvonne, 2006)