DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Now, some businesses start with a grand vision: a ribbon-cutting, a brass sign, maybe a speech. And then there's John E.
Foust, who moved to Grapevine in 1880, opened a general merchandise store, and quietly stocked it with coffins. Just sitting there. Among the dry goods.
Foust was born in 1861, and by the time he arrived in Grapevine he was a young man with an eye for what a community needs. A general store made sense. And if the community needed something else, well, he had that too, right there on the shelf.
Over time, he didn't just sell coffins. He added other services, one by one, gradually building what would become a full funeral company. And he didn't do it alone.
His wife, Daisy (born a Huitt, and she'd live all the way to 1963), she was right there with him, helping establish that funeral company into something real and lasting. Foust was more than a businessman, too. He was a civic leader.
The marker says he assisted in the development of other area businesses around Grapevine, which tells you something about the man. He wasn't just building his own thing; he was building a town. Then in 1923, his son John E.
Foust the Second came into the firm. Born in 1898, the younger Foust stepped in while his father was still alive, learned the work, learned the responsibility. When John E.
Foust the First died in 1926, his son was ready. He took over management of both the funeral home and the mercantile store, and he kept them going all the way into the 1960s. That's a long time to carry something.
And the family wasn't done carrying it. For over a hundred years, the marker tells us, Foust family members have served in both the business and the civic life of Grapevine. Started with a man, a store, and some coffins on a shelf; and it just kept going.
Some roots, once they take hold in Texas soil, they don't let go.
What the marker says
John E. Foust (1861-1926) moved to Grapevine in 1880 and started a general merchandise store which stocked coffins. He gradually added other services and with the help of his wife Daisy (Huitt) (1876-1963) established a funeral company. A civic leader, Foust also assisted in the development of other area businesses. His son John E. Foust, II (1898-1978), joined the firm in 1923. Following his father's death he managed the Funeral Home and mercantile store until the 1960s. For over 100 years Foust family members have served in the business and civic activities of Grapevine. (1981)