Laughter Undertaking Company

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. Now, some names in this world just seem to find their callin', and friends, Dan T. Laughter was one of them.

Born in 1871, Dan first got acquainted with the undertaking trade while working at a furniture store up in northeast Texas. That's right, a furniture store. Back in those days, furniture dealers and funeral directors often shared the same roof, and that's exactly where Dan Laughter got his start.

In 1900, he made his way to Abilene, and five years after that, he and a partner named C. M. Tandy founded the Laughter Undertaking Company together.

Now the partnership ran along just fine, until 1908, when the question of who would own the whole operation came down to the simplest, most democratic method two Texas businessmen could think of. A coin flip. One flip.

Dan Laughter won, and the firm came under his full ownership just like that. For decades, the company didn't just handle funerals. It also ran an ambulance, right alongside the funeral home, all the way up through the mid-1970s.

Through the early years of the twentieth century and on through the decades, Laughter Undertaking Company built itself into what the marker calls a significant Abilene business institution. Then, in 1945, Russel and Willena North and their family took over operations, carrying the work forward. By the time this story was set in stone in 1985, the place had a new name too.

North's Funeral Home. Dan T. Laughter passed in 1952, but that name, and that business, had already put down roots in Abilene that weren't going anywhere.

What the marker says

Dan T. Laughter (1871-1952) first worked as an undertaker while employed in a northeast Texas furniture store. In 1900, he came to Abilene, and five years later he founded this undertaking company with his partner, C. M. Tandy. In 1908, at the flip of a coin, the firm came under the full ownership of Laughter. Until the mid-1970s, the company operated an ambulance in connection with its funeral home. Since the early years of the 20th century, Laughter Undertaking Company has been a significant Abilene business institution. Supplemental Plate: Operated since 1945 by Russel and Willena North and their family; now known as North's Funeral Home. (1985)