Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes named Best of Best in Coal City

Coinciding with their centennial, Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes have been awarded the 2024 Pursuit of Excellence Award by the National Funeral Directors Association, and are one of only three funeral homes internationally to receive the year’s Best of the Best Award, according to a news release.

The Pursuit of Excellence Award recognizes funeral homes that demonstrate exceptional proficiency across key areas, including adherence to ethical standards, community involvement and providing exemplary programs to bereaved families.

The recognition reflects the firm’s commitment to excellence in serving the families and communities of Grundy and Will counties and beyond, according to the release.

The Best of the Best Award was earned through the “Furever in Our Hearts” program, which honors the role of pet family members during times of loss. The initiative highlights a dedication to acknowledging every member of the family, and understanding that pets grieve, too.

Carrying forward the legacy of the founding Reeves family, Matt Baskerville expressed his gratitude.

“Receiving this honor, especially as we celebrate 100 years of service, is incredibly humbling,” Baskerville said. “Our commitment is to provide compassionate care and innovative services that meet the evolving needs of our community. We are honored to be recognized by the NFDA, and remain committed to serving with dignity and respect.”

Reeves Funeral Home, Coal City’s oldest business, has been a pillar in the community since it was established by Wilfred and Anna Reeves in 1924, according to the release. Their sons James and Charles followed in the family business, as did James’ son Leo into the third generation.

Baskerville joined Leo and Karen Reeves in 2003.

“We went a long time without Matt, because there wasn’t a Matt available,” Leo Reeves said in the release. “I couldn’t have taken someone into the family business that I wasn’t comfortable with.”

Since then, the firm has expanded, acquiring funeral homes in Gardner and Wilmington, as well as adding a crematory in 2023. Transitions Crematory Ltd. was incorporated into the Gardner funeral home.

“I have done my best to continue to be a trailblazer in funeral service, no different than our founder, who was one of the first area funeral directors to take wakes from the families’ homes to a stand-alone funeral home facility,” Baskerville said. “So many of the service details consumers expect as mainstream today, such as a funeral home website, video tributes, life story obituaries, funeral service celebrants, on-staff certified therapy dog and flameless cremation, all were piloted and introduced at our funeral homes.”

Baskerville is the immediate past president of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association. His work during the past seven years with the association has had a significant influence on every funeral home provider in the state, according to the release. In addition, he serves on the National Funeral Directors Association Spokesperson Team Workgroup, which works with media outlets.

Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes perform about 250 funerals each year, and during the past 20 years, cremation as a form of disposition has gone from 5% to almost 50%.

“It has been an interesting era of funeral service, having seen such changes in the business, with more expected to come in the years ahead,” Baskerville said. “Every year, we have been blessed to be recognized by our colleagues and organizations locally, nationally and worldwide.

“As we commemorate 100 years of service to Grundy, Will and the surrounding counties, we are humbled to be only a select few distinguished funeral homes to not only be a Pursuit of Excellence recipient, Readers’ Choice Best of the County, Illinois Funeral Home of Distinction and now Best of the Best,” Baskerville said. “Our greatest honor, however, is working with area families in their time of need. … We are grateful to the communities and families who call on us every day. This is simply just our first century of service.”

For information on Reeves & Baskerville Funeral Homes and Crematory, visit Reeves-Baskerville.com or contact any of the funeral home locations in Coal City, Gardner, Morris or Wilmington.