REMEMBER WHEN?

In 1955, facing ever-increasing costs, the La Grange funeral home increased its rate for routine city calls to $7.50 with an additional charge for long trips. In the 1960s, the price of ambulance service went up to $12 for a local call and 45¢ per mile one way on out-of-town calls. I the early 1970s, the price was $18 for the first five miles and 45¢ a mile one-way. That was a bargain compared to Texas cities where charges ranged $25 to $35 and up for the first call and 45¢ to a $1 per mile

Requests for assistance kept increasing. Mr. Koenig estimated that by 1970 his funeral home was averaging 300 to 400 ambulance calls annually. He and other local funeral home operators were losing money on running ambulances. After all, their primary business purpose was to provide funeral-related services.

In the end, the United States Department of Labor placed ambulance service under Interstate Commerce and the Federal Wage & Hour Act. These strict new federal regulations dictated the end of the old practice

On Jan. 1, 1973, funeral homes in Fayette County and other rural areas were relieved to leave the business of answering ambulance calls to other commercial entities.

Nevertheless, the contribution of local funeral homes in providing ambulance service to the community for decades was invaluable.