Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part series on the Buescher family.
Barbara, the oldest of Victor and Gladys Buescher's children, was a high achiever. After graduation from Jefferson City High School in 1956, she went on to earn an associates of arts degree from the Jefferson City Junior College. She continued her education in nursing school at the University of Missouri, receiving her cap in December 1958 and a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1962.
The Buescher family lived on the second floor of the family funeral home business at 429 E. Capitol Ave., later moving to 417 E. Capitol Ave. two doors away. Built in 1875, it was the former residence of Lt. Gov. J. F. Gmelich. (This house was demolished in November 2021.)
While Barbara Buescher was a nursing student, tragedy struck the family in 1961. Gladys's mother, Kate Melcher, who was living with the family, died in a fire at the 417 E. Capitol Ave. address. According to the Jan. 24, 1961, Jefferson City Post Tribune article, the 84-year-old matriarch succumbed to a fire in the kitchen of the Buescher home, supposedly when a rag in Mrs. Melcher's pocket caught fire from the kitchen stove. Reportedly, Mrs. Melcher's granddaughter Barbara, who was 23 at the time, tried to smother the fire and suffered minor burns in this unsuccessful attempt to help her grandmother.
After nursing school, Barbara shifted gears and enrolled in a mortuary science program at the University of Kansas, earning her certificate in June 1962, being the only female in the class that year. Her mortuary science thesis was "Psychological Aspects of Bereavement," a study of the many aspects of grief therapy.
With her new credentials in hand, Barbara joined the family business. A 1963 newspaper advertisement for the funeral home lists Victor, Gladys, daughters Barbara and Betty and Vic's mother, Mrs. Margaret Buescher, as part of the family business. In addition, Willie Norment was added to the staff. By this time, the business was offering pre-need plans and a 24-hour ambulance service. Barbara assisted with the ambulance calls.
The Buescher sisters went separate ways in 1962 with three graduations and two weddings that year. Barbara received her mortuary science certificate. Bonnie finished her X-ray technology degree and married airman 1st class William Anthony Fairchild, of Osawatomie, Kansas. After graduating from Jefferson City High School, Beverly married Edgar E. Perrey Jr., of Holts Summit. They moved to Washington, D.C., where Edgar, a civil engineer, assumed active duty in the Army. Vic and Gladys's second daughter, Betty, became an active member of the funeral home team even though she did not receive formal embalming training.
The years passed while the family business continued to flourish. Vic had succeeded in establishing a solid reputation in the community. His business came from a loyal following of repeat families and from inmates at the state penitentiary.
As Vic and Gladys neared retirement age, Barbara and Betty learned the business and were poised to continue the family tradition.
Over the years, Vic acquired properties in the Capitol Avenue District for investment reasons or perhaps to ensure the financial security of his daughters. Sadly, many of these properties, numbering more than 30 now stand vacant and deteriorating.
Gladys died in 1993 at the age of 83; Vic in 1996, one day after his 88th birthday. For 13 years after Vic was gone, Barbara continued to run the business with Betty. However, Betty retired early from the business, selling her shares to Barbara, leaving Barbara on her own to run the business. But legal troubles came to a head in 2009, forcing Barbara to close the funeral home. It was a sad end to a long and successful family enterprise. Neither Betty nor Barbara ever married.
Barbara has lived on Capitol Avenue all her 83 years, longer than anyone else in the street's long history. Her family's home and business, the historic two-story Italianate brick structure with its elegantly curved porch and grand columns at 429 E. Capitol Ave., is now a fading Grande Dame.
In 2006, the Capitol Avenue Historic District that includes the Buescher Funeral Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places, bounded by State, Adams, High and Cherry streets. But by 2016 with further deterioration of the neighborhood, many buildings in the district were declared blighted, opening the door to legal remedies such as eminent domain. These vacant and blighted properties were located in just four blocks within the district. More than 25 of them belonged to Barbara Buescher, most of them the real estate investments of her father.
The Jefferson City Housing Authority has acquired nine properties (seven by eminent domain), sold eight of these and have five currently working their ways through the courts. Eight have been demolished with one more demolition scheduled.
The once prominent Buescher Funeral Home sits vacant and abandoned, and has joined the ranks of other blighted Buescher properties. Can it be saved from the ranks of the demolished?
Jenny Smith is a retired chemist with the Highway Patrol Crime Lab and former editor of the Historic City of Jefferson's Yesterday and Today newsletter. The author acknowledges the help of Katie Owens in the preparation of this story. Efforts to reach Barbara Buescher for this column were unsuccessful.
