The Gabriels Funeral Chapel and Crematory honoring our past for 30 years

For the past 30 years, The Gabriels Funeral Chapel and Crematory has been  catering to Williamson County clients’ unique wishes as they help families feel comfortable with their loved one’s final resting place.

“We try to cater to any request that is legal and attainable. ” Funeral Director Mallory Destree said. “We’ve had people bring in motorcycles and had them on display for the funeral. We’ve had people who were flat-bed truck drivers request that the casket be carried to the funeral in a flat-bed truck, instead of a funeral hearse. I mean, you name it we’ve done it. We can pretty much accommodate anything.” 

Recently, they had a client request that the deceased’s horse attend the funeral.

“Her horse was in attendance,” Ms. Destree said. “We have a covered patio in the front of our funeral home, so her horse was out on the patio just chomping on some hay as the service was happening. We have double doors open so she could see in. She kind of peeped her head through the doorway but never actually came in.” 

Gabriels Funeral home serves those in Georgetown, Weir, Walburg, Jarrell and other communities in the surrounding area.  Steve Doering, whose father, Carl, was one of Gabriels’ founders, said the group that launched the business in 1993 approached the funeral home in a unique way. 

“My dad and the other founders got together, looked around the community and they just saw a need for it,” he said. “My dad lived in Georgetown all of his 98 years and asked “Who do we want to be involved in this whole thing?” He wanted to get the true pillars of the community involved.” 

There were 25 original shareholders with the funeral home, including Suzie Ramos, who owned The Flower Box, Jean Jacob, who owned Gus’ Drug Store, Claude Hayes, who owned Georgetown Title, Ray Bizzel,l who owned Town Square Floors, and Marvin Lackey, who owned Lackey Real Estate.

Gabriels was launched after Davis Funeral Home — which was owned by a local Georgetown family — was sold to the Cook-Walden Funeral Home company. It was important to the founders of Gabriels that the area had more than one option. 

The funeral home has adapted to community needs. 

“In 1993 [when Gabriels was first opened], Georgetown was just a small community,” Mr. Doering said. Things like Sun City have changed Georgetown in many different ways.”

Covid also changed how Gabriels had to operate. 

“It was a lot more hectic during Covid, not necessarily because we had an influx of people who were dying— but more because we were now being told that we couldn’t have services,” Ms. Destree said. “People weren’t able to grieve properly and celebrate their loved ones in the way that they had initially planned.” 

A lot of times, she said families who were initially going to be having a full burial service with public visitations and church services were subjected to an immediate burial or a direct cremation, with scaled down accommodations due to safety precautions related to gatherings.

To help, Ms. Destree said that Gabriels offered a virtual ceremony option. Live-steaming the ceremony is something that they have continued to offer even as things have shifted back to normal. 

One of many ways the funeral home has tried to serve those in the community in times of tragedy. In 1997, Gabriels took care of the 27 people who had passed away in the tornado that struck Jarrell, Mr. Doering said. The home has also helped families who have suffered miscarriages or infant deaths at St. David’s Hospital in Georgetown. 

“If the family can not afford a burial, we can afford one,” he said. “There are hundreds every quarter that we lay to rest in our Lady of the Rosary cemetery, which helps those families who can’t afford to bury their child. They’ve already had a tough enough time. They shouldn’t need to worry about the final aspect of things.” 

Gabriels is independently owned. They have a small number of staff. This is something that really drew Ms. Destree to work for them as a funeral director. 

“[At Gabriels], it really truly does feel like a family,” she said. “I’ve been here for about 7 and a half years. I can really tell you that all of the owners, all of the staff here feel like family.” 

Ms. Destree said that funeral directors wear many hats. They’re party planners, financial advisors and grief counselors all in one. After someone is declared legally dead, the on-call funeral director will drop what they’re doing to pick up the deceased. They take the body to the funeral home, prepare it for burial and organize the funeral. 

There are three funeral directors who work at Gabriels and they take turns being on-call at all times. They work normal 9-5 jobs on business days, but continue to answer calls after hours. 

“We answer our phones 24/7,” Ms. Destree said. “So if you call at 3 in the morning, it’s going to be one of our funeral directors who answers the phone. We do not rely on a phone answering service. We’re answering calls while we’re at home making dinner, doing laundry, or while we’re in the shower, which is very inconvenient. But you know— death doesn’t stop for anything. So we answer our phones.”

The goal, she said, is always to make the families comfortable and to offer support. 

Every December they have a pastor, or some sort of religious figure, come in and do a sermon to help families who have lost a loved one cope with grief during the holidays. Afterward, they have a reception with refreshments. This gives the funeral directors a chance to reconnect with the families who they’ve helped over the years. 

“It’s always a really nice experience to see those families and make sure that they’re still doing ok.” 

When her clients are having a hard time, Ms. Destree tells them that although they may always have grief, it’s not going to always feel the same. 

“Grief is always evolving,” she said. “As time goes on, you kind of go back to your normal routine. You get back to keeping your mind occupied by other things. And you have a different way of seeing things. You think about your loved one in a happier light.” 

Ms. Destree tells her clients that when it comes to grieving: “It might be forever, but it’s not going to be forever. If that makes any sense at all…”