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Sedgwick County, Kansas

Wichita Couple find their fleet of hearses the perfect transport--and conversation piece--around town

One Man's Hearse Is Another's SUV

Don't be surprised if you see a body in the back of Glenda Campbell's dark blue hearse at Wichita State University.

It's just Glenda taking a nap. "I'm comfortable. There's a lot of room. I take an alarm watch, go out and crash out there," she said.

Campbell and her husband, Steve, get a lot of attention when they took around town in their vehicles of choice: hearses. They own four, with personalized license tages such as DEDSLED, DEDMEAT and LASTRYD. The fourth simply says CAMPBEL.

They draw stares and looks--sometimes disapproving head shakes--but they don't mind because they like the hearses' distinctive styles and workmanship.

The Campbells say they have always appreciated spacious luxury cars such as older Cadillacs. Before owning hearses, they both drove limousines, Glenda Campbell said.

Not only do most used hearses have low mileage, the Campbells say, but they're also well maintained "because they have to be read to go on short notice."

And if the couple needs to haul stuff like, say, a lawn mower or tools, there's plenty of room in the back.

"They're so heavy and so big; they ride like a dream," Glenda Campbell said.

They take particular price in their 1973 silver Cadillac hearse, which they bought from a friend about two years ago. It had about 54,000 miles on it.

"It was in really, really excellent shape," Glenda Campbell said. "There was just one spot of rust on the door, which we repaired.

"After that, we just kind of thought, "This was pretty cool."

The Campbells like to take the silver Cadillac and their 1976 white S&S Victoria centennial model to car shows.

Steve Campbell, who retired from Boeing Wichita last year after 22 years, drives the black 1983 Mercury Grand Marquis hearse with the DEDSLED tag. He has a used body bag he throws in the back for effect.

"They're hard to come by," he said. "You can get new ones easy, but a used one...."

Glenda Campbell's dark blue 1988 Buick LeSabre Superior hearse, sporting the DEDMEAT tag, is usually in a parking lot near the National Institute for Aviation Research at WSU, where she works.

She remembers once getting locked in after taking a lunchtime nap. There really isn't a need for door handles in the back, Steve Campbell said with a grin.

So his wife climbed through the sliding glass panels that separate the driver's seat from the back.

When she looked up, she saw two guys in a van parked in front of her, their jaws wide with astonishment.

"The didn't know what to think", she said.

More than once, when she has been napping in the back, snuggled in her blanket because of the cold, someone has run into the research institute and said, "There's a body in the hearse out there."

Her coworkers calmly answer: "That's just Glenda. She's just out there taking a nap."

Each custom-made hearse is different, the Campbells say. The silver Cadillac, with its LASTRYD tag, has a black leather interior and creamy tan curtains. The white Victoria features three Angel of Mercy woodcuts.

They've added their own touches: a miniature skeleton, a silver tag frame decorated with skulls, and a casket (they got a deal on it because it had a ding).

Glen Campbell says her hearse is a natural conversation started wherever she goes.

Even at the gas station, people will ask her whether she gets the creeps from driving a vehicle that once held dead bodies.

"Nope, I never think about it," she said. "I just think of it as a big station wagon."

She sees such conversations as an opportunity to educate the morbidly curious, who rarely get a chance to closely inspect a hearse.

"It's really fun to drive them," she said. "It's gotten to where I can't imagine having anything else.

"It's like when you drive a certain car, like a Lincoln or VW. If you've always driven a Lincoln or Volkswagen, that's what you want."

Did you Know? FUNERAL HEARSES

There are different kinds of hearses. First-call service cars are the ones used to transport bodies to the funeral homes. They're the work-horse of the funeral home industry. Flower cars carry the flowers for funerals and resemble El Caminos.

Cadillacs are the most well-known cars that are converted to hearses. Other makes include Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Oldsmobile.

(Wichita Eagle ~ Monday; 15 Sept 2003)