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and he has given of himself without reservations. He put a
lot of effort into what he was going to say. He knew it had to
pass the test of time and integrity,” she said.
Townsend said Gaines always took the time to write down
his comments. She was once asked to read them into the
record when he was out of town.
Times have changed, but 80 years ago Fort Pierce was a
different place. “It was a segregated town,” said Gaines as
he gazed out his second-story office window across Seventh
Street to what was once a whites-only park. “Growing up, we
didn’t realize it. We had everything we needed to survive in
our village. The black community was a closed community
within itself.”
Gaines, a 33rd degree Mason, said there was a whipping
post where blacks were whipped just a few blocks from his
office. His grandfather Albert Stone, a Master Mason, was
the founder of Stone Brothers Funeral Home, one of the city’s
oldest continuously operating businesses.
There were times (1930s) when a black man would get
into trouble and need to get out of town in a hurry, Gaines’
grandfather told him. “If they could make it to the (Masonic)
hall, they were protected,” Gaines said. “It was tradition to
ship bodies by train. No one questioned a casket on board the
train. The black morticians sent them to Brother Hillman in
Jacksonville.”
The simple wood casket was especially fitted with heavy
handles and had secret air holes to allow breathing. In Jacksonville,
morticians from the Hillman Funeral Home were
there to pick up the casket containing the man on the run.
The entryway into Gaines’ office is a small museum with
several display cases with dolls, figurines, drawings, paintings
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and memorabilia from his travels. The walls are adorned
with photos and plaques from his career as a funeral director.
In a back office there are two more large boxes of plaques.
Gaines was National Mortician of the Year in 1990 and
president of the National Funeral Directors and Morticians
Association in 1986-87.
“Today, the young directors want a nine-to-five job,” said
Gaines. “To be successful you have to be there 24 hours a
day. If someone calls you at 1 a.m. you have to give them the
service they need. You are giving your life to the community
you serve.” When a prominent educator died, the Gaines
family was about to leave for Christmas in Virginia. His wife,
Theressa, told him, “We can go, but you will physically be >>
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Name: Samuel Stone
Gaines
Age: 77
Occupation: Funeral director
Family: Wife, Theressa, 75;
sons Andre, 51, and Arnold, 47;
daughter Alwyn, 45; six grandchildren
Background: Funeral director
and longest-serving school board member in Florida history
What most people don’t know about me: “For many years, I
raised finches. I had a birdhouse in my backyard. Anything to
do with history is my passion.”
What inspires me: “The fulfillment of seeing young adults
reaching their goals in life based on something I helped them
with.”
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/www.sungrovemontessori.org