Celebrating a Century of Funeral Service
1902 – 2002
Wenburg Funeral Home – Beaver City, NE
Corbin-Hopping Undertaking was founded in Beaver City in 1902, as a partnership between M. P. Corbin and Charles Edward Hopping. C. E. Hopping became sole owner in 1904 and the Hopping funeral business remained a family business for 78 years. The business was purchased by James H. and Rogene E. Wenburg on January 1, 1980.
In the early days the undertaking business was incorporated with C. E. Hopping’s established drug store, the “Post Office Drug Store.” Caskets were displayed upstairs over the drug store for families to make their selections. In 1902, the “undertaker” prepared the body for viewing in the home of the deceased. Family members would take turns keeping vigil until the time of the funeral. Viewing at the funeral home began around 1930 in Beaver City.
Earl E. Hopping, a son of C. E., licensed as embalmer in 1910, helped his father in both the undertaking business and the drug store for many years. At the time of C. E.’s death in 1930, Earl E., who was also a registered pharmacist, took over the operation of the drug store and the funeral business. The Hopping Drug business was sold to Mr. & Mrs. John Bridgewater in 1938, however, the Hoppings retained ownership of the building and used the upstairs for caskets and funeral business.
Earl Hopping married Selina Smith in 1908. In 1926 Selina’s parents, C.E.V. and Mary Smith built a new home at 709 9th Street. After Mary’s death in 1927 and C.E.V.’s death in 1933 Selina and Earl inherited the home. The Hopping family moved into the new home and the home, also, eventually became the funeral home.
When Earl E. Hopping retired in 1950 a daughter, Florence, and husband, C. Earl Haase, took over the operation of the funeral business for the next 30 years. The practice of selecting a casket in a room above the drug store continued until 1962 when a casket display room, capable of displaying 22 caskets, and an embalming room were added to the funeral home. Prior to this time Earl E. Hopping and C. Earl Haase had used a room in the basement of the home for embalming. With these additions it was finally possible to work without the barrier of lifting up and down stairs and also to make funeral arrangements and casket selection at the same time and place.
In 1980 the Haases sold the funeral home to James and Rogene Wenburg. For the past 23 years, the Wenburgs have operated Wenburg Funeral Home Inc. and raised a family of three sons in Beaver City.
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