Gregg Faulkner Sr. and brother Billy Faulkner Jr. are the new owners of Foster-Faulkner Funeral Home on Main Street, Mathews.
Gregg Faulkner said Monday that they have renamed the parent company Faulkner Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, Inc., and the Mathews facility is now the Foster-Faulkner Chapel. Other entities they acquired are Bristow-Faulkner Funeral Home and Tri-County Vault Company, both located in Saluda, and Marks-Bristow Funeral Home in Tappahannock.
The Faulkners said in a release they are “very blessed to have the opportunity to carry on the tradition of excellent service to these communities that their father, Bill ‘Charlie Bill’ Faulkner Sr. and his long-time business partner, Charles Bristow, served for many years.” Those men were involved in funeral service on the Middle Peninsula for more than 60 years. In a release, the Faulkner brothers said they “are remembered as men of sincere integrity and compassion,” a legacy that they will strive to carry on.
The Faulkners said they principally serve families of Mathews, Middlesex and Essex counties.
In Mathews, Foster-Faulkner staff will continue with Albert Foster, licensed funeral director, embalmer and location manager, and Christine Williams, licensed funeral director and embalmer. Other staff members include Jennifer Purrington, finance manager/bookkeeper, and funeral associates James Diggs, Richard “Dicky” Clements, Betty Hudgins, Brenda Hudgins, Bill Davis, Jimmy “Bullet” Hudgins, Paul Bing and Olivia Gwynn.
Gregg and Bill Faulkner are both Mathews natives and were raised in Middlesex County. Gregg and his wife Valerie reside in Mathews and have three sons and four grandchildren. Bill and his wife Joan, who reside in Urbanna and King William, have five children and three grandchildren.
Gregg is a licensed funeral director in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as an ordained minister, the release said. He worked with Foster-Faulkner and Bristow-Faulkner Funeral Homes from 1977 through 1987, and then served with Service Corporation International until 2004.
At SCI, Gregg served in various management roles including Preneed Funeral Manager at Woody Funeral Home in Richmond and Area Vice President of the Preneed Funeral Division in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and North Carolina. In 2001, Gregg began volunteering with Central Church of God in Charlotte, North Carolina, working in their Jail and Prison Ministry, and transitioned to full-time ministry with that church in 2004 and later was ordained.
Bill worked in the insurance industry for many years, starting with Southland Life Insurance Company in Tappahannock in 1973. From 1980 to 2005, he owned and operated Faulkner Insurance and Burial Plans with offices in Richmond, Norfolk, Roanoke and Northern Virginia.
Also, Bill was associated with both Foster-Faulkner and Bristow-Faulkner Funeral Homes from 1976 to 1979 and from 2005 through 2009. He is a deacon at Indian View Baptist Church in King William where he has been a member for over 30 years.