Our History - Amarillo, TX

E.M. Blackburn, Sr. came to Amarillo in 1918 at the invitation of his two brothers Walter and Jeff. In 1918, E.M. Blackburn purchased the Eakle Funeral Home and in 1919 opened Blackburn’s Funeral Directors on S. Polk St. The building stood where IH-40 intersects S. Polk Street today. As the business grew, Mr. Blackburn relocated to the corner of 5th and Pierce and built Amarillo’s first Funeral Chapel in 1941.

Mr. Blackburn turned the business over to his two sons Percy and E.M. Blackburn, Jr. and the business became known as Blackburn-Shaw Funeral Directors. E.M., Jr. was involved in many civic organizations in Amarillo. As the business grew, a second location was built in 1969 on Martin Road to better serve the northern portion of Amarillo.

Mr. Blackburn passed away in 2006 at the age of 93.

More recently, in January of 2011, Garre LaGrone and Tommy LaGrone joined the organization and thus the name was changed again to reflect the merge of respected names in the panhandle area. The LaGrone family has been in the funeral and monument business since 1956. They carry on the tradition of serving families with honor, love, compassion and dignity. They have two locations to accommodate the families of Amarillo as well as Memory Gardens Cemetery and Crematory.

LaGrone-Blackburn-Shaw Martin Road Chapel

Located at 1505 Martin Road continues to offer citizens of north Amarillo a convenient location. The facility features a spacious chapel with full audio/video capabilities, large off street parking, community room, comfortable visitation areas and full funeral and cremation planning.

LaGrone-Blackburn-Shaw Coulter Road Chapel

Located at 8310 South Coulter Rd. offers citizens of Amarillo the most elegant funeral facility. The location features a large spacious chapel with full audio/video capabilities, family room, spacious visitation areas, off street parking, coffee suite and full funeral and cremation planning.

Memory Gardens of Amarillo

Located on the Canyon E-way is conveniently located for both citizens of Amarillo and Canyon. The cemetery features Amarillo’s only local crematory facility as well as cemetery spaces, mausoleum spaces, cremation spaces, and monuments.

We are proud to be the only funeral home in Amarillo to own and operate our own local crematory.