A Practical Look at Tankersley Funeral Home in Mullens, West Virginia
Tankersley Funeral Home has been operating out of Mullens, West Virginia for several decades, serving Greenbrier County and the surrounding southern Appalachia communities. It is a family-run facility that handles traditional funerals, cremations, and pre-planning arrangements. The town of Mullens sits along the Guyandotte River, population roughly 1,800, and the funeral home functions as one of the primary services of its kind in the area. That means they deal with a high volume of community deaths relative to the local population, which shapes how they operate. The history traces back through the Tankersley family, which has operated funeral services in this part of Wyoming County for multiple generations. Pre-1980s records for small rural funeral homes are often incomplete because many were tracked through church directories and county clerk filings rather than formal business registries. What is documented is that the current facility on Northside Drive has been their main location since at least the late 1990s, and prior to that the family operated out of older buildings in town. The physical structure is a single-story commercial building with a chapel, preparation room, and parking for families. It is not a grand facility. It is functional. Services offered include traditional earth burial with a viewing, direct cremation without any ceremony, and memorial services held either at the funeral home or at a church. They coordinate with local cemeteries including Mullens Cemetery and Green Hill Cemetery. They also handle permit filing with the state of West Virginia, which requires a death certificate, burial transit permit, and cemetery receipt before any disposition can occur. This is standard state law, but it is where most families get stuck if they are not prepared.
Pre-planning is available and they have a dedicated form for that. The pricing for a basic adult funeral with viewing and service runs approximately $3,500 to $5,500 depending on casket selection and cemetery costs, which are separate. A direct cremation typically falls in the $1,200 to $1,800 range. These numbers are estimates based on industry averages for rural West Virginia and may have changed. Always call to get current pricing.
How It Actually Works When You Need Them
The first call you make is the most important. When someone dies in a nursing home or hospital, the facility will usually call the funeral home directly if the family has already chosen one. If not, they may suggest a few options, and this is where you need to act fast because beds at those facilities fill up quickly after a death. I had a case where a family waited two days to commit to a funeral home because they were unsure. The hospital had already moved the deceased to a temporary holding area, and transferring to the funeral home became more complicated and slower. Get it sorted within 24 hours if possible. The initial consultation usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour. They will ask for the deceased's full legal name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, date and cause of death, parents' names, and next of kin contact information. Bring a copy of the death certificate if it is already available, though most families do not have one at this point. The funeral home will file for the official death certificate through the state registrar, which takes about 5 to 7 business days. You will need several certified copies for estate matters, so request at least 10 upfront even if you think you need fewer. The arrangement conference covers what type of service you want, where it will be held, whether there will be a viewing, what the casket or urn will be, and the obituary. They can draft the obituary for local papers like the Register-Herald or the Charleston Gazette-Mail. This is a common point of friction. Families often want the obituary to be long and detailed, but newspapers charge by the line or by the inch. A 500-word obituary can run $150 to $250 in a local paper. Keep it concise and include only the essential details. Funeral directors at places like Tankersley know this and will usually give you a rough cost estimate before printing.
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Community Role and What Makes It Different
In a town the size of Mullens, the funeral home is not just a service provider. It is a social institution. People here know each other. The funeral director likely knows the deceased's entire family tree, their employers, their churches, and their habits. This is both an advantage and a complication. The advantage is that the service will be personal and accurate. The complication is that there is less anonymity and more expectation that everything will be handled the way the community expects. If the family wants something unconventional, you will need to communicate that clearly and early. Tankersley Funeral Home participates in local community events. They sponsor youth sports teams, donate to church fundraisers, and hold annual memorial services for fallen first responders in the area. This is standard practice for rural funeral homes and it builds trust. When you walk in during a crisis, you are dealing with people you may have seen at church or the grocery store. That dynamic affects the entire experience. Be direct about your needs. Do not assume they will read your mind or that community familiarity will substitute for clear decisions. One thing most people do not realize is that rural funeral homes like this often share resources with nearby facilities. If Tankersley is at capacity or needs a specialized item like a particular casket type, they may pull from a shared inventory with homes in nearby towns like Beckley or Welch. This is normal and not a red flag, but it does mean transfer times between facilities can add a day or two to the process if something needs to be relocated. Plan around this if timing is critical.
Pitfalls and What to Watch For
The biggest mistake families make is not knowing what is included in the base funeral service fee. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide a general price list upon request. Ask for it immediately. Do not accept a verbal estimate. The GPL will break down every line item: embalming, use of facility for viewing, use of chapel for service, staff time, transportation, casket, urn, death certificates, and so on. Many families are shocked to learn that basic services of the funeral director, which is a mandatory fee, is separate from the casket and cemetery costs. At Tankersley, this fee is likely in the $1,500 to $2,500 range based on regional averages. Another pitfall involves cemetery costs. The funeral home does not own the cemetery plots in Mullens. You purchase those separately from the cemetery association or the county. If you are buying a new plot, factor in the opening and closing fee, which is typically $500 to $1,500 on top of the plot price. Some families assume the funeral home handles everything, but they only coordinate the logistics. They do not control cemetery pricing. A more specific issue I encountered involved a family that requested a same-day cremation to save money. The funeral home was willing, but the state requires a 24-hour waiting period after death before cremation can occur in West Virginia, unless a medical examiner signs off on an exception. This is a hard rule. No funeral home in the state can bypass it. I had to explain this to a family that was under financial pressure and genuinely needed the cremation done immediately. There was no workaround. The body had to remain in care for at least one full day. If you are dealing with financial hardship, ask about indigent funeral assistance through the county. Wyoming County may have some provisions, though they are limited.
Pre-planning is useful but it comes with a catch. If you pre-pay, the funds go into a trust account regulated by the state. If the funeral home goes out of business, you may lose some or all of that money depending on the trust structure. Tankersley has been around long enough that this is a low risk, but it is worth asking whether your pre-payment is fully funded and insured. Request documentation of the trust status before signing anything.
Contact and Access
Tankersley Funeral Home is located at 149 Northside Drive in Mullens, West Virginia. The phone number is (304) 765-4411. They are open Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, with after-hours availability by appointment for families who need to make arrangements outside business hours. Most rural funeral homes operate this way because the staff is small and the work does not stop just because it is evening. Calling during business hours is best for general inquiries. For urgent matters at night or on weekends, you can still reach them by phone and they will arrange pickup of the deceased. If you are planning a visit, the facility is accessible and has parking. There is a small chapel that seats approximately 60 to 80 people. For larger gatherings, families often hold the service at a local church and use the funeral home only for preparation and visitation. This is a common and perfectly acceptable arrangement. They will coordinate the logistics regardless of where the service takes place.
