Several months ago, Anglican Watch filed a complaint against Pam Stephens and Williamson Memorial Funeral Home and Cremation Services for what we believe was spectacularly inappropriate behavior towards Angie Solomon following the death of Grant Solomon. State regulators ruled in our favor, but appear to have gone for a slap-on-the-wrist approach to the matter and issued a reprimand to the funeral home.
Among the allegations are the following:
- That the funeral home destroyed Grant’s clothes and other belongings without authorization, then lied about the matter.
- That Stephens demonstrated hostility and inappropriate behavior towards Angie Solomon.
- That Stephens improperly interjected herself into the divorce of Angie and Aaron Solomon by filing an affidavit in the proceeding.
- That Stephens’ affidavit was false and misleading and not based on first-hand knowledge.
- That Stephens inappropriately excluded Angie, the custodial parent, from all decisionmaking.
Most shocking are allegations that the funeral home broke Grant’s ankles to fit him into an undersized casket.
We complained about these and several related matters, but declined to provide some items of documentation in our possession due to the possibility of a civil suit against Stephens and the funeral home.
The regulatory agency in charge of funeral homes counts Stephens as a member, and she was absent from the agency’s last meeting.
Anglican Watch is working to obtain additional details and will publish those as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, we have several thoughts on this matter:
- Funeral directors, like Caesar’s wife, should be above reproach. Thus, if you have to ask the question, you probably already know the answer.
- There was no reason for Stephens’ alleged fabrications about Grant’s belongings.
- We are absolutely gobsmacked about the allegations that the funeral home broke Grant’s legs.
- Why on this green earth Stephens thought it appropriate to wade into a divorce between two clients is beyond our comprehension.
- Consumers who support the right of women and children to be free from coercive control and abuse should not use this funeral home. Ever. Even Stephen’s decision to take sides in a divorce — and against the custodial parent, who should have had an equal say in planning the funeral — is so spectacularly inappropriate that we would not consider using this facility under any circumstances. Now that the funeral home is owned by Park Lawn, a Canadian company, we similarly recommend against doing business with any other Park Lawn facility until it addresses this stunning meltdown in professional ethics.
- Anglican Watch has directly informed Park Lawn of our concerns and did not receive a response, so the company is fair game for a boycott. Consumers wishing to avoid this ethical crock of goo can find a list of Park Lawn properties here.
Put in other words, if we were hit by a car — or maybe a baseball bat — anywhere near Franklin, TN and actively dying, our last words would be: “Anywhere but Williamson.”
Yes, we have strong feelings about the alleged issues involving this funeral home and Pam Stephens.
As someone who lives here in Franklin and cares deeply about supporting local businesses, I feel compelled to speak up about something that just doesn’t sit right with me.
There’s a small, family-owned funeral home in our town—Stephens Funeral & Cremation Services—that serves this community with compassion and integrity. This new business was started by Clyde Stephens’ grandson and is run by people who truly care about the families they serve.
Now, it’s come to light that someone affiliated with a large, corporate funeral home has purchased the domain names http://www.stephensfs.net and http://www.stephensfs.org, and both of those sites now redirect to Williamson Memorial Funeral Home’s website. The person behind this, Pam, has no involvement with Stephens Funeral & Cremation, and yet she’s using their name in a way that appears deliberately misleading.
This kind of behavior doesn’t just seem unethical—it feels deceptive and predatory, especially when it’s aimed at a small local business. Most people looking for funeral services online wouldn’t know they’re being redirected to a different company. That’s not fair to the families in our community, and it’s certainly not fair to the people who have worked hard to build a local, trusted name.
After everything Pam gained from selling her family’s business, you’d think she’d have enough. But this feels like pure greed at the expense of a small, honest funeral home that’s just trying to make a living and serve others with dignity.
Franklin is a close-knit community. We should be standing up for the people who live and work here—not letting corporate interests walk all over them.