About Us
About Us
At Wells Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, we offer unique service options that will allow you to honor the memory of your loved ones in a healing and meaningful manner. We have years of caring for families, from all faiths and walks of life. We are here to provide caring support as we deliver memorial services that help honor and celebrate life - helping families find the peace they deserve.
Wells Funeral Homes has been providing compassionate funeral services in Canton and Waynesville, North Carolina, since 1888. Families come to us because of our integrity, compassion, and commitment to excellence in service. We invite you to learn more about us, explore our beautiful grounds, and get to know more about the dedicated, caring people behind our work.
Our History
Wells Funeral Homes, Inc. & Cremation Services of Canton and Waynesville was founded in 1888 by C. T. Wells, Sr. He started Haywood County's first undertaking business in Canton, in a general mercantile store. In the history of Wells Funeral Homes, Inc., it is documented as the oldest family owned business in Haywood County.
Over the years, the family business was passed down from C. T. Wells, Sr. to his sons, C. Broadway Wells and James M. Wells and his wife Dutch Mc Cracken Wells. The business was then owned and operated by the daughter of James M. and Dutch Mc Cracken Wells, Miriam Wells Greeley and her husband J. Patrick Greeley. The year 2000 marked a transition of ownership within the Wells family. J. Wells Greeley and his parents completed succession-planning efforts, which allowed Wells Greeley to become the fourth generation of the Wells family to operate their family owned business.
From the mercantile store, Wells Funeral Home moved to Main Street and then to Academy Street in Canton. Marking their 75th anniversary, a modern facility was built on Asheville Road in Canton. This facility presently serves the needs of families of eastern Haywood and Buncombe counties.
In 1985, Wells Funeral Homes, Inc. purchased Crawford Funeral Home located at 296 N. Main Street in Waynesville. A new facility was built on this site in Waynesville in June of 1990. This facility serves the families of western Haywood and Jackson counties.
In 1996, a cremation facility was constructed by J. Wells Greeley in a partnership in Buncombe County. Cremation Services of WNC serves the needs of Wells Funeral Homes and other funeral homes. By owning their own cremation facility, Wells Funeral Homes have greater control in serving the needs when families choose cremation services. This gives Wells Funeral Homes the ability to be a full service funeral home and crematorium for the families they serve.
J. Wells Greeley and a professional staff are honored to carry on the Wells' family tradition of dedicated service to families throughout Haywood and surrounding counties since 1888.
In the fall of 2012, J. Wells Greeley purchased The Mountaineer Press Room and Publishing building adjacent to the current Waynesville location of Wells Funeral Home, only 11 feet away. After undergoing a complete renovation, the building now houses the Wells Events & Reception Center which will meet the needs of providing a space for life celebrations, accomplishments, community events an meetings, funeral receptions and memorial services. We are honored to be able to provide this space to the families we serve.
Online Memorial
We can create a customized, online memorial for you to share with family and friends. The memorial includes the obituary and any photographs you wish to provide. It will serve as a place for visitors to post condolences, share memories, upload photos, and light candles in honor of your loved one.
Tribute Video
We can produce a personal tribute video that can be played at the service and online. Simply provide us with the photographs you want to include and we will transform them into a video celebration of your treasured memories. DVDs or digital files of the video are also available.
Ordering Flowers
We make it easy for friends and family to send flowers to your home or service to honor your loved one. We have partnered with local florists to offer the convenience of ordering directly from the obituary page of our website. You can also use this feature to select the flowers you would like at the service. This is a secure way to choose beautiful arrangements from the privacy and comfort of your home.A graveside or committal service is typically held immediately following the funeral service but it can also be a small intimate gathering of those closest to you.
Sharing Service Details
We reduce the stress of contacting those who need the details of the service for your loved one. We post the dates and times of the service as part of the online memorial on our website. You can then either share the memorial on your Facebook or Twitter page or copy the details from the site into an email or text. Both options give you the peace of mind that you have provided the necessary information to those who need it.
