Funeral Homes

HAWK FUNERAL HOME

Another long-term business serving the Sligo vicinity was the Hawk Funeral Home of Guy M. and Cleo A. Hawk.

The business was in operation from the 1950’s until about 1990, the building since being demolished. If you have photos to share, please email me.

Guy M. Hawk- A descendant of one of Clarion County’s pioneer families, Guy M. Hawk is Sligo’s only Funeral Director. He was born September 20, 1901 at Rimersburg, RD 1, known locally as the Lawsonham Hill, where his grandfather Simon Hawk, who was born in 1831 in Bellefonte, moved when a very young man. Guy’s father, Meade, married to Ara Buzard Hawk, bought ten acres of land next to that of his father and raised a family of ten, six boys and four girls. Guy was the seventh child. After reaching adulthood, Guy returned to school and was awarded his diploma from Sligo High School. In 1928 he was graduated from the College of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia. He returned to assist his brother Ralph and Charles E. Heilman of East Brady. In 1945 he bought his brother’s business interests and has continued with the help of his son, also a licensed mortician. The Hawks are now in semi-retirement, with Mr. Hawk able to devote more of his time to outside interests and civic matters. He is a member of Sligo Methodist Church, a member and past president of Sligo Lions Club, a member of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Sligo Lodge, and the Sligo Saddle Club. In 1921 he was married to Gladys M. Hetrick of Rimersburg who had studied nursing at the West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh and was employed at the A.S. Thompson store. The Hawks have one son, Cleo, born October 15, 1932, who has served as past president of the Clarion County Funeral Directors Association. He is married to Patricia Stitt and they have three children, two girls and a boy, named Ellen Marie Hawk, Joyce Faye Hawk, and Gordon A. Hawk. Source: Reproduction of Caldwell's Illustrated Atlas of Clarion County Pennsylvania 1877 with supplemental data to 1964. Limited edition edited by Record Press, Rimersburg, PA. Page 239

Obituary of Guy M. Hawk

Guy M. Hawk, 88, of Sligo, founder of a long-time funeral home there, died at 2:47 am Friday in Clarion Hospital.

Born September 20, 1901, in Madison Township, Clarion County, he was a son of Elmer Meade Hawk and Ara Minda Buzard.

He was married on September 28, 1922, to Gladys M. Hetrick. She died June 22, 1984.

He had been a member of the United Methodist Church in Sligo since April 14, 1957.

Mr. Hawk was a charter member of the Sligo Lions Club and was named Lions Club Man of the Year in 1978.

He was a charter member of the Murphy Grange and was a member there for 25 years.

He was a charter member of the Lodge IOOF of Sligo.

Mr. Hawk was an avid sportsman. He particularly enjoyed hunting, fishing and horseback riding.

He left school in eighth grade to work in the coal mines. He worked in various coal mines for 30 years before retiring for health reasons.

In 1928, he graduated from Eckles School of Embalming in Philadelphia.

He helped his brother, Ralph, in the funeral business.

He later went back to high school to get his diploma, enabling him to take a state board examination and obtain his funeral director's license.

He received his funeral director's license in 1945.

He started his own funeral home, the Guy M. Hawk Funeral Home, the day after receiving his license. The business served Sligo and the surrounding area with funeral and amulance service until his retirement in 1963.

In 1963, he sold the funeral home to his son, Cleo A. Hawk.

He is survived by a son, Cleo A. Hawk and his wife, Patricia, of Sligo; three grandchildren, Mrs. Rick (Ellen) Bowler of Cranberry, Joyce Hawk of DuBois and Gordon Hawk and his wife, Donna, of Sligo; a great-grandson, Corey; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by five brothers and four sisters.

The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 pm and 7 to 9 pm today at the Cleo A. Hawk Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be conducted at 2 pm Sunday in the funeral home. Rev. Richard Eddinger, pastor of the United Methodist Church of Sligo, will officiate.

Interment will follow in the Grandview Cemetery in Sligo.

The family suggests memorials be made to the Sligo Ambulance Service or the charity of one's choice

Funeral Homes

Photo of the Varner Funeral Home in Sligo, PA.

1632 Bald Eagle St Sligo Pennsylvania 16255

Phone: (814) 745-2220

Photo taken May 2005

Undertakers in Sligo, according to censuses and historical documents, and their verified years of employ in undertaking.

Altman, Oscar Lee, about 1912-1914, undertaker for County Home.

Hawk, Cleo A., Sligo, 1967-1989

Hawk, Guy M., Sligo, 1951-1954

Hunter, Amos, Curllsville abt 1850