Whiteside Family Mortuary

William R. Whiteside began his first Undertaking business in St. Louis, Missouri. He came to Washington in the 1900's and established what is now Mills and Mills Funeral Directors in Olympia. We have conflicting dates as to when he started Mills and Mills, somewhere between 1900 and 1902.

After selling the Olympia business he came to Grays Harbor County and purchased the business's of W.J. Wood and Bowes and Randolph and consolidated them into Whiteside Undertaking Company. From 1910 to 1925, he added more locations to include, Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Montesano, Elma and Oakville. William transferred the business to his children, Eugene H. "Gene" Whiteside and Jessie McClellan, before his death in 1931. In 1931 they Incorporated another location in Aberdeen, Elerding Mortuary. Eugene H. "Bud" Whiteside, Jr. returned to Aberdeen after receiving his education in Mortuary Science in New York and serving his apprenticeship at Beck's Funeral Home in Edmonds, WA in 1960. He and his wife Gayle later took over management of the funeral homes, at that time the Hoquiam and Oakville locations had been consolidated. In 1983 Bud had a Crematory installed at the Aberdeen location after seeing the continual rise in Cremation in the area.

The Elerding Mortuary was consolidated into the Aberdeen location 1984. In 1995 the Whiteside Family donated the former Elerding Mortuary building to Grays Harbor Community College. The college was in need of a downtown location to be accessible to more students. The college named the location "Whiteside Learning Center" in gratitude to the family. Bud and Gayle transferred the daily management of the business to their son Jeff so they could have more day to day freedom and travel. After Jeff decided to leave the area the daily operation was handed over to their daughter Jenny who had been working in the business since 1984.

The Elma location was in a building that had been built in 1898 and was no longer large enough to meet the needs of the families served today. A new facility was built right next door to the former location in the year 2000. The chapel was doubled in size and the building is contained on one level to be fully accessible to all. The Whiteside Undertaking Company has gone through some name changes, consolidation and expansion in its 100 years and four generations but the same values have always remained.