History
Stephens Funeral Home & Crematory has been serving Manning area families for years. We are honored to be a part of the rich history of this community and plan to be a part of it for many years to come.
Stephens Funeral Home, Inc. was founded in March 1980 by Ranny I. Stephens and his wife Pam. Ranny served the families of Clarendon County and surrounding communities from 1971 to 2011. He worked for Shelley-Brunson Funeral Home from 1971 until he and Pam founded Stephens Funeral Home on the corner of Sunset and Boundary Streets in March of 1980.
In 1981, Ranny and Pam purchased the former Shelley-Brunson Funeral Home building located at 304 N. Church St. A visitation room was added where the former casket display room was located and the casket display room was relocated to the former carport area. A former visitation room was expanded, and a four car garage built. The entire building underwent remodeling. In 1998, a new office and visitation room were added to front of the funeral home building and in 2002, an onsite cremation facility was added to help better serve their families, at which time we became DBA Stephens Funeral Home and Crematory.
In February 1995, the Stephens' son Shayne joined the family business.
Our goal is to provide a compassionate full service funeral home for the area. We provide a full range of services to include out-of-state transport, prearrangement options, and on-premise cremations. We are a family business, and strive to provide for the needs of our clients as we would for our own family, and to make this time of the loss of a loved one as easy to bear as possible.
Ranny was a 1966 graduate of Timmonsville High School, and a 1970 graduate of Simmons School of Embalming and Mortuary Science in Syracuse, NY. He was a decorated United States Army veteran of the Viet Nam War. Ranny had been in the funeral service serving Clarendon County and surrounding areas for four decades, the first nine and a half years with Shelley-Brunson in Manning; then opening his own funeral home, Stephens Funeral Home, Inc. on March 6, 1980. He was retired Clarendon County Coroner, having served in that capacity for twenty years. Ranny was a licensed funeral director, embalmer and preneed specialist. He was diagnosed with stage 4 small cell lung cancer in December of 2010, and entered eternal rest on April 15, 2011.
Pam is a 1969 honor graduate of Interlaken High School in Interlaken, NY, attended Hobart College in Geneva, NY, earning college credits when she was a high school senior, and a 1970 graduate of Powelson Business Institute in Syracuse, NY. Pam is a licensed funeral director #SC2279, and a member of Manning First Baptist Church. She and Ranny have three children, Phillip Shayne (Kitty) Stephens, Randi Lyn (Chip) Jackson, and Ranny I. (Kristi) Stephens, Jr., and grandchildren, Shaw, Shayne Jr., and Bennett Stephens, Mary Margaret, Catie, Byrnes and Austin Jackson, Anna Rose and Ruby Lee Stephens.
Shayne was raised in Manning. He is a 1989 graduate of Manning High School, a 1993 graduate of The Citadel, and a 1995 graduate of Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service. Shayne was selected to the North-South football team, and was a team member of the Manning High School State Championship team, as well as the Citadel Southern Conference Championship Team. He is married to Kitty Eadon Stephens. They have three children, Shaw, Shayne, and Bennett. Shayne is a licensed funeral director (SC License #2318), embalmer (SC License #1797), preneed specialist, and a Clarendon County Summary Court Judge. In February 2011, plans were set in motion for Shayne to become owner and manager of Stephens Funeral Home and Crematory. He now proudly carries on the family tradition of funeral service.