Ruth Ellen Vance
1938 – 2026
Retired teacherTaught fourth grade at Wheatland for thirty-one years. Visitation Friday, 5 to 7 p.m., at our chapel. Funeral Saturday at 11 a.m., Bellwood Methodist Church.
Hartwell & Sons
Funeral Home & Crematory, family owned since 1948
214 North Bridge Street, Bellwood
Serving Marshall County and the surrounding townships
Answered at every hour: (555) 000-0000
Obituaries
Those we are caring for
Every obituary we write lives here on our own site, where it can be shared with family anywhere and will stay for as long as we are in business.
Delmar J. Kowalczyk
1951 – 2026
U.S. Army, 1969 – 1973Graveside service Thursday at 2 p.m., Saint Anne Cemetery, with military honors.
Margaret A. Sutter
1944 – 2026
Memorial gifts requestedMemorial service Sunday at 3 p.m. at our chapel. Gifts in her memory to the Marshall County Library.
Also in our care
Know when a notice is posted
We will email you once, on the morning we publish a new obituary, with the name and the service times. Nothing else is ever sent to this list, and one click takes you off it.
If a death has just occurred
(555) 000-0000If the death was unexpected and hospice is not involved, call 911 first. If your loved one was under hospice care, call the hospice nurse first, then call us.
Or ask us to telephone you
If you would rather not make the call yourself, leave a number. Somebody is awake.
First
We come to you
Tell us where your loved one is. We will bring them into our care from a home, hospital or nursing facility, usually within two hours.
Then
Nothing is decided today
No arrangements need to be made tonight and no money changes hands. We will sit down with you the following day, at our place or yours.
When you come in
What to bring
A photo ID and Social Security number, and discharge papers if your loved one served. If you cannot find any of it, come anyway. We will help you track it down.
Our people
Who will answer
There are five of us and a dog. Whichever one picks up the telephone at two in the morning is the same one who will be standing beside you at the graveside.
Thomas R. Hartwell
Owner · Third generation
His grandfather opened on North Bridge Street in 1948 with one hearse and a rented room. Thomas took over in 1994, has served on the Marshall County coroner's advisory panel for twelve years, and still comes in for the six a.m. calls.
Andrea Hartwell-Boyce
Funeral director · Fourth generation
Thomas's daughter, and the one who is gradually taking the place over. She rebuilt the way this firm handles veterans' paperwork after her own grandfather's flag arrived four months late, and she now files it for every veteran the firm serves.
Dwight Ferrell
Funeral director · Crematory operator
Nineteen years here and the only one licensed to run the crematory, which is on this site rather than two counties away. He will sit down and explain, plainly and without hurrying, what actually happens during a cremation. Families ask. He answers.
Louise Pemberton
Office manager · Advance planning
Thirty-three years at the front desk, which makes her the voice most of Marshall County associates with this firm. She orders the certificates, handles the funeral trusts and the Medicaid spend‑down paperwork, and will drive out to your kitchen table.
Duchess
Comfort dog
A golden retriever, on staff since 2020 and very good at her job. She works the visitations and is particularly useful with children, who often have nobody to talk to and would rather sit on the floor anyway.
Our prices
What a funeral costs here
Most families are surprised that this page exists. We publish our prices because you should be able to know what something costs without making a phone call you are not ready to make.
Direct Cremation
Transfer into our care, cremation in our own crematory on site, and the return of your loved one in a simple urn. No service.
$1,750
Cremation with a Service
Everything above, with a visitation and a memorial service in our chapel or at your church, and printed folders for those who attend.
$3,395
Graveside Burial
Preparation, a casket from our selection room, transfer to the cemetery, and a service at the graveside.
$4,250
Traditional Funeral and Burial
Preparation, a casket, an evening visitation, a full service in our chapel or at your church, procession, and the committal at the cemetery.
$6,850
You have the right to choose only the goods and services you want. Our itemized General Price List shows every item separately and is available above, at our office, or by telephone. Cemetery charges, certified death certificates, obituary placement in the newspaper, and clergy honoraria are paid to others and billed to you at exactly what they cost us. Prices on this page were last updated in July 2026.
Cremation in Marshall County
Our crematory is on our own grounds
$1,750
Direct cremation, complete
See what is includedPlan ahead
Write it down once
Three questions now, and your family will not have to guess later. Nothing here is binding and nothing is paid. We will hold your wishes on file and send you a copy.
Spending down for Medicaid
Money set aside for a funeral is treated differently
Start the conversation
After the service
The part nobody warns you about
The paperwork outlasts the funeral by months. Here is what usually comes next, and where we still help.
Death certificates: how many you need
Every bank, life insurance company, pension plan, title office and utility that held something in your loved one's name will want a certified copy, and most will not give it back. We order them for you when we file the certificate. Families usually start with six to eight, and we can order more later.
Social Security
We report the death to Social Security for you as part of our service. That reporting does not apply for survivor benefits. A surviving spouse or child may be eligible for a one-time payment and, in some cases, ongoing monthly benefits, but you have to contact Social Security yourself to claim them. Do it sooner rather than later, since some benefits are not paid retroactively.
If your loved one was a veteran
Bring the discharge papers (form DD-214) if you can find them, and we will request a copy if you cannot. Eligible veterans may receive a burial flag, a government headstone or marker at no cost, and in some circumstances a burial allowance. Burial in a national or state veterans cemetery is also available to those who qualify. We file this paperwork for every veteran we serve.
Grief support in the county
A grief support group meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in our gathering room. There is no cost, no sign up, and you do not have to have used our funeral home to come. Coffee is on.
Grief support
You do not have to have used us
All of it is free and open to anyone in Marshall County, whether we handled the funeral or not. Grief does not check where the arrangements were made.
The Tuesday group
Second Tuesday of every month, half past six, in the gathering room at 214 North Bridge Street. No cost, no sign up, no obligation to say anything at all. Some people come for a year and some come once. Coffee is on from six.
Where to parkThe first sixty days
A short booklet we wrote ourselves, because the first two months are mostly paperwork and nobody warns you. What arrives in the mail, what has to be answered, and what can safely wait until spring. We will post you a copy or you can read it here.
Read it or have it postedWhen it is a child grieving
Children grieve in short bursts and often years later, which frightens parents who expect it to look like their own. What to say, what to avoid, whether to bring a child to a viewing, and the two counsellors in the county who specialise in it.
Read the guidanceCounsellors and groups nearby
A current list of grief counsellors, hospice bereavement programmes and faith based groups across Marshall County and the surrounding townships, including the ones for a lost spouse, a lost child, and for death by suicide or overdose. We take no referral fee.
See the listThe anniversary is harder than the funeral
If you would like it, we will telephone you once at about eleven months, before the first anniversary comes around. Most families say that is the week nobody remembers except them. Tell Louise at any time and she will put a note in the file, or take you off it.
Families we have served
In their words
★★★★★
They answered at four in the morning and Tom was at the house before the sun came up. I will never forget that.Rebecca L., Bellwood
★★★★★
We knew what everything cost before we sat down. After what my sister went through in another county, that was a relief.Daniel M., Corbin Township
★★★★★
They rang me at eleven months, before the first anniversary. Nobody else remembered that week.Anne S., Bellwood
Pay a bill
Settle an account online
Pay by cardPayments are handled by our card processor. We never see or store your card number, and a receipt is emailed to you the moment the payment clears.
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