The local Black Church community is speaking out after learning that Nathan Bluitt Jr., general manager and former owner of Williams and Bluitt Funeral Home, has been removed from his post.
Ronald Covington Sr., pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and the founder and visionary of B.U.I.L.D (Believers United and Local Development), called the development a “travesty” and said he could already feel the pain of Bluitt’s absence.
“The entire community will be upset when this gets out,” Covington said. “This will hurt the community because Bluitt has not only been a huge blessing to the churches, but also to the community as a whole.”
Bluitt joined the staff of then-Williams Funeral Home in 1986 and purchased the business in December of 1992, changing its name to Williams and Bluitt. According to the business’ website, Williams and Bluitt employed 10 people and serviced 71 families in its first full year of business. Today, the funeral home employs approximately 60 part-time and full-time workers and serves roughly 500 families each year.
Bluitt sold the business in 2011 to the Wilson Financial Group, an established Black-owned funeral home acquisition firm owned by Gerald Wilson. With Wilson’s upcoming retirement, Service Corporation International will assume his role in the everyday management of Williams and Bluitt Funeral Home, which, apparently, they plan to do without Bluitt.
Bluitt has carved a deep niche in Indianapolis by servicing families in the Black community regardless of their financial means, and he has also been a strong supporter of the Black Church and numerous other community organizations. “There are very few people in the city of Indianapolis that have not been touched by Mr. Bluitt’s kindness,” said Pastor Ray S. Ware, leader of Eastside Baptist Church and past president of the Ministerial Alliance, which includes 100 churches in the city of Indianapolis.
Ware said he was shocked to hear about Bluitt’s removal, because “everyone knows Bluitt is the business.” Though Ware said Bluitt treated the funeral home more like a ministry than like a commercial venture.
“He is not in it to make money, but rather to help people,” Ware said. “The corporate world looks at individuals as numbers. Mr. Bluitt looks at people with names and hearts.”
Pastor Ware said the situation makes him think of the precariousness of a snow-capped mountain. “If one important piece is shifted, everything will fall apart causing an avalanche,” he said. “Mr. Bluitt is that important piece to Williams and Bluitt Funeral Home.”
Ware said that in addition to providing funerals for families who were unable to pay, Bluitt has also been a major financial supporter of the local Black Church.
Pastor Fitzhugh Lyons, leader of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Interdenominational Ministers Alliance, said the Black Church needs Bluitt’s support.
“Without the service of Mr. Bluitt, the Black Church will be at a severe handicap,” Lyons said.
Bluitt remains the sole proprietor of Bluitt and Son Funeral Home in Kokomo, Indiana, which was created in 1957 by his father.
Lyons said he has faith that God will come through, allowing Bluitt to continue his work in Indianapolis, but the court could also play a role. Bluitt has reportedly filed a suit against Wilson Financial Group to be able to sell the rights to the Bluitt and Son name to local investors looking to open a Bluitt and Son Funeral Home in Indianapolis.
Regardless of what the future holds, Covington said Bluitt has the support of local pastors who are rooting for his return to where “God has placed him.”
As of Recorder press time, Bluitt could not be reached for comment.
