Heartland Funeral and Cremation Services

Benny M. Allcorn

Owner/Funeral Director
Benny was raised in the Talpa area and began his career at Henderson Funeral Home in Santa Anna and Coleman.  Following his graduation from Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science, he worked at J. E. Stevens Funeral Home in Coleman.  He opened Colonial Funeral Home in Brady in 1981.  He later worked at Shannon Funeral Homes in Ft. Worth prior to moving back to Early to open Heartland Funeral Home in 1993.  He is also the pastor of Emanuel Chapel United Methodist Church in Brownwood.  He has one son, Julio “Trey” Allcorn-Reyes who is a student at Angelo State University and works for the funeral home part time.

Clarine Kellam

Owner/Funeral Director
Clarine began her career at Starbuck’s Funeral Home in Merkle.  Following her apprenticeship, she accepted a job with Davis-Morris Fueral Home in Brownwood.  She later accepted a job with Heartland Funeral Home becoming the Assistant Manager.  She served as Manager for a period of time prior to returning to Davis-Morris as Manager.  When the opportunity to purchase Heartland Funeral Home arose, she quickly made the decision to return to a family-owned and operated business where her personal values and goals could be met in meeting families needs. Clarine is married to Ronny, retired USAF,and has three sons, Ron, Jeffrey & Jason all who served or is serving in the military.

Ronny Kellam

Owner/Maintenance Supervisor & Transportation Director
Ronny is the husband of Clarine and works to keep the building and grounds in immaculate shape.  He has done extensive landscaping and remodeling on the building.  He is also in charge of the transportation services and travels all over the state doing the funeral home’s transportation.  He is constantly looking for ways to improve the facilities and keep the vehicles in excellent shape. Ronny can reset your current headstone or clean it for you. He is know setting all our new headstones.

Ed Bessent

Business Operations Manager
Ed has 12 years experience in the funeral home business and manages the daily business operations of the funeral home including accounts, insurance claims, and benefits.  He graduated from Amarillo College Mortuary Science as a licensed funeral director.  

Donna Faglie

Family Service Counselor
Donna serves as the family services coordinator for the funeral home and assists families with special needs.  She assists them in writing the obituaries, making contacts, planning and arranging for special services.  She also assists families in pre-arranging funerals and planning alternative services that meet individual needs.  She is a licensed agent for Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company.  Donna also assists on most funeral services as a Funeral Assistant and helps the families after the service in the healing process and aftercare.

Mary Chris Ragsdale

Funeral Service Counselor & Director of Monument Services
Mary Chris Ragsdale also assists families in pre-planning funeral services and is the director of Monument Services.  She is associated with Memorial Monuments as an agent and helps families design a monument that defines their individual lifestyle.  She also works in Community Relations and is involved in many community activities.

Chick Eoff

Funeral Assistant and Public Relations Representative
Chick has over 25 years experience in the funeral home business and is very well known in the Central Texas area.  He assists on funerals and attends many of the communities events as an ambassador and representative of the funeral home.

David Griffin

Funeral Service Assistant

David Griffin serves as a funeral assistant and helps with VA and Insurance Claims.  He is from Lampasas where he was associated with the Briggs-Gamel Funeral Home and also the Davis-Morris Funeral Home in Brownwood. 

Roy Jones

Funeral Assistant/Receptionist

Roy serves as a funeral assistant and also as the night receptionist.  He formerly was the choir director for Brownwood Middle School and also worked as an LVN at the Comanche County Medical Center.  He currently also serves as the pianist at Calvary Baptist Church and also for the funeral home.

David Twiford

Funeral Director/Manager of Comanche

David was born and raised in Brownwood, graduating from Brownwood High School in 1965 and Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama in 1987. He returned to the area after retiring from the Army Air Force Exchange Service in 1996 and built, along with his wife Deborah Daniel Twiford, a country home near Goldthwaite. 

David began his funeral service career in 1999 at Brownwood’s Davis-Morris Funeral Home with the first four years there spent doing transport work along with Deb. As the work environment and personnel changed so did David’s duties and participation in the funeral service. David felt that he was being lead to work more closely with families and began pursuing the licensing requirements to become a Funeral Director. He attended mortuary school at Amarillo College in 2005 and received his Texas Funeral Director’s License in April 2006.

David began working part time for Heartland Funeral Home in May of 2009 and became full time in November that year. He works primarily at the Comanche location and manages the daily operations. David’s interest for the Comanche location has grown as he has come to meet and know the people there. David can still be seen in the Early-Brownwood area as he fills in there during expanded work requirements.

Carolyn Smith

Funeral Assistant

Carolyn was raised in the Gustine area and graduated from Gustine High School. She attended Ranger Junior College in Brownwood fro one semester on Nursing Home Administration. She worked several positions at Comanche Hospital and Flannery Blackwood Clinic, the most recent being in administration for 14 enjoyable years. Carolyn retired from Saint Gafain, formally known as Norton Co., after 23 years of service. She joined Heartland Funeral Home of Comanche in March of 2007. Carolyn assists with funeral services, hosts family visitations, and conducts general office duties. Her knowledge of the people of the area and friendliness to the clients is a great asset to Heartland Funeral Home.

Deb Twiford

Funeral Assistant

Deb (Daniel) was born and raised in Brownwood, graduating from Brownwood High School in 1967 and received her Certificate as Paralegal from the Huntingdon College/Jones Law School in Montgomery, Alabama in 1982. After graduating from high school, Deb moved to Dallas with her husband David in 1967. They moved several times with his job in the Department of Defense going to Munich Germany, Montgomery Alabama, and Dallas Texas before returning to this area in 1996. Deb and David have one daughter, Amy Lea, who lives in Dallas. Deb has various duties at the funeral home, helping with funeral services, transportation, and general office work. Her delightful voice greets callers with an eager desire to help and inform.

Mattie Woolsey

Funeral Assistant

Mattie is a native of Comanche and graduated from its high school. She has worked several jobs, all service related fields; one, for 36 years, was with the local television cable company. Mattie left the cable company when satellite service came to town but did not stay at home long because she missed daily contact with the public. She went to work for a local bank and enjoyed it very much but had to leave to care for her husband who passed away in 2008 after an eight year illness. Once again she felt the need to be useful and took a part time job with Heartland Funeral Home in Comanche. Mattie's positive outlook and friendly personality makes a delightful day for work at the funeral home.She does general office duties, helps with funerals, and is most valuable with her knowledge of the town, county, and the many people we serve.