Serving Humanity Better

Belk Funeral Home of Darlington, South Carolina was founded in 1961 by the late Marion C. Belk, Frankie Oliver Belk and Harold L. King. Marion took the vacant century old home, did an extensive rennovation, and opened in April 1961. Marion's son Sidney said, "I remember Daddy saying his first funeral in the old home was one of his biggest funerals. When he turned the corner a block down form the funeral home, bringing the family in, all he could see were people standing in the yard and his only thought was one of fear that the floor had fallen in."

Sidney, like many others in the funeral industry, is a second generation funeral director. Marion, his father, died suddenly in 1973 at the age of 46. At the time, Sidney was in his second year at Miami-Dade Junior College studying mortuary science. It was such a shock to lose his father. Sidney decided to come home and finish his education at Francis-Marion College so he could operate the family business with his mother. As Sidney was not yet a licensed funeral director, he hired John Dowling (now with Stoudenmire-Dowling Funeral Home), and later Fred Lentz (now associated with J. Henry Stuhr Funeral Home). Both of these men had a great influence on his decision to stay in the funeral business. "It was sure not the way I wanted to come into the business, but sometimes we have to make the best of a bad situation."