Our History

The Mitchell-Auxter Funeral Home began as J.R. Beard Funeral Home, a store-front operation on West Buckeye Street under the direction of Mr. Jesse Beard. Mr. B.V. Mitchell, a basketball stand-out from Bellevue, got his embalmer’s and funeral director’s license from the Columbus Embalming School in Columbus, Ohio after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University. He then came to Clyde and began working at the J.R. Beard Funeral Home. After Mr. Beard’s death in 1931, Mr. Mitchell purchased the funeral home and it was renamed, Mitchell Funeral Home. After WWII, Walter Auxter served his apprenticeship with Mr. Mitchell and then went to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. Walter returned to Clyde and worked with Mr. Mitchell after he graduated from Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. In 1961 Walter bought the funeral home from Mitchell and it became Mitchell-Auxter Funeral Home. Walter’s son, Dean, graduated from Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science, served his apprenticeship in Warren, Ohio, and returned to Clyde to work with his father in 1977. Dean and Melinda (Huston) were married in 1980 and expanded the business to include monuments, working with Maumee Valley Rock of Ages. Then, in 1984, Melinda obtained her funeral director’s license. Dean and Melinda purchased the funeral home from Walter in 1989. In 1999, after seeing the need for a family owned and operated funeral home in Bellevue, the Auxter-Groff Funeral Home was opened. In 2000, the Auxters ended their partnership with the Groffs on good terms, and the funeral home is now the Auxter Funeral Home. Both funeral homes are still proudly family owned and operated.