Our History

Our funeral home was established in 1921 when W. Harry Christy moved to Sioux City and opened a funeral home in the Morningside area. Mr. Christy operated the funeral home until 1961, during which time he also opened a second funeral home located on the west side of town.

In 1961, Sherman Larson purchased the funeral homes and operated them until he retired in 1983. In 1983, Terry Smith and Scott Hockenberry purchased the funeral homes from Mr. Larson. Many additions were added to the building during this time to provide a large, modern facility for the community. Mr. Smith and Mr. Hockenberry were also able to purchase the McCulloch Funeral Home in Moville, Iowa, in 1988, and the Berkemier Funeral Home in Sioux City in 1996. The west side location was closed when the Berkemier location was purchased. In 2007 the Berkemier Chapel was completely remodeled. New selection rooms were added and the chapel has been completely redone.

In 1998, Mr. Smith acquired the entire business and became the sole owner. The name has changed through the years, starting with W. Harry Christy Funeral Home; to Christy Funeral Home, to Christy, Smith and Hockenberry Funeral Homes, to the present name of Christy-Smith Funeral Homes. The year 2006 has provided us with another area of expansion when the Larkin Northside Funeral Home was acquired. This allows us to provide all of our services to other neighborhoods in our city.

In 2000, we opened the Family Resource Center in a building adjacent to the funeral home. The resource center is a facility with many modules providing ideas and products for families to help them plan their funeral as a true remembrance service for their loved one. We have an extensive lending library located in this building consisting of a collection of books and audio tapes on death, bereavement and other losses. The resource center also houses our community room where families are able to have funeral lunches after their service; the room is also available to the community for a wide variety of uses.

In 2002, we opened the Christy-Smith Crematory to provide another service to our community and to be of service to the funeral directors in the surrounding area. In 2003, we purchased property adjacent to the funeral home to provide much needed parking for both facilities. 

In 2012, Daniel Eckhoff purchased the business in its entirety from Mr. Terry Smith, after having worked at the funeral home for 14 years.. Dan was the sole owner/president until 2016 when he married Kelly Hines-Eckhoff. Now together they operate all the Christy-Smith locations.