Waldo Ralph Arrington

© Enid News

01-10-1990

Submitted by: Jo Aguirre

December 6, 1924 - January 6, 1990

Horse-Drawn Hearse Gives Horseman His Final Ride

By Michael McNutt
Enid Bureau

Enid – Friends say Waldo "Bud" Arrington liked horses so much it was appropriate that a team of horses led him to his grave.

Family members followed through Tuesday on a provision in Arrington's will after he died during the weekend: to have his remains taken to the Cemetery in a horse – drawn hearse.

Arrington, who retired a year ago after working 39 years at Vance Air Force Base, was known for providing horse-drawn carriages for weddings, wagons for hayrides and stagecoaches for other events.

The Rev. Dick Goad, now of Oklahoma City but a longtime minister at Arrington's church here, said at the funeral service that Arrington often would drive 60 miles to enter a team and one of his horse-drawn vehicles in a parade.

A son, Darrel Arrington of Enid, said the family had a tough task of finding a horse-drawn hearse, locating one in Pretty Prairie, Kansas, about 50 miles west of Wichita.

It arrived Monday and some minor changes had to be made inside the black hearse to accommodate today's larger caskets, said Brian Hinson, co-owner of Henninger – Allen Funeral Home.

When the hearse was made in 1894, caskets were no longer than 6 feet, Hinson said. Those of today are 6 inches longer and wider.

A team of Arrington's albino quarter horses was hitched to the hearse and, for the most part, stood patiently for an hour outside the funeral home.

One reared as Arrington's casket was placed into the hearse, as if it knew it was about to embark on its last trip with the man friends said grew up with horses.

Motorists along US 81 slowed as the hearse made its way to Enid Memorial Cemetery north of town.

Hinson said this was the first time he had worked with a horse-drawn hearse in the 33 years he has been with the funeral home, but added quickly it was nothing new for his establishment.

"This is our 75th year," he said. "This is how we started out."

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