My mother's memorial on March 20, 2026 was completely destroyed all because of the overzealous,…read morerude, and wildly incompetent security guard who treated my family and guests like they were gangsters! The security guard groped my Elder family members, spoke to people in a condescending way, and rambled through women's purses as if they had weapons of mass destruction!
I brought the vile behavior of the guard to the attention of the owner, Mr. Kelvin Baucom, the day before the memorial because I went there to pick up my mother's remains and urn. He told me the guard's reckless behavior was a "training issue." Mind you, she was rude with me, just one person. That is relevant because the next day, the day of the memorial, the SAME guard who groped me was there and for my mother's memoriial. In other words, if she was horrible with me, one person, the previous day, WHY in the world would Mr. Baucom allow her to work during my mother's memorial with a large group of people? I asked him this, and, I swear to you, he said, "That's a good question." Really? How about giving me a good answer? He didn't!
I went to visit Mr. Baucom two times this week. The first was to ask if he had done two things that I recommended so patrons in the future would not be humiliated. One recommendation was a metal detector and the second was that he terminate the rude guard. He was happy to attempt to appease me by showing me he purchased a handheld metal detector, but when I asked if he terminated the guard - mind you, a SLEW of people wrote reviews on Google saying the same thing - he brushed me off and said, "It's an internal issue that we dealt with." He refused to tell me if the guard was trained, corrected, or even if he had a conversation with her. I mentioned to him SEVERAL times that my family just wanted him to assure us that he would use another guard. So, I made it VERY clear that termination was certainly acceptable AND warranted, at the very least, just use another guard since he contracts with a security firm. It is very important to add that Mr. Baucom ASKED me to give him recommendations! Why ask for my family's recommendation when you apparently had no intention of responding to our most significant recommendation?
Mr. Baucom EASILY could have made that happen, so it was NOT a financial issue because the security firm simply would send someone else in the future. I don't know why Mr. Baucom is protecting someone who is having a negative impact on his financial bottom line. Whatever the reason, my family and I never received ANY semblance of compassion and empathy for how we felt about the guard's behavior. To blow us off with an "It's an internal issue" was and is hurtful, insulting, and, of course, a horrific business practice. Remember, Mr. Baucom, people have choices and you are not the only funeral home in St. Louis. You must do better with your customers and show SOME level of compassion because if it were not for your customers, you would not be in business.
So, since he refused to offer a modicum of ANY empathy, I decided to draw some signs and protest outside the building just down the street. And guess what he did?! Even though I was in a public space at the corner of St. Cyr and Lewis & Clark, Mr. Baucom called the police on me! Read that again! I was PEACEFULLY protesting and NOT on his property but he called the police on me. Fortunately, Jennings Police officers did not do anything to stop me and reminded me I was within the rule of law. So, yesterday, when I asked Mr. Baucom why he called the police on me, he feebly played coy and NEVER took responsibility, only saying "Someone may have called" and after I pressed him on it, he said he did it because I threatened him! I sat there with a straight face and lied about that. Even more clueless, after a barrage of gaffes, he had the unmitigated gall to ask me if I would remove my review from Google and write a favorable review because, in his words, "Your review is making us look bad" to which I responded, "Sir, I am not doing anything to make your business look bad. You and your security guard have done that, NOT me!"
The moral of the story is, AVOID this establishment if you TRULY care about having your loved ones funeral done by a respectful staff. Mr. Baucom should be embarrassed for NEVER taking responsibility for lying about me being a threat. It is very obvious his business practices are, at best, questionable.
The facilities there are very nice, clean, etc., but Mr. Baucom and the security guard? HORRIBLE! I stand by EVERY word I have typed!
Regretful that I ever walked into Baucom's,
Dr. Becton