Hosea Knox, Chicago tombstone maker ‘Elmo,’ dies at 82
By CHARLES REX ARBOGAST
Associated Press
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Charles Rex Arbogast
Leon Brown, long time assistant to Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstone Service, works on the tombstone of the recently deceased Knox, on the South Side of Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, one day after Knox's funeral.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Tara Knox Stockdale slides her hands over the tombstone Leon Brown just made for his former boss, Tara's father, Hosea Knox, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in Chicago. "It becomes real again" said Stockdale about her father's recent passing.
Charles Rex Arbogast
FILE - In this June 7, 2020, file photo, the setting sun casts shadows across State Street on Elmo's Tombstone Service on the South Side of Chicago. "Be 4 You Go, See Elmo." That slogan coined by original Elmo's Tombstone Service owner, Robert Williams, graces the awning of the small shop later owned by Hosea Knox. For more than half a century it has remained the business's catchphrase.
Charles Rex Arbogast
FILE - In this May 28, 2020, file photo, Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstones, looks over a work order for the next tombstone to be made in his shop on the South Side of Chicago. Knox, 82, died on Sept. 5, 2021, serving the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Tara Knox Stockdale, left and her younger sister, Tawane Knox, right, attend to their father, Hosea Knox, at his funeral Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Chicago. The elder Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstones Service, served the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Timothy Stockdale, left, son-in-law of Hosea Knox, offers up the benediction at Knox's funeral as his sister in-law, Tawane Knox, right, is comforted by Bishop Lorenzo Johnson Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Chicago.
Charles Rex Arbogast
FILE - In this May 28, 2020, file photo, Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstone Service, cuts out the lettering on a stencil glued to a granite stone in his shop on Chicago's Southside. Knox, 82, died on Sept. 5, 2021, after serving the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years.
Charles Rex Arbogast
FILE - In this May 28, 2020, file photo, seen through plexiglass, Hosea Knox checks the precision of a sandblasted cut on the design of a new granite tombstone at his shop on Chicago's South Side. Knox, 82, died on Sept. 5, 2021, after serving the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Friends and family of Hosea Knox watch as his casket is lowered into a plot next to his wife, Bobby, Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at the Mount Hope Cemetery on the South Side of Chicago.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Leon Brown, right, long-time assistant to Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstone Service, checks the precision of a sandblasted cut on the tombstone for the recently deceased Knox, as Knox's daughter, Tara Knox Stockdale, watches on the South Side of Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, one day after Knox's funeral.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Wearing his trademark overalls, Hoses Knox, 82, proprietor of Elmo's Tombstones, lies in his casket for friends and family to pay their respects at his funeral Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, in Chicago. Knox, 82, who died on Sept. 5, 2021, served the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Leon Brown, long-time assistant to Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstone Service, spray paints the lettering on the tombstone for the recently-deceased Knox, on the South Side of Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, one day after Knox's funeral.
Charles Rex Arbogast
Tara Knox Stockdale is comforted by Leon Brown as she wipes a tear while looking over the tombstone Brown just made for his former boss, Tara's father, Hosea Knox, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021, in Chicago. "It becomes real again" said Stockdale about her father's recent passing.
Charles Rex Arbogast
FILE - In this June 10, 2020, file photo, Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's tombstone service, visits the grave of his wife, Bobbie, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, at the Mount Hope Cemetery, on Chicago's Southside. Hosea, 82, died Sept. 5, 2021, after serving the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years and was buried next to his wife.
Charles Rex Arbogast
In this June 10, 2020, file photo, Hosea Knox, owner of Elmo's Tombstone Service, points to where he will someday rest next to his wife, Bobbie, at the Mount Hope Cemetery on Chicago's Southside. Hosea, 82, died Sept. 5, 2021, serving the predominately Black community in their time of need for more than 33 years and was buried next to his wife.
CHICAGO (AP) — All Hosea Knox wanted was to own his own business.
For over 33 years, Knox was the proprietor of Elmo’s Tombstone Service, which he bought from his employer Robert Williams in 1987, on the South Side of Chicago. The catchphrase coined by Williams for the Black-owned shop was, “Be 4 You Go See Elmo.”
Knox, who continued making tombstones using his old-school methods during the pandemic, died Sept. 5 from complications of an intestinal infection, his family said. He was 82.
“We thank you Father God for this man’s business, for he helped so many in the Black community in their moment of need,” the Rev. Moses Williams said as he delivered the invocation at Knox’s Sept. 13 funeral. Friends and family paid tribute to him as he was laid to rest at Mount Hope Cemetery next to his wife, Bobby, who died in 2012 of cancer and whose tombstone was started by Knox.
Leon Brown, Knox’s assistant of 12 years, remembered that day.
“He (Knox) started it, but I had to finish it. He was overwhelmed,” Brown recalled as he worked on his boss and friend’s tombstone the day after the funeral.
Knox’s daughter Tara Knox Stockdale, who now co-owns the business with her sister, Tawane Knox, watched Brown as he crafted the blue pearl granite tombstone that read, “IN GOD’S CARE – HUSBAND – FATHER ‘ELMO’S’ HOSEA L. KNOX – APR 12 1939, SEPT 5 2021 GRANDFATHER.”
With the inscription, her father’s death “becomes real again,” Stockdale said through tears as she glided her hands over the rough and smooth sections of the finished tombstone.
Tawane Knox, the youngest of the two daughters and an elementary school principal in Chicago, recalled growing up and what her father taught them by living his life.
“He was a kind and generous person, a hard worker and he never complained. He always tried to help others along without judgment.” Knox said Friday. “Just because he had polio when he was a kid, he didn’t let it limit him in life.”
Hosea Knox did ponder making his own stone, telling The Associated Press last year that he’d “have to eventually do it.”
“I might put a little thing that says, ‘Elmo’s Tombstone Service’ on the bottom,” he said.
As Brown was nearing the end of his creation, he had to pause and clean a tool.
“If Mr. Knox was here, you know what he would say?” Brown asked with a smile. “Why didn’t you clean that earlier?”
