Prominent businessman Embry dies

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 10:45 a.m.

Bill Embry loved to wear his Stetson hat, boots and Helldorado belt buckle, but he was no urban cowboy -- he was the real thing.

As a youngster, Embry rode the wide open ranges of Mesquite and watched his uncles compete in rodeos. As a longtime Las Vegas bail bondsman, he would not hesitate to do his own bounty hunting for a client who skipped town on him.

A one-time exalted ruler of Elks Lodge 1468, Embry proudly rode on fine steeds in many Elks Helldorado parades. But, friends and family say, his trail sadly came to an end all too soon.

William Decalb Embry Jr., who pioneered the low-cost funeral industry in Southern Nevada 15 years ago by founding the Nevada Cremation and Burial Society, has died. He was 61.

Embry, the son of three-term Nevada Assemblyman William Embry Sr., died of an apparent heart attack Sunday at the University Medical Center.

Services for the 56-year Southern Nevada resident were today at First Congregational Church on Eastern Avenue. Nevada Cremation and Burial Society handled the arrangements.

"Bill saw a need in the community for people who wanted reasonably priced funeral services, which resulted in other mortuaries patterning their business after his," said JoAnne Embry, his daughter-in-law.

Bill's son Mark, JoAnne's husband, remembered his father as a kind man who took in kids from broken homes and helped raise them.

"Roberto Abascal came from Central America, and my father welcomed him into our home, gave him a job, got him his first car and signed paperwork that got him a credit card," Mark said. "Today, Roberto works at a local hotel. But if my dad did not help him, I'm sure things would not have worked out so well."

Bill Embry once had thoughts of following in the footsteps of his father, who had served in the Assembly in 1949, '53 and '55. But he lost in a bid for Assembly District 12 to Jack Schofield in 1972.

Bill, who stood 5-foot-10 and weighed 230 pounds, operated Bill Embry Bail Bonds in the 1960s and '70s near where the Fitzgerald hotel-casino now stands. His father had started the business in the 1950s.

After selling the bail bond business, Bill started his funeral service in 1982.

Born in a California community on the U.S.-Mexican border, Bill and his family moved to Mesquite when he was 6. They later moved to Las Vegas, settling on a patch of desert land in the southern part of the valley.

"As a boy, my husband delivered newspapers on a burro," said Virginia Embry, who met Bill on a blind date when she was 14 and he was 17. They married two years later.

"His father said our marriage wouldn't last six months, but it lasted 42 years."

The two were avid collectors of antique bottles, some dating back as far as the 1700s. The Embrys traveled the country to show off their impressive collection.

Never drifting far from his cowboy roots, Bill spent much time in the great outdoors, going fishing and hunting and taking his family to many of the state's ghost towns.

He enjoyed collecting ghost town tokens, which in their day could be used to purchase such diverse items as a loaf of bread from the general store to the services of a prostitute at a bordello.

Bill practically grew up at the Elks lodge. While his father played poker at the facility, young Bill would sleep on the couch. As a member, Bill climbed through the ranks, becoming exalted ruler in 1976-77.

He also served as Helldorado parade chairman. So dedicated was Embry to that task, he went to the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, Calif., to study how floats were made.

In addition to his wife and son, both of Henderson, Embry is survived by two other sons, Jeffrey Embry and his wife Barbara of Las Vegas, and Timothy Embry of Armagosa Valley; a daughter, Jennifer Rainey and her husband Robert of Las Vegas; his mother, Gertrude Embry of Lake Isabella, Calif; a brother, Las Vegas attorney Ted Embry; and five grandchildren, Jeffrey, Victoria, Jesse, Ashley and Nicole.

The family also listed as survivors Embry's mother-in-law, Audrey Meek; a brother-in-law, Leroy Meek; and eight other children he helped raise or otherwise greatly influence: Abascal, John Haddad, Rob Anselmo, Jennifer Davis, Wendy Ortiz, Jeff Long, Lolly Smith and Valerie Levine.

DONATIONS: In Embry's memory to the National Bottle Museum, 76 Milton Ave., Ballston Spa, NY 12020.