10/04/2026
History of Steversons Quality Monuments
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We would like to take a little time to share with all of you how we got started.
It all began over 50 Years ago when my Daddy Jerry Lee Steverson Sr (Pictured on Left) bought the Vault & Monument Business from my Uncle Talmadge Polk & his brother Paul Polk.
The year was 1970 and my Daddy started up McRae Burial Vault & Monument Co which was well known in the community for over 25 years.
I began working with my daddy on funerals and doing Monument work at the ripe age of 10 years old. This continued all through my pre-teen and teenage years until I turned 17 years old.
I then began working after school and on weekends at the Vault plant as we called it then.
In the late summer of 1996 my daddy offered me a full time job running and managing the Vault company which I did until the early summer of 1997 sometimes working 7 days a week 5am until we were finished each day.
Also that year (1997) daddy told me something that totally surprised me.
He told me he planned on getting out of the Vault business which is a highly demanding all weather business and just keep the Monument business.
So in the late summer of 1997 after 28 very successful years the Vault company was sold.
Daddy then sent me to tech school and from the fall of 1997 until late 1999 I was in tech school. However we continued dabbling in the Monument Business for a few people and family members until 2005 when daddys health began declining.
He had already retired from his day job in 2001 and now due to his health he was forced to fully retire.
I remember him looking at me and saying son go find you something else to do besides this Monument and Vault work. Go find something different and just stay away from this type of industry.
So trying to please my daddy I spent the next several years doing other things, working other jobs and etc.
But to be honest I truly missed the monument work, not the Vault business just the monument side of things.
I kept that to myself but deep down inside I was hoping and praying that I would one day be able to do Monument work again because once its in your blood it is there for good.
As time went on and things progressed all was going pretty well.
Unfortunately the late summer of 2009 my strong daddy went home to be with Jesus after a very courageous battle with cancer.
To continue the story:
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After daddy passed away in 2009 nothing seemed or felt the same but I continued on working and trying my best to honor his wishes.
I ended up full time in the cow business for the next several years.
One day sometime in 2012 I received a call from a lady in Atlanta and wanted to know was I the man she had bought a monument from over 30 years before.
I told her no ma'am that was most likely my daddy Jerry Lee Steverson Sr and that everybody that knew him called him Snowball which was his nickname.
She said yes that's it, she went on explain to me how daddy had been so nice, caring and helpful to her all those years before.
Keep in mind that he never told me about this lady.
She then asked me did I do monument work and I said I would be glad to try and help her.
I said ma'am are you sure that you are willing to trust me a young man whom you have never met.
She said yes and if your are only half the man your daddy was then I know everything will turn out right.
She also said besides that i have already spoken with them at the funeral home there in McRae and they said they knew you.
They also told me you would do a excellent job for me and for me not to be concerned.
Of course after that we were able to get her monument done for her.
Keep in mind this is the very first one I had done without my daddy being there to guide and help me, I honestly was not even officially in the monument business at the time.
As time went on after that i continued selling a few Monuments especially to the ones that my daddy had done business with in the past, from 2012- 2017.
So I believe you can see that even though daddy didn't want me doing this type of work, the Lord had other plans and used the Legacy my daddy had built over many many years of honest, dependable, trustworthy, and reliable monument sales and service to open the door for me.
A little later on in 2017 the owners of Jeff Davis Monument Co asked me to come on board with them.
So if you might not have noticed up to this point you can clearly see that the Lord had begun to answer my prayers about getting back in the Monument Business.
In the spring of 2017 I began working as Sales Manager for McRae Monument Co which was owned by Jeff Davis Monument Co right back on the same land where McRae Burial Vault once was, right back at the place i started at 10 years old, right where a powerful and solid foundation had already been laid for me.
I thought to myself how good God is to bring me back where I first started from but with more knowledge and wisdom to do what He had for me to do there.
I worked there from 2017-2019 when they decided to shut down McRae Monument Co and move the Monuments back to Hazlehurst.
So after much time in prayer and seeking the Lord about it, He allowed me to start up Steversons Quality Monuments in the late summer of 2019 with only one condition if you will.
He spoke to my heart and told me that if He allowed me to be in the Monument Business that i could never turn down or refuse any job, no matter the circumstance.
I have stuck with that from the beginning and will continue too until my dying breath.
I have now been in the Monument Business as Owner/ Senior Salesman for over 9 years and I still throughly enjoy it as much if not more than I did all those years ago.
And to top it off as if things couldn't get any better I had another significant change to happen with Steversons Quality Monuments in 2026.
My best friend from childhood Wayne Selph ( Pictured with me on the right side) agreed to come on board as my partner in the business and also as the current Apprentice Salesman serving the Telfair Co area and surrounding communities.
As you can see this Journey like most Journeys has come full circle. It has been 56 years this year since my daddy first started out in this business and this year (2026) marks 39 years i have been around the Monument Industry.
I am so grateful and thankful to the Lord for blessing me with the ability and the know how to do this kind of work.
Wayne and I will continue to serve each and every family with dignity, honesty and compassion for as long as the Lord allows us to do it.
So I hope and pray you have enjoyed this story and also the journey of where we came from and how we ended up where we are today.
God bless you all.
Jerry Lee Steverson Jr
Steversons Quality Monuments:
Our Family serving your Family with Dignity, Honesty and Compassion
