Lynsi's Local Beat: Nailing it - Albany craftsman builds wooden coffins with character
By Lynsi Perry Musselman
From six-foot bungalow to bone box, the many euphemisms for coffins are just ways to ease the thought of our mortality and those of our loved ones. The type of final resting vessel, regardless the name, has evolved through history due to religious customs and cultural traditions. Due to the Industrial Revolution and the advancement of embalming, the use of wooden coffins shifted to steel. However, Albany native and 1960 graduate of Albany High School, Jim Nobles, has a passion to craft and offer pine, cedar, and mesquite wood coffins for the newly departed.
Retiring in 2001, Nobles and his wife Sandra moved back to his hometown after spending most of his adult life in upstate New York. He spent these years operating a cash register and other computerized business machines company. Far from the trade of computerized machines, Nobles was also a lifelong carpenter and wood worker. After retirement, Nobles began doing odd jobs and in 2003 made his first wooden casket out of pine and lined with a quilt.
Only selling to funeral homes, his high quality wooden caskets can be found all over the state. Although, he can put individuals in contact with funeral homes to help with the process of picking out one of his creations. He makes standard sizes and can customize to fit any measurements. He also makes cremation urns but said the Chinese have pretty much put him out of business on these items because of pricing.
Most years you can find Nobles at the Farm Show in Abilene showcasing all the options he offers. He recently has started inlaying the mesquite wood with an epoxy for a dramatic look, which has increased sales, he added. Nobles said a lot of ranchers want to be buried in mesquite as a way of getting even with the tree after fighting them their whole lives. He also offers branding for the outside of the container.
“Someone came to brand one under my carport but they caught the wood on fire so I had to clean it up a bit,” laughed Nobles.
He explained that the cedar caskets he makes are not finished on the inside so they hold the cedar smell, which is extremely important. Egyptians even used cedar oil to embalm their dead and some researchers have reported that the smell helps with a better sleep, which seems apropos.
As far as the linings of each casket, he typically uses denim for the men. His mother was quilter so he likes to use quilts for the ladies. He explains he can use just about any type of fabric to line the inside of his caskets.
“I even had a request for a confederate flag, which was extremely difficult to locate one of these flags,” explained Nobles.
He reports that there are just about two to three other wooden casket makers in the state that also sell to funeral homes. Local wood workers have and can make wooden caskets as well. Jim Tom George made the wooden casket that holds rancher Watt Matthews, that is also lined with a quilt made by Matthews’ mother.
Nobles’ sense of humor and attitude towards death and the dead has changed a lot over the years. He said he used to could not be in the same room with a dead body but now he views them the same as being just a “stick.” Nobles said if he was younger he would not mind owning a funeral home. “The business is really interesting,” said Nobles. He did mention he sold half as many caskets last year as he did the year before because of the rising price of funerals in general, making cremation more popular.
Caskets are not his only specialty. In fact, he made the mesquite wood desk I took my notes on when interviewing him on Sunday afternoon. He has made and donated wooden cabinets to churches, and even made the wooden furniture for the Shackelford County jail. Talk about a variety of people enjoying his work; the dead, congregants and the criminally challenged.
Nobles took me on an impressive tour of his office, shop, storage facility, and through the grounds around his house. The wood smell, tidiness, and organization of these spaces were alluring. He even showed off his agility by getting in one of his caskets.
“My wife asked that when I die that I could be working on a casket and could just fall right in” chuckled Nobles. He said she just wants to avoid the hauling fee which is the most expensive part of dying. Until that day; when Nobles is not working you can find him on his daily walks with friend, Larry Bell, or soaking in his hot tub on his and his wife’s beautifully cultivated back porch.
