About Us

About Us

Black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit and patterned tie, smiling slightly at the camera.

Burriss E. Botkin began his career in funeral service in Otway, Ohio in 1950. He worked for the Freeman Funeral Home which was located within this rural Southern Ohio community. During his stay, he and his wife Ruth, and their children, Randy and Brenda, were humbled by the many friends and relationships that were formed with the residents of Otway and surrounding areas. Upon Mr. Freeman's death, Burriss decided to pursue his dream of owning and operating his own funeral home. He and his wife purchased the former Gregg Funeral Home which was located on Emmitt Ave.(U.S. Rt 23) in Waverly, Ohio and in 1957, the Botkin Funeral Home opened its doors to the public. Having lived in the Idaho community, Burriss now had the honor of serving the families of the Pike County area. This opportunity enabled he and his family to form many more wonderful friendships with the residents of the area. 

While working in Waverly, Burriss and his family continued to keep in touch with the many friends they had made while working in the Otway community. During that time, he felt the need and greatly wanted to be able to serve those families also. In 1964, he purchased a home that was located in the Village of Otway, just down the road from the original funeral home where he had found his start. With just a little renovation, the Botkin Funeral Home opened it's doors to the Otway location and began serving the families of Scioto County.

Burriss continued his work in funeral service until his death in 1980. At that time, Randy, who had been working along side his father since early childhood, was honored to step in to the position his father had held to continue the tradition and level of service that Burriss had been providing for so many years.

In 1988, in order to better serve the families of the Pike County area, plans were made for the relocation of the funeral home in Waverly. The move was complete in 1990 and the funeral home opened in its new and present location on E. North St. in Waverly.

In early 2014 Paul Hornback, a lifelong Pike County resident with over 36 years in funeral service fulfilled a long time dream when he became an owner of Botkin Funeral Home which is now Botkin Hornback Funeral Home LLC. Paul continued to provide a very caring and professional service along with full time licensed directors, Randy Botkin, Craig Dixon and Terry Grooms until 2018 when he unexpectedly passed away.

Since 2018 Paul's wife Jo has continued to operate the business in the same caring and compassionate way as her husband, and the Botkin family before them. Two new directors joined that same year as Paul's daughter, Aimee Smith, a lifelong Pike County resident and Erin Moser, a Scioto County native are continuing the excellent care your family deserves. With the change in time, comes a change to funeral service in general, and we want to make every effort to try to fulfill the needs and wishes of everyone at this most difficult time.