Valhalla-Gaerdner-Holten Funeral Home & Valhalla Gardens
Louis area. We also can assist in your time of need nationally and internationally.
Valhalla-Gaerdner-Holten Funeral Home and Valhalla Gardens of Memory serve families in the Belleville, Illinois area and throughout the Metro East and Greater St.
11/06/2025
Our team enjoyed a Veterans Seminar at Geno’s in Waterloo last evening. The chicken and pasta was yummy and Michael did a great job helping veterans understand what benefits the VA offers upon death. Every person who attended actually served our country last evening (not the spouse of a vet) ❤️🇺🇸❤️
We host seminars often to get educated on pre-planning your funeral and/or cemetery. It’s the best gift you can give your family! Please call us to learn more!
11/04/2025
The new Tranquility Garden has all of its options now! Our gorgeous columbarium was added yesterday as well as a cremation post. This one has an Angel topper. Please come see this new mixed use garden soon! You also get the chance to see so many granite color options.
11/02/2025
Thank you, Belleville Gear Jammers, for an amazing car cruise today! A gorgeous day with so many fabulous beauties and some incredible sounds today! Year 3 in the books! Let’s do it again next year!
11/02/2025
10/26/2025
See our new garden near the mausoleum? So pretty in the rain!
A great fall, chilly day but not the best day for a car cruise! Glad we moved it to next Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed for a rain free day!
10/22/2025
We love the work Sigman Heating & Cooling does for us to help get ready for the cold season!
10/19/2025
Trees and shrubs are pruned. Those unsightly piles of brush on the sides of our roads will be picked up this week.
We are still actively mowing, so please keep all decorations in the vase or we will remove them. Thank you! 🍁
10/04/2025
Please come join us at our first annual pet blessing!
10/03/2025
Our first Pet Blessing event on Saturday from 10-1! Please join us 🐶🐰🐱🐈⬛🐩❤️
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Valhalla-Gaerdner-Holten Funeral Home in Belleville, Illinois, was founded in September 1930 by Jefferson Bush (J.B.) Azbill. For over 85 years, we have remained dedicated to helping families plan funeral and cremation services that celebrate their loved ones, growing into the full-service funeral home we are today.
Early Years
The cemetery, which was originally known as Valhalla Burial Park, was the 1st memorial lawn burial park in southwestern Illinois. Development was made up of themed garden sections with spacious lots and walkways surrounded by various trees, bushes and flowers. Memorials were custom, decorative, flat bronze on concrete foundations to maintain a park-like setting.
Azbill passed away suddenly in 1936, after a short illness. His widow, Freda Azbill, took over management and development of the Belleville funeral home and cemetery. Freda remained active as president for 54 years until her death in 1990. Freda was responsible for producing and staging the Avenue of Flags in 1951.
Growing To Serve Families In Belleville
In 1959, the 1st section of the Valhalla Sanctuary Chapel of Memories Mausoleum was constructed. It included crypts and niches, was constructed of concrete for strength and included a beautiful custom stained-glass window made in Manheim, Germany. Several additions have been added over the years, including more stained-glass windows and statuary art from around the world.
As Valhalla Gardens of Memory grew, new garden sections were enhanced with beautiful full-size marble and bronze statues sculpted in Italy from the same quarries that artist Michelangelo used. One statue in particular, from the Garden of Ascension, was displayed during the 1964 World’s Fair in New York on its way to Belleville.
Local Family Tradition
David Evans, Freda Azbill’s grandson, who had joined the staff in 1978, took over management of the funeral home and cemetery park after her passing. He continued the construction of new sections, including an underground lawn crypt section, in-ground and above-ground cremation niche options, a crematorium and developed the Valhalla Garden Mausoleum, so families would have multiple choices for their final resting place.
In 1996, Valhalla-Gaerdner-Holten Funeral Home opened, offering families a wide range of funeral and cremation service options as well as memorialization choices and the convenience, if desired, of having the cemetery nearby.
Working together, everyone at Valhalla-Gaerdner-Holten Funeral Home and Valhalla Gardens of Memory is poised to continue our many decades of service to the greater Belleville and St. Clair County area.
