Riffe Funeral Service was established in January, 1932 by the late Hedley L. Riffe and Claire T. Riffe, Jim's father and mother. Originally, they were in partnership with Clarence Ballard of Lindside, West Virginia. Riffe & Ballard maintained "undertaker parlors" at Narrows and Lindside. Ballard operated the Lindside firm until his death in 1939. After his death, his wife, Madge, continued to run the business at Lindside until 1944.

The funeral parlor in Narrows was first located at the corner of Hare and Main Streets until 1941, when Hedley and Claire purchased the Walt Pence property at the corner of Main and Northview Streets, the present location of the funeral home.

During the early years, most families had homemade coffins stored in barns and outbuildings on their farms. When a death occurred, a family member would send for the undertaker. He would then prepare the remains in the home, dress them, then lay them out in the living room of the home. Usually the funeral was held in the residence, and the remains placed in a wagon drawn by two horses to be taken to the cemetery for final burial. The first gas-powered funeral car, a Henny-Packard, arrived in 1940.

During the early years, telephones in rural Giles County were scarce. Because of this, a light was always left burning on the front porch of the funeral home at night so that when somebody came to tell of the death of a loved one he or she could simply ring the door bell.

Jim Riffe recalls that his bedroom was located near the upstairs door, and it was his job to turn the lights on downstairs and unlock the door for people while his father would dress at night. Usually some funeral arrangements were made on that first visit, but as Jim recalls, "When there was a death, my father would be gone for several days to handle a funeral because the roads were usually dirt." Coming back would sometimes take quite a long time, so he would stay with a family until the funeral was over.

Embalming was usually done in the home. At the time, most funeral homes hired a "trade embalmer" (one embalmer working for several firms) to prepare the remains.

Hedley Riffe died in February, 1959. Jim graduated in the fall of 1960 from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. Riffe's also operated ambulance service until 1969 when it, along with all Giles County funeral homes, discontinued the service due to new state laws.

Riffe Funeral Home was first remodeled in 1960, and a major expansion took place in 1977 when a new wing was built on the property next to the house. This new wing nearly doubled the size of the old funeral home, connecting our chapel (constructed in 1966) with the existing building.

Following the death of Claire Riffe in January, 1982, the firm changed its name to Riffe's Funeral Service, Inc.

In the Fall of 1999, Riffe's Funeral Service became the first funeral home in Virginia, west of Richmond, to install "Family Advisor," a computerized virtual selection room of caskets, vaults, urns, and urn vaults. This new system offered families a greater variety of merchandise to fit individual styles and budgets, without the emotional stress of choosing caskets in a traditional selection room. In June 2002, Riffe's became the first Giles County funeral home to launch a full-service web site, www.riffes.com, containing a page for obituaries and online condolences, helpful information about preplanning and prefunding, and community information. Because of these innovative approaches, Riffe's was named one of Aurora Casket Companies "Top 200 E-Business Funeral Homes" in 2003.

In December 2004, James Riffe, Jr. received his Virginia Funeral Service license, graduating from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. In May 2005, he became licensed in West Virginia.

Late in the hours of Friday, April 18th, 2008, Jim Sr., passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at his home. Upon his passing, James Jr. was named General Manager of the firm.

Presently, Riffe Funeral Service is a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, Virginia Funeral Directors Association, and the Blue Ridge Funeral Directors Association.