George H. Deaton founded the Deaton-Kennedy Company in 1928 as the G.H. Deaton Company. In time his son George, and later his grandson Bruce, would succeed him.

The production of household kitchen calendars was the primary source of business early on, but soon the G.H. Deaton Company would add farm calendars, lumber calendars, and bank calendars to the sales line. In the mid 1930s a religious calendar would be added as well.

Historically, it is common for the funeral director to supply the local churches with calendars. After dealing with his new funeral home clients for a short while, George H. Deaton became convinced that a more sophisticated form of visitation registration would be a desirable addition to the funeral service industry.

At the time, acknowledgements and prayer cards were in relatively common supply, but nothing more than an occasional sheaf of paper was available for registration at the wake service. The G.H. Deaton Company produced the first memorial record book, Treasured Memories in 1936.

Funeral supplies had come to rival calendars in production volume and a decision was made to concentrate on this area in order to maintain the best possible quality and service.

The company continued to manufacture calendars and funeral service products until 1969. At the end of that year, Deaton-Kennedy sold its last calendar rights and has specialized in the funeral supply business ever since.

George H. Deaton's grandson Bruce Deaton, who had begun to work for his father George after graduating from Northwestern University in 1968, was instrumental in running the company as CEO until his untimely death in 2001. Bruce's wife Margaret, who served for years as the Vice President of Operations, continues to run the company today.