Next week we will be commenting on how the public companies in Death Care have done over the 2024 2nd Quarter, but it is always good to be reminded that the individual owners and operators are the ones that truly drive funeral and cremation care. . . . .And, it’s good to be reminded that those operators are on the move also.

To round out the week we will tell you of some recent developments in family owned businesses. . . .First of all, according to the Perry (Iowa) News, this article points out that the Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home has added an additional location to its group with the purchase of the Hastings Funeral Home in Perry, Iowa.

It appears, according to this article, to be the 2nd purchase of a funeral home in Perry, Iowa, over the past 12 months for Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home and should help grow market share for them in the community.

Here is the website for Caldwell Parish Funeral Home and Crematory

Mohawk Valley Funerals and Cremations affiliates with Milestone Partners

A little bit farther to the east we have learned through this article from My Little Falls (NY) that Daniel Enea and his funeral home, Mohawk Valley Funerals and Cremations has affiliated with Milestone Partners, a funeral home, cemetery, and crematory ownership organization.

According to the article, “This exciting partnership will enable Dan and his team to offer an array of important services to the valley’s grieving families. Partnering with Milestone will allow Dan to add more options and give him access to a wide-spanning network of family funeral directors, which in turn will mean better service to the valley’s grieving families.”

Here is the website for Mohawk Valley Funerals and Cremations

Here is the website for Milestone Partners.

Funeral Director Daily take:  Many times those of us in funeral service think often of the large companies and what is happening with them. . . .such as the recent purchase of Park Lawn Corporation by a combination of an insurance company and a private equity firm.

However, it is small somewhat nationally obscure, but locally important articles like these that remind us that funeral service is truly a local business.  It also reminds us that while there is “big business” involved, there is also great opportunity for those who are smaller operators and want to enlarge their operations.

From my point of view we may be seeing much more consolidation going on in the near future with small funeral businesses.  I think the thought process of many younger workers not wanting to be in small towns combined with increased volumes of regional city operators, potential lower interest rates, and the idea that many small town operators are in retirement age will lead to opportunities for these regional city operators to “branch out” into the surrounding communities.

More news from the world of Death Care:

• The cost of dying:  Crowdfunding funerals, rising costs, and finding alternatives.  The New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
• The “Mortuary Assistant” is finally coming to consoles.  Eurogamer
• Leavitt Funeral Services names two employees as funeral director apprentices.  The Parkersburg News and Sentinel (WV)
• State Board fines funeral director $500 for videos and photos of corpses.  Iowa Capital Dispatch (IA)

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