The Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium announced last month, according to this article in The Manchester Link, that they had purchased the Ker Westerlund Funeral Home which has served the Brattleboro, Vermont, area for more than 150 years.  The Phaneuf family of operations also includes the Cremation Society of New Hampshire and this location will be the company’s first foray into Vermont.

The Ker Westerlund Funeral Home has already been branded Ker Phaneuf and according to “Buddy” Phaneuf, President and CEO of Phaneuf Funeral Homes and Crematorium, “The addition of Ker Westerlund to the Phaneuf family provides us the ability to expand the quality of service we provide to our community members across the state of New Hampshire and now into southern Vermont.”

The article from the Manchester Link mentions that the Phaneuf business serves more than 2,000 New Hampshire families each year and this expansion into Vermont will provide accommodations to families in the communities of Hinsdale, Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Winchester and Vermont communities of West Halifax, Marlboro and Putney.

In 2016 Phaneuf was named one of the Top Family Businesses in New Hampshire by Business New Hampshire Magazine and was the recipient of the Achievement of Excellence award by the Granite State Quality Council.

Funeral Director Daily take:  This announcement certainly reinforces what we have said for some time — that larger funeral homes will continue to play a major role in the acquisition of smaller funeral homes by expanding their geographic market range.  New Hampshire and Vermont are two of the highest percentage cremation states in the country – both over 70% by 2017 statistics – so, in our opinion, this move to capture more revenue by the Phaneuf family of businesses, while keeping expenses in check, should add to their bottom line.

Here is a map of cremation percentage by states (2013 statistics).

[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]