Funeral Homes
It used to be that when a loved one died, the family would contact the undertaker and he would go to the home to embalm the body and place it in a casket. The body would be viewed in the parlor of the family home.
Some families didn’t like having the deceased loved one in the house, so the undertaker would offer his home as a place where the loved one could be viewed. As the popularity of this gained traction, the undertaker’s residence became known as the funeral home. In some parts of the country they became known as funeral parlors, reflecting the use of the parlor in the family home.
To this day, many funeral homes are still the residences of the funeral director. In fact, Joldersma & Klein is one such funeral home.
Our funeral home records go back to 1913, and in some of the records it is noted that the viewing was in “our home.”
Dan Adams, owner of Joldersma & Klein, along with his wife and three children live in a residence above the funeral home. It is also a residence for a dog and a cat.
Because Dan lives in the funeral home, there is someone here 24 hours a day. Dan often is responsible for handling the first call activity of the funeral home during the overnight hours.
So, if you ever see bicycles, skateboards, basketball backboards or anything else like this in our parking lot, you know why!
By the way, when families stopped using their parlor as a viewing place for their loved ones, those rooms suddenly became known as “living” rooms.
We are proud to welcome every family we serve into “our home.” We pride ourselves on our home-style hospitality. We strive to live by our mantra, “When you want to be treated like family.”