The funeral profession has a long, proud history of personal service
provided by generations of local families with deep roots in their
community. Today there are many funeral service providers to choose
from. What you may not know is that not all funeral homes are owned by
local families. While they may have been operating in your community
for years, and their names have not changed, some funeral homes have
sold out to national and even international conglomerates.
These funeral service conglomerates keep the original family name on
their businesses because they know that at your greatest time of need
you are more likely to turn to a local family you feel you can trust,
than to a national chain you know nothing about. They are large
corporations that are publicly traded on the stock exchange. This makes
them responsible to their stockholders and board of directors to
continually grow profits year after year, often to service the debt incurred upon purchase of the funeral home. It is not our claim that
these companies do not care about you, but as mandated by public
ownership they are responsible to their shareholders first. As a
result you end up paying
more money and receive less value for your funeral service.
As
a convenience to both the families we have served and those that are
considering selecting our funeral home, we are providing the following list
of such conglomerates and the funeral homes they are operating in the
Puget Sound area. Be informed, be aware and choose your funeral or cremation provider with care.
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NORTHSTAR MEMORIAL GROUP
Mountain View Funeral Home, Memorial Park & Crematory
All are now owned by Northstar Memorial Group from Houston, Texas. It is a privately held funeral/cemetery conglomerate that began operations in 2004 and is not yet listed on any stock exchange. SCI GROUP
Acacia,
American Burial & Cremation, Bauer, Bleitz, Brown, Evergreen, Faull-Stokes,
Forest Lawn, Greenwood, Jerns, Jerns-McKinney, Powers, Price-Helton, Purdy & Kerr with Dawson, Purdy & Walters,
Mills & Mills, Miller Woodlawn, Schaefer-Shipman, Snoqualmie Valley, Sticklin, Sunset
Hills, Vancouver, Weller, Woodlawn Abbey, Yarington's
All
are now owned by Service Corporation International from Houston,
Texas. It is the world's largest funeral/cemetery conglomerate chain
and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
STONE-MOR PARTNERS
Oakwood Hill, Piper-Morley-Mellinger
All
are now owned by StoneMor Partners LP from Bristol, Pennsylvania. It
is one of the largest companies in the death care industry and is
traded on the New York Stock Exchange. |
