Douglas & Johnson Funeral Home | Obituaries (2024)

FAQs

Who is the largest owner of funeral homes? ›

Service Corporation International is proud to be North America's leading provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services. Since 1962, SCI has been serving families during their most difficult, personal and challenging times.

Three large corporations now own 15% of the 23,000 homes in the funeral home industry. Service Corporation International (SCI), based in Houston, is the largest of the three, followed by Loewen Group Inc., based in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia, and Stewart Enterprises Inc., based in New Orleans.

Bynes-Royall Funeral Home is the oldest African American funeral home in the United States. The institution dates back to 1878, when Major William H. Royall was employed by a white-owned funeral home in Savannah. This funeral home, like so many at the time, did not serve the African American community.

Upon his death in 1965, two of his sons, Doug and Rick, followed their father's footsteps into the business. When Rick died in 1984, Doug Porter became President and sole owner of the Company.

Casket. A casket is often the most expensive item that factors into the average funeral cost.

Sale of Casket: Funeral homes also sell caskets to make money. The sale of caskets happens to be one of the most profitable ventures that funeral homes engage in. Usually, they make the caskets necessary for each family. And to say the least, the coffins are priced to make a profit.

The Addams family doesn't actually exist, but the Blumberg family in Dresden, Ontario, comes pretty close! The family behind the Discovery+ show We Bought a Funeral Home have shown the world their spooky side, turning an old funeral home into an incredible work of art.

The funeral director is generally the person who owns and operates the funeral home. They oversee the logistics of the entire end-of-life process, and they're also the person who runs a funeral service. Common funeral director duties include: Filing paperwork.

This American tradition of hosting funerals in the family parlor is the genesis of the term “funeral parlor.” In more wealthy homes, a false (death) door was place off the parlor. It led outside to remove a deceased family member.

What is the oldest human cremation? ›

The first evidence of cremation in the archaeological record dates to 20,000 B.C. in Mungo Lake, Australia. In the Middle East and Europe, there is evidence of cremation as early as the Neolithic period (9500 B.C).

The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi. Clear evidence of a rectangular wooden coffin was found in Tomb 152 in an early Banpo site. The Banpo coffin belongs to a four-year-old girl; it measures 1.4 m (4.6 ft) by 0.55 m (1.8 ft) and 3–9 cm thick.

You may find it surprising that less than 80% of funeral homes in the U.S. are privately owned by families, individuals or small chains. Even more surprising is that more than 20% of all funeral homes in the country are owned by large corporations.

Service Corporation International (SCI) is the largest funeral home company in the world, with a network of over 2,000 locations across the United States and Canada.

A chronicle of the lives of a dysfunctional family who run an independent funeral home in Los Angeles.

As with any business, owning a funeral home can be profitable, provided you practice good business habits. Death care is also considered a recession-proof profession, as funeral home spending remains relatively constant even during times of economic downturn.

Service Corp. International owns more funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories than any other company in North America. At last count, the company operates 1,254 funeral service locations and 372 cemeteries in 43 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Germany.

Batesville, a former subsidiary of Hillenbrand, Inc., has a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality caskets and funeral products. More recently, the Batesville Casket Company, a leading manufacturer of caskets, has been acquired by LongRange Capital. This acquisition from Hillenbrand Inc.