![]() “The positive feedback started pouring in. “When word got out that a new funeral home was opening, people stopped in right in the middle of the remodeling, just to see what was happening and to express their support,” Johnson said. Even the doorknobs and brass trim were removed and polished by a local restorer, Jim Stockdill of Whistle Stop Antiques. Although operating on a limited budget, the partners resisted temptations to “cut corners on the project because we knew we had to have a top-notch facility right off the bat,” Johnson said. The building required minimal remodeling, and the interior was completely repainted and recarpeted. With only minor changes, for example, the former sanctuary became both a visitation room and a beautiful chapel for services. Both recognized the building’s potential as a mortuary. “This building was the piece of the puzzle that made it all fit, made it easier to leave our jobs, because we knew we had a beautiful facility.” Johnson said. It was originally built as a Christian Science Reading Room 60 years ago and its tall circular spire is a familiar landmark along the lake. ![]() “We faced not only a huge financial risk, but the risk of not having public support,” she said.ĭespite the legal complications and the uncertainties associated with any new venture Maureen said she and Johnson formed a partnership and bought the former Assembly of God Church because “we felt there was a need for a locally owned funeral home in town.” The availability of the quaint, Colonial-style brick church, which faces Ward Park and Lake Sisseton, “made the decision a lot easier,” Johnson said. Olson, the only funeral home in town since 1979, “had a wonderful reputation for many, many years,” Maureen said, and the partners realized this magnified their challenge. It’s a “forbidden subject,” according to Johnson and Maureen, who turns aside the speculation by saying her husband “really enjoys the banking business.” Nonetheless, provisions of the non-compete document block Dennis Boro from even advising his wife or Johnson on the fledgling enterprise. Johnson and Deb Gerdts, who’s lived in Fairmont for a dozen years and worked briefly for Olson, are Lakeview’s licensed funeral directors.Ī non-compete contract with Prime Succession restricts any participation by Dennis Boro, but there’s widespread speculation in Fairmont that he’ll join Lakeview when the contract expires in 2000. Maureen, who has a degree in therapeutic recreation from Minnesota State University, Mankato, resigned as recreation director of the Lutheran Retirement Home in Truman to serve as Lakeview’s office manager. She stepped into the funeral business about the same time her husband stepped out. His partner happens to be Maureen Boro, wife of Dennis. ![]() What Johnson put together was the conversion of a former church building, just down the street from Olson, into Lakeview Funeral Home, which opened in January of 1998. “There were some sleepless nights when we were putting this together,” he said. Johnson, a funeral director at Olson since 1992, left at the same time, but decided to compete with his former employer. He’s now Director of Business Development at Bank Midwest in Fairmont, which has four other banks in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. The Loewen Group, a funeral home consolidator based in Canada, holds a 21.8 percent interest in Prime Succession.īoro, who became a funeral director at Olson in 1974 when it was a family-owned business, simply changed careers. In 1995 Prime Succession was sold again, this time to the venture capitalist Blackstone Group in New York. Olson, founded in 1936, was sold to Prime in 1992. It even happens in small towns like Fairmont, where late in 1997, Dennis Boro and Daron Johnson parted company with Olson Funeral Home, one of 162 funeral homes owned by Prime Succession, Inc. While these defections usually come from the ranks of giants like IBM or Pillsbury, smaller corporations and rural America aren’t immune to the sudden departure of employees who tire of their corporate culture. A Locally Owned Business Provides Strength for Fairmontĭespite steady paychecks, good benefits and sometimes lavish perks, Corporate America continues to lose key employees willing to gamble their security and bet on themselves.
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