M.B. Kilmer Funeral Home - Argyle, NY

123 Main Street, Argyle, NY 12809

www.kilmerfuneralhome.com

Photo provided by Todd Kilmer.

M.B. Kilmer Funeral Home states on their website, “Our mission is to help a family honor their loved one, ease the burden of the loss and celebrate a life well-lived by sharing the memorable moments, experiences and relationships that defined that life with those who were part of it.”

One way they ease the burden for those in the community is to be a consistent place of comfort for nearly 90 years. Argyle, New York is a small rural village at the base of the Adirondacks. Most of the 3600 residents are farmers. Funeral home director Todd Kilmer knows many of them by name. His family has been of service to three generations.

Todd’s grandfather Maurice “Mo” Bristol Kilmer founded the funeral home in Argyle in 1927. In the 1920s, wakes and funerals were still being held in residents' private homes. Kilmer was a funeral director and also a storeowner.  He had a shop where he sold furniture and coffins (because many furniture stores of the time sold coffins). He turned the storefront into a gathering place for viewing the deceased in preparation for funerals.

Tragedy struck just three years later when, in 1930, that location burned to the ground, rendering the business a total loss.  Arson was suspected, but “Mo” was undaunted and moved the business into a building that was then addressed as 6401 Main Street. In 2005, when Argyle renumbered buildings for the village’s 911 system, the funeral home got the new address of 123 Main Street.

“Mo” handed down the business to his son, George. Todd, one of George’s six children, now oversees operations at the funeral home in Argyle as well as two other locations in the area: Fort Edward and South Glen Falls. Since the funeral business operates 24/7, the family tends to live close by. Until recently, Todd’s grandmother lived above the funeral home in Argyle. Todd resided above the Fort Edward location until they found they needed more office space. Todd’s nephew Kyle recently finished school and has taken the national boards to become a funeral director. He lives next door to the Fort Edward funeral home. Kyle will be the fourth generation to run the business.

“People appreciate what we do,” says Todd Kilmer. Many residents come in to do pre-planning of their funerals. “We see all the family dynamics…Death brings out the good and bad.” He says that families feel comfortable with them and know they can rely on them for anything they need during a difficult time.

Sometimes the need can be unique. “I have one woman who has pre-planned and she’s already told me she wants a laughing box on the kneeler; anyone that comes up to kneel sets off the laugh box.” Additionally, he has had requests from people who want to be involved, even if they cannot attend the funeral. “We just video taped a funeral the other day,” Todd remarked. And, in the age of the Internet, he is also looking into providing what some families have asked for: live streaming.

Weeks Funeral Home - Warsaw, NY

123 N. Main Street, Warsaw, NY 14569

www.weeksfuneral.com

Founded in 1919 by Harry Weeks, this funeral home, like so many funeral homes in the United States, was bought by a larger corporation. Then in October 2007, Brian Kaczmarek, former manager of that large firm, bought the funeral home and kept the original Weeks name. Funeral home corporations, Kaczmarek points out, “treat you like a number; it’s about the bottom line.” He didn’t like that people weren’t treated like human beings and wanted to bring back the personal touch and dignity to the business.

Located approximately 37 miles southeast of Buffalo and approximately 37 miles southwest of Rochester, Warsaw, New York is in Wyoming County. The area is changing; it was once a large industrial county with lumber, flour, cast iron and salt manufacturers, including the Worchester Salt plant. Worchester Salt later became the nucleus of the well-known Morton Salt Company.

Kaczmarek says there was a time when you could walk from the center of town to 30 different factories for work. These days, the poor economy and the high taxes have made creating and growing a business difficult. Many businesses left town. Many residents departed as well.

With nearly 100 years in business, Weeks remains steady. Sometimes the funeral home has to get creative because “people are spending less on funerals.” While Kaczmarek says people can “go anywhere to get a cremation done,” he focuses on “putting the family first.”

By giving attention to the requests of a family, at times he does things that may seem unusual. “I’ve had tents, kayaks and snowmobiles in the funeral home,” he says. He also set up a four-wheel monster mud truck on the front lawn as a memorial to a young motorcycle crash victim. “We try not to say ‘no’,” he conveys, “we’re not just about a cute picture at the side of the casket.”

When a family requested their mother be taken to the cemetery in a 150-year-old horse-drawn hearse, Kaczmarek made it happen.

Always on the clock and at the request of the community 24/7, Kaczmarek has been on the highway at auto accidents or in the home of a resident in the middle of the night. But he says, “When you really love what you do and your find your niche, you’re not just having to go to work.”