Leading the Way in Funeral Service Excellence

NFDA-member funeral homes earn Pursuit of Excellence Award for outstanding service to families, communities

Brookfield, Wis. – The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) is pleased to announce the names of the 146 funeral homes that have earned a 2011 Pursuit of ExcellenceÆ Award. The Award is given out annually to firms that have demonstrated a commitment to raising the bar on funeral service excellence by adhering to strict ethical and professional standards and providing outstanding service to families and communities.

To earn an NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award, a participating funeral home must meet or exceed business standards set forth by the program and demonstrate proficiency in key areas the funeral service, such as compliance with state and federal regulations; providing ongoing education and professional development opportunities for staff; offering outstanding programs and resources to bereaved families; maintaining an active level of involvement within the community; participating and actively serving in the funeral service profession; and promoting funeral home services through a variety of marketing, advertising and public relations programs. Participants are also required to adhere to a Pledge of Ethical Practices.

More information about the NFDA Pursuit of Excellence program can be found by visiting http://www.nfda.org/pursuitofexcellence.

Award recipients will be honored on October 24 at the All-Star Recognition Ceremony and Reception during the 2011 NFDA International Convention & Expo. The 2011 NFDA Convention, which is being held in conjunction with the Cremation Association of North America, will take place October 23-26 in Chicago.

The complete list of 2011 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award recipients can be found at the end of this news release.

Four Pursuit of Excellence Award Recipients Recognized with “Best of the Best”

In addition to receiving the 2011 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award, four funeral homes received the Best of the Best Award in recognition of their development and execution of an innovative program or service that had a positive impact on the families and communities they served this year. The 2011 Best of the Best honorees are:

Arlington Memorial Chapels & Crematory, Manila, Philippines
Coston Funeral Homes Inc., Pittsburgh, Penn.
Paul-McBride Funeral Chapel, Norwood, Minn.
Spencer Family Funeral Home, Athens, Mich.

Five Firms Inducted into NFDA Hall of Excellence

Created to recognize long-standing participation in the Pursuit of Excellence program and a consistent display of service excellence, NFDA-member funeral homes are inducted into the Hall of Excellence upon receiving their 10th Pursuit of Excellence Award. The 2011 NFDA Hall of Excellence inductees are:

Baird Funeral Home, Troy, Ohio
Dodd & Reed Funeral Home, Webster Springs, W.Va.
Spencer Family Funeral Home, Athens, Mich.
Waller Funeral Home, Oxford, Miss.
Wappner Funeral Directors and Crematory, Mansfield, Ohio

2011 NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award Recipients

A.H. Peters Funeral Home of Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Directors, Troy, Mich.
A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home, Decatur, Ga.
Adair Funeral Home, Tucson, Ariz.
Anderson-Burris Funeral Home & Crematory, Enid, Okla.
Arlington Memorial Chapels and Crematory, Manila, Philippines
Arnett & Steele Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Pineville, Ky.
Arrington Funeral Directors, Jackson, Tenn.
Aspen Mortuaries, Lakewood, Colo.
Baird Funeral Home, Troy, Ohio
Ballard-Durand Funeral & Cremation Services, White Plains, N.Y.
Bartolomeo & Perotto Funeral Home, Inc., Rochester, N.Y.
Bayliff & Son Funeral Home Inc., Cridersville, Ohio
Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals, Tifton, Ga.
Branch Funeral Home, Smithtown, N.Y.
Brandon G. Thompson Funeral Home, Hammond, La.
Bring Funeral Home Inc., Tucson, Ariz.
Burritt Hill Funeral Home, New Britain, Conn.
Caldwell & Cowan Funeral Home Inc., Covington, Ga.
Cannon Cleveland Funeral Directors, McDonough, Ga.
Carlson Funeral Service Inc., Rhinelander, Wis.
Carmon Community Funeral Homes, Windsor, Conn.
Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral & Cremation Service Inc., Alliance, Ohio
Clark Family Funeral Chapel, Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Cobb Funeral Home, Blytheville, Ark.
Coston Funeral Homes Inc., Pittsburgh, Penn.
Cottonwood Memorial Mortuary, Holladay, Utah
Cozean Memorial Chapel, Farmington, Mo.
Cozine Memorial Group, Wichita, Kan.
Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home, Lowellville, Ohio
D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, East Hartford, Conn.
D’Esopo Funeral Chapel, Wethersfield, Conn.
David C. Brown Funeral Home, Belleville, Mich.
Davis Funeral Home, Nashua, N.H.
DeMoney-Grimes Countryside Park Funeral Home, Columbia City, Ind.
Deseret Memorial Mortuary, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Dobratz-Hantge Funeral Chapel, Hutchinson, Minn.
Dodd & Reed Funeral Home, Webster Springs, W.Va.
Dwayne R. Spence Funeral Home, Pickerington, Ohio
E. Blake Collins Funeral Home, Wilkes Barre, Penn.
Eggers Funeral Home & Crematory Inc., Chesnee, S.C.
Emmanuel Johnson Funeral Home, Philadelphia, Penn.
Enea Family Funeral Homes of the Mohawk Valley, Herkimer, N.Y.
Erlewein Mortuary, Greenfield, Ind.
Evergreen Mortuary, Cemetery & Crematory, Tucson, Ariz.
Fellows-Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home PA, Easton, Md.
Fitzgerald Funeral Home & Crematory, Rockford, Ill.
Freitag-Reeves and Baskerville Funeral Home, Wilmington, Ill.
Freitas Rupracht Funeral Home, Yerington, Nev.
French, Lawson-Miller & Schoppenhorst Funeral Homes, Brazil, Ind.
Gamble Funeral Service, Savannah, Ga.
Gardinier Funeral Home Inc., Franklin, Penn.
Geisen Funeral Cremation & Reception Centre, Crown Point, Ind.
Glende-Nilson Funeral Home, Fergus Falls, Minn.
Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Homes, Lansing, Mich.
Gunderson Funeral Home & Crematory, Madison, Wis.
Hansen-Lendman Funeral Home, Kenosha, Wis.
Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home, Fargo, N.D.
Henderson Funeral Home Ltd., Pekin, Ill.
Heritage Funeral Chapel, Peoria, Ariz.
Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory, Spokane, Wash.
Heritage Funeral Home, Nipawin, SK, Canada
Higgins-Reardon Funeral Home, Youngstown, Ohio
Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, Cookeville, Tenn.
Howard K. Hill Funeral Services, New Haven, Conn.
Hughes-Hantge Funeral Chapel, Hector, Minn.
Johnson-Hagglund Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Litchfield, Minn.
Jones and Son Funeral Home, Richton, Miss.
Jones-Wynn Funeral Home, Douglas Chapel, Douglasville, Ga.
Jones-Wynn Funeral Home, Villa Rica Chapel, Villa Rica, Ga.
Joseph Vertin & Sons Funeral Home, Breckenridge, Minn.
Kapinos-Mazur Funeral Home and Cremation with Confidence by Kapinos-Mazur, Ludlow, Mass.
Kerrville Funeral Home, Kerrville, Texas
Kilpatrick Funeral Homes, West Monroe, La.
Lake Hills Memorial Mortuary, Sandy, Utah
Lancaster-Morgan Funeral Home, Caribou, Maine
Larrison Mortuary Ltd, Pratt, Ks.
Lentz Funeral Home, Algona, Iowa
Lippert-Olson Funeral Home, Sheboygan, Wis.
Lynch & Sons Funeral Directors, Clawson, Mich.
Lynch & Sons Funeral Directors, Milford, Mich.
Martin Funeral Home-Fairgrove, Fairgrove, Mich.
Martin Funeral Home-Vassar, Vassar, Mich.
Mattson Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Forest Lake, Minn.
Memorial Funeral Home, Edinburg, Texas
Memorial Funeral Home, San Juan, Texas
Memorial Mortuary, Salt Lake City, Utah
Miles T. Martin Funeral Home, Mount Morris, Mich.
Milward Funeral & Cremation Service, Lexington, Ky.
Moloney Funeral Homes, Central Islip, N.Y.
Moore Funeral Home, Brazil, Ind.
Morman Funeral Home, Wakeman, Ohio
Mountain View Mortuary & Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah
Myers Mortuary-Brigham City, Brigham City, Utah
Myers Mortuary-Layton, Layton, Utah
Myers Mortuary-Ogden, Ogden, Utah
Myers Roy Mortuary, Roy, Utah
Newington Memorial Funeral Home, Newington, Conn.
Ochiltree Funeral Service & Aftercare, Winterset, Iowa
Panebaker Funeral Home, Hanover, Penn.
Patrick T. Lanigan Funeral Home, East Pittsburgh, Penn.
Paul-McBride Funeral Chapel, Norwood, Minn.
Pray Funeral Home, Charlotte, Mich.
Preston-Hanley Funeral Homes & Crematory, Pekin, Ill.
Proko Funeral Home & Crematory, Kenosha, Wis.
Redwood Memorial Mortuary & Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah
Reeves Funeral Homes Ltd., Coal City, Ill.
Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Traverse City, Mich.
Robertaccio Funeral Home Inc., Patchogue, N.Y.
Roland Funeral Service, Atlantic, Iowa
Roller Funeral Home, Mountain Home, Ark.
Roller-Ballard Funeral Home, Benton, Ark.
Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, Little Rock, Ark.
Roller-Crouch Funeral Home, Batesville, Ark.
Roller-Daniel Funeral Home, Searcy, Ark.
Roller-McNutt Funeral Home, Conway, Ark.
Roller-Owens Funeral Home, North Little Rock, Ark.
Rose Mortuary Broadway Chapel/Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel, Knoxville, Tenn.
Routsong Funeral Home Inc., Kettering, Ohio
Sanderson Funeral Home Carthage Chapel, Carthage, Tenn.
Schrader Funeral Home and Crematory, Ballwin, Mo.
Sharer-Stirling-Skivolocke Funeral Home, Alliance, Ohio
Shuler Funeral Home, Hendersonville, N.C.
Smith Family Mortuaries, Derby, Kan.
Southern Utah Mortuary, Cedar City, Utah
Spencer Family Funeral Home, Athens, Mich.
Staab Polk Memorial Home and Cremation Services of Central Illinois, Chatham, Ill.
Strode Funeral Home Inc., Stillwater, Okla.
Tetrick Funeral Home Riverside Chapel, Elizabethton, Tenn.
Thomas McAfee Funeral Home – Downtown Chapel, Greenville, S.C.
Thomas McAfee Funeral Home Northwest Chapel, Greenville, S.C.
Tom M. Wages Funeral Service LLC, Lawrenceville, Ga.
Tom M. Wages Funeral Service LLC, Snellville, Ga.
Twiford Funeral Homes LLC, Memorial Chapel, Elizabeth City, N.C.
Uht Funeral Home, Westland, Mich.
W. E. Pegues Funeral Directors, Tupelo, Miss.
Waid Funeral Home, Merrill, Wis.
Waller Funeral Home, Oxford, Miss.
Wappner Funeral Directors and Crematory, Mansfield, Ohio
Weeks’ Enumclaw Funeral Home, Enumclaw, Wash.
Weeks’ Funeral Home, Buckley, Wash.
Whitaker Funeral Home Inc., Newberry, S.C.
Wm. Sullivan & Son Funeral Home, Royal Oak, Mich.
Wm. Sullivan & Son Funeral Home, Utica, Utica, Mich.
Wonderly Horvath Hanes Funeral Home & Crematory, Fremont, Ohio
Worlein Funeral Home, Austin, Minn.

NFDA is the world’s leading funeral service association, serving 18,500 individual members who represent more than 9,900 funeral homes in the United States and 43 countries around the world. From its headquarters in Brookfield, Wis., and its Advocacy Division office in Washington, D.C., NFDA is the worldwide source of expertise and professional resources for all facets of funeral service. Through education, information and advocacy, NFDA is dedicated to supporting members in their mission to provide families with meaningful end-of-life services at the highest levels of excellence and integrity. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.