Grafton and Park River, N.D., have lost a funeral home.
Tollefson Funeral Home has purchased Barnes Family Funeral Homes. The sale was effective Friday.
Tollefson, owned by Michael and Michelle Such, is based in Grafton. It also has funeral chapels in Park River and Edinburg.
All calls to the Barnes funeral home are being directed to Tollefson.
"We're answering 'Funeral Home,' for now, until people know what happened, so they don't get confused," Michelle Such said today.
ADVERTISEMENT
Barnes Family Funeral Homes operated the Henriksen-Kamrowski Chapel in Grafton and the Henriksen-Overbye Chapel in Park River.
"We bought the business, not the real estate," Such said.
That means the two chapels will be empty, at least temporarily. Terry and Mary Henriksen were the most recent owners, along with Glenn Ward, who lives in New York. The Henriksens were not available for comment today.
Such said the Henriksens and Ward plan to list the property for sale.
Barnes Family Funeral Service had been in business for more than 75 years, operated by the families of B.A. Kamrowski, Harold Kamrowski, Martin Nygard, Dick Overbye, Conrad Barnes and Terry Henriksen, according to its Web site.
Barnes, who owned the Park River-based funeral home for a few years, recently moved to Northwood, N.D., where he is working with Bilden Funeral Home.
Mike Such started his funeral career in 1984 with Barnes Family Funeral Service, then known as Overbye Funeral Home. The Such family bought the Tollefson Funeral Home in 1997.
"People shouldn't see any changes," Such said. "We're going to continue to operate just the way we have been. We've been in Grafton for almost 25 years."
ADVERTISEMENT
Their son, Patrick, is enrolled at University of Minnesota, where he will earn a degree in mortuary science. He plans to return to Grafton to work with his parents after graduation, in 2010.
"We would like to thank Glenn Ward and Terry Henriksen for this opportunity and wish them well in their future endeavors," Mike Such said.
Reach Bonham at (701) 780-1110; (800) 477-6572, ext. 110; or send e-mail to kbon-ham@gfherald.com .
