Two men aim to open a funeral home in Lake Forest by the end of 2015 or early 2016.
Eli Turnbough said that he and business partner Chad Reuland have signed a letter of intent to lease 1407 N. Western Ave., the former location of Forever Om Yoga. They plan to name the business Reuland & Turnbough.
Both partners attended Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Wheeling and both previously worked at Wenban Funeral Home in Lake Forest.
Reuland & Turnbough will offer planning, caskets, urns and headstones. Cremation will be contracted outside Lake Forest. Preparation of bodies will also be contracted out off site.
The space will not have a visitation chapel.
“Seventy percent of families planning funerals don’t need a large funeral home and the overhead that comes with it,” Turnbough said. “We will do visitation at a church or someone’s home.”
That also means no funeral processions or large groups of mourners near the business, added Turnbough.
The size of a funeral home and whether it includes a visitation chapel depends on the community where it’s located said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association headquartered in Brookfield, Wisc.
“Some communities that might not be as religious … there is still a need for large funeral homes where visitation or even services themselves can be held in the funeral home,” Koth said. “Other communities that are still very religious, the families might be more likely to have visitation or funeral services right at their place of worship.”
The number of funeral homes in the United States has been shrinking for at least the last decade. In 2004, there were 21,528 funeral homes according to the website of the National Funeral Directors Association. In 2014 that was down to 19,391.
“The death rate has been declining,” said Koth. “People are living longer.”
But she said that trend would likely change.
“We’re right now on the precipice of the profession growing because of the aging baby boomer generation.”
The City of Lake Forest has issued a building permit for the space although the plan commission still needs to approve a special-use permit before the business can open. Turnbough hopes to schedule the hearing for the special-use permit in December.
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