Daniel R. Patch, Jr., is the second generation of his family to operate one of Waukegan’s oldest businesses, Peterson & Patch Funeral Home, and he is making an effort to move it into the future.
Started as Marr, Reed & Co., Undertakers and Furniture, in 1865, F.I. Peterson became an owner in 1922, and his name remained with the business ever since, despite his retirement in 1949, according to the published company history.
Patch’s father, Daniel R. Patch, Sr., began working at the funeral home in 1967, became an owner in 1978, and changed the game to Peterson & Patch in 1995, a year after his son joined the business. He died in 2017.
Always located in downtown Waukegan, Peterson & Patch moved to its current location at 408 North Sheridan Road in 1919. Built in 1875 and now a historic landmark, it still “lends itself well to serve families in their time of need,” according to the company website.
Peterson & Patch continues to evolve as it installed a crematory in early May at its Sheridan Road location in Waukegan, adding to the company’s depth of services as the industry continues to evolve.
“I’m very proud of the way we have kept moving with the times,” Patch said. “We have found different ways to serve the population. We are all bilingual now.”
Though Patch said the funeral home has offered cremation services for a long time, installing a crematory in Waukegan rather than continuing to outsource it elsewhere allows the funeral home to offer services in one place.
More people continue to choose cremation over burial. Patch said it is a continuing trend — 62% of funerals in the United States involve cremations and by 2045, it is expected to grow to 82%.
Samantha Rossi, a business associate with Peterson & Patch, said she is proud to work at a 160-year-old business, one of the oldest in Waukegan. Keeping up with the times it the best way for the company to move forward.
“With our crematory, we will be prepared for the next 160 years,” Rossi said.
One thing that has not changed with the funeral business over the past 160 years and will likely remain unchanged is serving people in a time of distress and need. Patch said it is a skill developed over time.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Patch said. “It’s part of the business and it becomes natural. We know we are dealing with people when they are in a time of need.”
“We are there for the family,” Rossi added. “We have to put ourselves into their shoes and try to help them with the hardest part of their life.”
Recognizing that people suffer a loss when a pet dies, Patch said in 2016, the company purchased the house immediately north of the Sheridan Road location and named it Life After Fetch — a crematory for pets. People come from all parts of Lake County as well as southern Wisconsin.
“We want to be helpful with all transitions,” Patch said.
One of the longest-standing businesses in Waukegan, Peterson & Patch is also involved with one of the oldest business relationships in the city — getting flowers from Larsen Florist. Katie Larsen, the fifth generation of her family to run the company, said it likely dates to the 1930s when the family added flowers to their farming venture. The company started in 1874.
“As far back as I can remember, we helped we helped the family with services,” Larsen said. “When kids take over family businesses, they tend to extend relationships with other family businesses.”
Larsen and Patch were schoolmates at Waukegan High School, graduating a year apart.
Peterson & Patch is actually Waukegan’s second oldest business. Ty Rohrer, the cultural affairs manager for the Waukegan Park District and its historian, said C.R. and R. Steele, Bankers, was established in 1852, eventually becoming Associated Bank under different ownership. Patch said there is a relationship there, too.
More Top Picks Best Water Filter
“I remember the Steeles,” Patch said. “We’ve buried members of their family.”