Remi Tardif and Chester Dodgson took over at Chapel of Memories Funeral Home from Vern Weber (& Roger Winnicky) just over eight years ago. “It was a natural transition, as both Chester and I wanted to be Funeral Directors at a young age; are from the Peace; have extended family a little everywhere; enjoy conversing with people; spreading wellbeing by giving information” says Tardif.
“Partnerships that work very well are the exception, usually. One lesson I learned from my dad Ed’s forming partnership with his brother is when things are split evenly, fair is fair is fair.”
The pair and a dozen local staff handle funeral/memorial arrangements and burials/cremations for Peace Country families, stretching from Fox Creek to the NWT border and from Hondo to the B.C. border. “Our focus is to ensure that when someone dies, his/her family turns around after the funeral, and feel that the process was easy and simple, no matter the deceased’s wishes.”
While death is one of life’s certainties, funeral service is always changing and evolving to respond to someone’s individual wishes or his/her family’s requests for memorializing. “Fingerprint Jewelry (sometimes with cremated remains) is something families are asking for. Some people may have also seen the Funeral Ark; it really adds class with an urn.”
Chapel of Memories also celebrated the addition of an in-house crematorium earlier this spring. “All our cremations happen in Peace River now; no need to go to Grande Prairie anymore.”
Discussing death is sometimes not an easily-approached subject. Should you wish to have your wishes known, pre-arranging your services is beneficial and also locks in costs.
To enquire on anything, the phone is answered 24/7 by either Remi, Chester or an on-call director.