New owners continue a Major local institution.Byline: BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT By Don Robinson Don Robinson can refer to different people:
The Major Family Funeral Home has been a Springfield institution since 1962. It originally carried the name of its founder, Lars Frederickson. In 1970, he sold the business to Don Major, who subsequently changed the name. Don sold the firm to Todd and Joy Slack in 2005, and they have chosen to retain the Major name. The Slacks previously had worked in Seaside Seaside. 1 City (1990 pop. 38,901), Monterey co., W Calif., on Monterey Bay, in a fruit region; founded 1887, inc. 1954. Its economy is based largely upon tourism. California State Univ. Monterey Bay is there, on the former site of Fort Ord. , where Todd's uncle operated funeral homes. The latest sale was unusual because in the past few decades many funeral homes around the country have been bought up by national corporations. Todd Slack says Don Major had bids for his Springfield business from a number of corporations and "could have made several thousand dollars more" by accepting one of those offers. But he purposely pur·pose·ly adv. With specific purpose. purposely Adverb on purpose USAGE: See at purposeful. Adv. 1. sought out buyers who would keep the operation local and independent. Slack says the Major Family Funeral Home is nearly unique in the Eugene-Springfield area in being both locally owned and a single-unit operation. Ironically, several Eugene funeral homes that at one point were parts of national chains are now run by a Eugene-based corporation that has become a local chain. The 6,500-square-foot Major building has occupied the same site since it was built in 1961, at the northeast corner of Mill and A streets. All on one level, it provides full accessibility for the disabled. The Slacks have remodeled much of the interior and intend to do more, but the basic layout remains the same. Four people make up the operating team operating team Surgery The participants–surgeons, nurses, etc–in a sterile surgical procedure performed under general–less commonly, local anesthesia today at the Major Family Funeral Home. They include co-owners Todd and Joy Slack, funeral director Henry Miller and family service counselor Jo Schechter. They pride themselves on providing a full range of services. "All the little things are taken care of," Miller says. "People come in here very distraught dis·traught adj. 1. Deeply agitated, as from emotional conflict. 2. Mad; insane. [Middle English, alteration of distract, past participle of distracten, and we take them through the maze maze, detail of landscape gardening based on the Greek labyrinth, consisting of intricate paths or alleys lined with high hedges and having a center and exit difficult to find. It was a prominent feature in the formal English gardens of the 17th and 18th cent. of deciding what they want to do for a memorial. "If a family wants personal attention, if they want the personal touches from another family that will treat them with respect, this is the place to come." Slack notes that in modern times many families "have moved apart, so all the family is not in one area any more. They are pretty well scattered Scattered Used for listed equity securities. Unconcentrated buy or sell interest. ." This geographic dispersal dis·per·sal n. The act or process of dispersing or the condition of being dispersed; distribution. Noun 1. dispersal has caused more people than in the past to decide against having a service when a family member dies. One way the Major home responds to this problem is by providing video recordings of memorial services to family members who can't attend. The company Web site describes a variety of alternatives for memorial services and related matters. But on average, Todd Slack said, a full-scale funeral with burial today costs about $6,000 while a cremation cremation, disposal of a corpse by fire. It is an ancient and widespread practice, second only to burial. It has been found among the chiefdoms of the Pacific Northwest, among Northern Athapascan bands in Alaska, and among Canadian cultural groups. with a celebration of life costs about half that much. A simple cremation without a service is $1,200 to $1,500. |
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