MOUNT VERNON – Nearly 40 years ago, J.P. Roberts had a vision.
Already in the cemetery business (he was the founder of cemeteries across multiple states, alongside his brother, Chester), the Wooster man decided he wanted make things easier for people during their most difficult times.
At the time, state laws prohibited common ownership of a cemetery and a funeral home. Roberts and his family worked with legislators to change that. By 1986, he had established the first funeral home/cemetery combination in Ohio (located in Wooster), as he became the founder of Roberts Funeral Home.
By combining the funeral home and cemetery, families could eliminate extra steps from the grieving process, making it both cost-effective and convenient to honor loved ones.
Standing in the back of a bustling new facility on Coshocton Avenue on Friday afternoon, J.P. Roberts’ youngest son, Alex, couldn’t help but smile. His father passed away in 2011, but his influence is still felt on days like this.
“My dad was just very innovative and was always looking for the next thing, the next way to serve families and be creative, and do things in a way that saves them money,” he said.
Now, it’s up to Alex Roberts to carry the torch.
Roberts is the president of Roberts Funeral Home, which owns five funeral home/cemetery locations across Ohio – the original in Wooster, Ashland, Wadsworth, Marietta, and now Mount Vernon. The Knox County Chamber of Commerce held the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday for the new facility, located at 18260 Coshocton Avenue.
Roberts Funeral Home will coincide with Memorial Gardens Cemetery, which is located on the same property and has been owned by the Roberts’ family company since 2000.
“We are really excited,” Roberts told the crowd gathered for the ceremony. “We’ve always been innovators in our industry, trying to serve families in very creative ways, and do what we can do to, in this case, help the folks of Knox County through one of the most difficult times of their lives. So we are honored to be here.”
The facility, which was built from the ground-up next to the cemetery, will serve as a “fully functioning funeral home,” funeral director Tom Cropp said.
“Our combination of being on cemetery grounds and offering Memorial Gardens gives us a lot of flexibility. (It’s) easy for doing burials here, but we’ll do burials anywhere in the area, as well as all cremation services,” said Cropp, who has lived in Knox County with his family for a year and a half.
Cropp became interested in the funeral industry at a young age after dealing with a loss of his own. His mother died when he was three years old, and he said his father used to talk to him about grief and loss. That led him to college, then mortuary school, and now being the director of a funeral home.
“I really fell in love with all aspects of helping people at the worst time of their life,” Cropp said.
The Mount Vernon funeral home location has been open approximately two weeks, and Cropp said the community “has been very positive and very excited about having another choice.” Roberts Funeral Home is the fourth funeral home in Mount Vernon.
Both Cropp and Roberts noted the importance of their industry as the county – and state – get older. According to a 2015 insight2050 report, which was a collaborative study done by economic planning entities across the state (including the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission), Central Ohio’s elderly population is expected to increase steadily over the next 20-30 years due to the aging of Baby Boomers.
The study indicated that nearly 80 percent of population growth between 1990 and 2010 in Central Ohio was among 35-64 year-olds. From 2010 to 2040, the study predicted that the same age bracket will decrease to 31 percent, while the ‘65 and older’ bracket will jump from 19 percent to 44 percent.
“Because of the aging Baby Boomer population, it’s going to be a very busy time for funeral homes across the nation,” Cropp said. “Every call is the most important one, every one. Every family is the most important family to us.”
Given that Roberts family has operated Memorial Gardens Cemetery for 18 years, Alex Roberts said Friday that Mount Vernon has always been a desired destination for the family business.
“We’ve been serving the community here for 18 years, and so it was just always on our list,” Roberts said. “We wanted to get to Mount Vernon, we wanted to get to Mount Vernon – and we’re just able to do it now.”
Roberts noted the similarities between Wooster, the site of the original location (and his hometown), and Mount Vernon, which made it an appealing destination. He also referenced the business side of the funeral industry, which is dependent on the number of burials administered per year and how many of those can be done through one’s own funeral home, and explained that expanding was a logical decision by those standards as well.
Ultimately, Roberts looks forward to offering Knox County residents an efficient alternative during the grieving process. By having the funeral home and cemetery on the same property, owned by the same company, Roberts said the outcome is often less work for the family involved.
“We know that in many situations, we have just a better way of doing things,” Roberts said. “Having a funeral home and cemetery together are extremely convenient for people. Instead of going downtown, having a funeral, and then driving out to the cemetery, everything can be done at one place, at one time.
“And same with the arrangements; you can go to the funeral home and make the funeral arrangements, you can go drive out to the cemetery, or you can do everything together. People like one-stop shopping. We’re not Wal-Mart, but it’s the Wal-Mart model. If you can get everything in one place, it’s more convenient for people.”
Roberts also talked about how cremation is rising in popularity, as research indicates that over 50 percent of bodies nationwide are now cremated. He said that 20 years ago, that percentage was in the 20s or 30s. Because of this trend, Roberts noted that his funeral home will offer a wealth of options for families during the funeral process.
“We have experience in helping families that choose cremation to realize that they have more options, other than just, ‘Get mom to the crematory and get the remains back,’” Roberts said. “You can have a viewing if that’s necessary, you can have just a private viewing for families. We can have a full service. And we try to give them so many options that they can pick and choose what they want.”
32 years after J.P. Roberts opened the first funeral home/cemetery combination in Ohio, his youngest son stood before a crowd of Knox County business leaders and community members on Friday as the company’s newest facility was honored. Alex has three brothers – Greg, Jeff and Kirk – who are also deeply involved in the family business. Now, Jarad – the son of Jeff – has entered into the company as well, extending the lineage to a third generation.
Friday represented a long-awaited ‘next step’ for the company, and Roberts excitedly led those in attendance around the funeral home after the ceremony, explaining their services and taking questions.
It became visibly clear that Mount Vernon is right where Roberts – and, by virtue, the family business – needed to be.
“We just have so much experience with our other locations, and Mount Vernon is just a perfect market. It’s a wonderful town,” Roberts said. “We just wanted to be here.”
