MANITOULIN—Simpson’s Funeral Home Inc. in Gore Bay and Island Funeral Home in Little Current have been under one ownership for a few of years now but have operated largely as separate entities. The Deforge family have recently taken ownership of both homes and plan to integrate operations more closely in the coming years—but they will still retain different names.
“Under the regulations they cannot have the same name,” explained Rodney Deforge, who is better known as the “Barney” of Little Current’s Barney’s Bargain Barn and founding pastor of Homeland Mission. “So, although they are both owned by the same company, they must have different names to avoid confusion.”
Mr. Deforge and his wife Lynnette joined forces with daughter Rachel to purchase the funeral home operations. Rachel Deforge is just completing her funeral home director certification. Mr. Deforge noted that it is important for people to realize that he is not engaged in the operation of the funeral homes. “I am not a funeral director, so legally I can’t be involved,” he said, adding that he and his wife’s interests lie in the pastoral area in any event. Both are also pulling back from their involvement in Barney’s Bargain Barn.
“We have great staff in place there now,” said Mr. Deforge, who said he is looking forward to concentrating on his ministry work, rather than business administration.
Daughter Rachel will step into the management role at Island Funeral Home once she has completed her certification and obtains her licence. “I am writing my final certification exam this month,” she shared.
Ms. Deforge is no stranger to Island Funeral Home having completed not one, but two co-op placements there while at Manitoulin Secondary School.
“I actually started when I was 15,” said Ms. Deforge. “I don’t think Gloria (Dickson, a previous owner of the funeral home) knew how young I was when I did the first placement.” That worked out well for Ms. Deforge as she found herself thrown into the embalming processes earlier than she might have otherwise.
Ms. Deforge found her vocation through those placements and quickly decided on that career path, but first came several years of study.
The two current funeral home directors at the Island funeral homes, Tammy Hanning and Jordan Moore, have several years of experience and will continue to provide the great service Island residents have come to expect from both sites. Former co-owner Stewart Simpson is staying on as manager of the Gore Bay funeral home, so there will be plenty of familiar faces and continuity at both operations despite the new ownership.
Mr. Deforge said he anticipates some slight reductions in fees at both homes going forward. “That will be good news for many, I think, given how expensive everything is these days,” he said.
“We are also looking at purchasing a hearse,” he said, noting that one of the concerns he had heard from people was that the funeral homes had started utilizing vans instead of the familiar hearse. “People would like a proper hearse.”
Ms. Deforge said that she is looking forward to serving the Island community for many years to come and added that there are no major changes currently in the works.
The name of the company that owns both funeral homes will change, noted Mr. Deforge, but adds that both homes will continue to operate under their current familiar names.
