Changing Homes
EAST BRADY, Clarion County — After 60 years in the same building, the Buechele Funeral Home will be moving essentially to its own backyard.
Jenna Buechele, third generation funeral home director, said Thursday her family is renovating the former Christian Mission Alliance Church that is just across the lawn from the current funeral home at 105 4th St.
Buechele, 25, who earned her director certification this past year, said her grandfather, Charles Sr., bought the home after moving to East Brady in 1953 from Dick Stewart, who opened it in 1940.
Her father, Charles, now operates the funeral home that was in need of more space and of updates when the church became vacant in 2009.
“We didn't want to see another East Brady building sit vacant and begin to fall apart,” Buechele said.
Plus, the church building is just behind the funeral home, which also is the family's home, and the church has a large parking lot, which the current home does not.
The Buecheles are dividing the church's brick structure into two large visitation rooms and a chapel for funeral services for families that don't want to have to move to a church, but wants a churchlike service.
“The building itself is just a large brick building that won't look like a church once we have the steeple removed,” Buechele said.
All bathrooms in the new funeral home will be handicapped accessible as will the building itself with ramps and doorways large enough for motorized wheelchairs.
Buechele said her family's buying of the old church was “the right move for the community at the right time for us to do this.
“Like many older funeral homes, the funeral director's family also uses part of the home as their personal home, which has given these funeral homes a comfortable, family feel.
“We wanted to keep that feeling but needed newer facilities to accommodate the community, and we talked a lot about how to do that,” she said. “I think we've accomplished that.”
