This Spotlight was written by Joni Cooke, Manager for Arthur Funeral Home
For nearly 85 years Arthur Funeral Home – Barton & Kiteley Chapel has been serving the funeral service needs of Sault Ste. Marie and surrounding areas.
Many times through the year’s our profession has taught us that we need to pivot in order to better assist families at one of the most difficult times in their life.
We are excited to announce our newest facility upgrade with an expected completion date by year end 2022.
Our previous renovation history highlights start in 1940 when Arthur Funeral Home saw its first addition to accommodate families by adding an office, showroom, family room and accommodations specifically for Roman Catholic funerals.
In 1997 would be the largest and most notable update with the demolition of 6 houses adjacent to the funeral home and owned by the funeral home in order to create a much needed parking lot for our customers in the congested down town area. The addition of a chapel with set pews assisted those wanting a more formal service, yet whom did not necessarily have a church connection or those who desired to have visitation and service all in one location. A large reception room was also added as people’s homes were not always ideal for hosting gatherings or receptions. At this time our building became handicap accessible with no stairs leading into the building and a large elevator was added to reach both upper and lower floors.
In 2017 our aging and irreparable Barton & Kiteley funeral home was demolished as we were then accommodating all business from our handicap accessible Arthur Funeral Home location and hence amalgamated our name to Arthur Funeral Home – Barton & Kiteley Chapel as both names and former owners were and continue to be synonymous in our community.
To this day Bill Kiteley is still visible in the funeral home on a daily basis. With the closure of Barton & Kiteley we built a larger garage for more storage and enclosed an area to keep pallbearers and families from inclement weather when leaving our chapel.
Now in 2022 we are again ready to update to accommodate families' ever changing needs and wishes.
The current common theme is ‘Celebrating a Life Well Lived’.
Food and music has been a staple from original times and has continued to evolve through the years. A less formal setting or perhaps more comfortable setting is what the majority of families are now seeking.
We will never escape the death of a loved one but what’s more important is how we celebrate their life and what they meant to us. What did they like to do, what were their favourite foods, what music did they listen to and what will everyone remember them for? Taking some of those questions to the next level and creating a space to allow for the most unique personalization and include food, beverages, mingling, and the sharing of laughter and tears will create a lasting memorial that is both comfortable and fitting.
Technology will play a large part with the opportunity for music, photos, videos, live streaming and interactive participation from those who due to distance or other circumstance cannot attend.
Table and chair arrangements, décor, flexible meeting space, small or large gatherings are all areas that have been taken into consideration and will help us to accommodate each families specific requests.
We have always said that the changes we make are not dictated by the profession, however, guided by the families and their past and present experience.
We want to ensure that they don’t say ‘I wish I would have’ or ‘I wish I could have’ but rather ‘wow, we did exactly what we and they would have wanted’.
Visit us to see our site plans and we thank you for your patience as we improve to serve you better.