Scott and Rachel Brown stand beside their business's sign for Behner Funeral Home & Crematory in Fairfield. (Andy Hallman/The Union)

Scott and Rachel Brown have owned Behner Funeral Home in Fairfield ever since purchasing the business on Aug. 1, 2023. (Andy Hallman/The Union)

FAIRFIELD – Behner Funeral Home in Fairfield switched hands in 2023 when it was purchased by Scott and Rachel Brown.

The Browns became the third family since the 1930s to own and operate Behner Funeral Home. It was sort of a coming home party for the couple, who were high school sweethearts at Harmony schools in Van Buren County. Rachel taught high school English for 12 years while Scott pursued a career as a funeral director, which led the couple to stops in Hannibal, Missouri, Geneseo, Illinois and later Bettendorf, Iowa.

The Browns reached a point where they were ready to return to a slower pace of life in a small community, and that’s why they were excited to take the reins at Behner Funeral Home.

“My intention was to not work for somebody the rest of my career,” Scott said. “We’ve been on this journey to own our own business for 15 years.”

They acquired the business on Aug. 1, 2023, and have made some changes to the building’s layout. When patrons walk into the funeral home for a funeral or visitation, they enter a room with a television playing a tribute to the deceased with photos from their life.

Scott said they’ve enhanced the building’s interior and exterior, including new landscaping, awnings, and signage outside, and a more comfortable, inviting atmosphere inside. In the back of the building, the Browns offer jewelry, urns, glass keepsakes for ashes, caskets and other items to remember a loved one who has passed on. Scott said they partner with Whitney Monument Works to provide monument sales to families they serve.

To create an obituary that appears in the newspaper, Scott interviews a family member of the deceased, sometimes multiple family members, to learn about their early life, their hobbies and interests, those who preceded them in death and those who survive them.

Dealing with people during a difficult time might sound like a depressing job, but Scott sees his role as funeral director as giving families a chance to celebrate the life of their loved one and reflect on the memories they made together.

“I feel we each have a calling,” Scott said. “There are jobs that I would not be successful at, and what’s difficult for me would not be difficult for others. I have feelings of empathy and I want to provide support; there’s also great pride in this industry in doing what we do.”

Scott started working at a funeral home when he was still in high school, working for Brian Schmitz of Schmitz Funeral Homes in West Point, Donnellson and Farmington.

“I made up my mind my senior year that this is what I wanted to pursue, and stuck with it,” he said.

Scott lost his mother at a young age, and he believes that might have planted the seed that blossomed into a desire to help people in their time of need.

Scott went to mortuary school in Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, Illinois. Rachel, meanwhile, graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College with a degree in Secondary English Education. Scott has worked at funeral homes in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, and Rachel has taught high school English in all those states, too. Today, Rachel serves as the funeral home’s aftercare specialist.

Something fairly new at Behner Funeral Home is the business hosting a program called “Coffee, Cookies and Conversation.” It meets the first Wednesday of the month from 6-7 p.m., and includes a conversation about grief, often with local pastors or counselors. Rachel said it’s important for people experiencing grief to feel they have a support group, and that’s what this program offers them.