First on-site crematory comes to Henry County

MT. PLEASANT — As the death care industry sees a rise in cremations across the nation, Olson-Powell Memorial Chapel rises to the challenge.

“We do have our own crematory, now,” Olson-Powell Funeral Director and Crematory Operator Charlie Yoder said. “April is when we first we got everything online.”

With Olson-Powell’s addition of a crematory, they joined the approximately 39% of funeral homes nationwide that now operate their own crematories and became the first to offer on-site crematory services in Henry County.

“You see more people selecting cremation, and we feel it's very important to have a crematory in Mt. Pleasant,” he said.

“That way we can ensure a family that their loved one never leaves our care,” Olson-Powell Funeral Director Morgan Yoder added. “We're not taking them their loved one somewhere else and leaving and then going back some other time to pick up the remains.”

The National Funeral Directors Association’s 2022 Cremation and Burial Report projected 2022’s cremation rate to be 59.3% and the burial rate is projected to be 35.7%.

The NFDA anticipates this rate to exceed 50% by 2035.

According to Iowa Cremation, “Preferences in Iowa are mirroring this trend with a projection that over 75% of all services provided to Iowans will be cremation by 2030.”

“You know, we still do a lot of traditional funerals visitations at funerals with the body present, but then they're just deciding to cremate the body afterwards, whether they want to keep the remains, scatter them on the family farm, something like that,” Charlie Yoder said.

“It's kind of the trend that we've seen,” he said. “And the boomer generation, they're more thinking about cremation as opposed to the World War II era where tradition had its place.”

The NFDA attributes much of this shift in choice of disposition following death to cremation becoming more socially acceptable.

“Another factor contributing to it outnumbering traditional burials in the U.S. is the rise in the number of Americans who do not identify with a religion,” the NFDA explains. “Other factors at play include lower costs associated with cremation services, changing consumer preferences, weakening prohibitions, and environmental concerns.”

With the increasing trend, “we have three of us on staff that do that, and we feel that that's extremely important. That gets done by somebody who's certified and knows what they're doing,” Charlie Yoder said.

One of the three staff members with their licenses includes their newest Funeral Director and Charlie Yoder’s daughter Morgan Yoder.

In Mach, Morgan Yoder completed her training at the very same college her father completed his, Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Wheeling, Illinois

“My dad went there 30 years ago, and I had a few of the same teachers,” she said.

While Morgan Yoder completed her studies online, she stated that she needed an affiliation with a funeral home to complete her work.

“That kind of put it back on my dad as my mentor to make sure I learned the technical things and the behind-the-scenes work,” she said. “I also went into Chicago for a week to learn more there.”

While Morgan Yoder said growing up with a funeral home director as a father initially made her not want to enter the family business, through her work in memory care, she came to appreciate the importance of her father’s work.

“I just had a lot of respect for him and heard my entire life how many people just really appreciated what he did,” she said. “I wanted to be able to provide that for a community. And moving to Mount Pleasant allowed me that opportunity. But it also allowed out us to work together, which I feel very blessed to be able to do.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com