David-Donehower Funeral Home in Detroit Lakes approved for crematory unit

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The David-Donehower Funeral Home in Detroit Lakes received approval on a 6-2 vote by the city council to install one crematory unit in their facility.

James Beaton, general manager of the funeral home, said the Detroit Lakes location will be looking into taking on crematory responsibilities for other smaller funeral homes in the region, which would eliminate trips to Fergus Falls to use their crematory facilities.

“At this point in time, it would be David-Donehower and West Kjos, we also operate the Furey Funeral Home in Frazee,” said Beaton. “And potentially Schoeneberger Funeral Home in Perham, which is a substantially smaller business than David-Donehower. So we are looking at conducting their cremations, however, their volume much, much, much smaller than our volume is.”

During the debate, Ron Zeman, alderman first ward, said he’s received concerns from neighbors that the funeral van can stick out of their garage while they are transferring remains.

“The concern I’ve had from some neighbors is that the van that you have isn’t able to fully drive into the garage,” said Zeman. “The question was, why can’t you have a building that would be completely enclosed so when the doors would open, you drive right in, and the doors would close and it’d be out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Right now, if (the van) is sticking out, you kind of know what’s going on there.”

Beaton responded and said, even with the vehicle only 75% of the way into the garage, no one would be able to see anything from the outside and exposed bodies are never transported in the open.

“Obviously, our business is discretion and dignity, so I cannot think that we’d ever provide non-dignified services,” said Beaton. “But if the vehicle that’s housing the body awaiting cremation is 75% in, you wouldn’t see anything … so at no point would there ever be an exposed body being transported anywhere.”

He also said, currently, more than 80% of their clients are choosing cremation for their loved ones.

Zeman and Jay Deraney, alderman at-large, were the only votes against the permit.

Deraney said he was concerned with the amount cremations that would be conducted in Detroit Lakes since David-Donehower’s parent company owns dozens of funeral home across Minnesota and the greater Midwest region. He said he would have rather seen the crematory facility placed in the city’s industrial park to limit visibility.