2 for 1

RANDOLPH – Two family-owned funeral homes put their own interests aside and are working together to keep both businesses thriving in the face of workforce shortages, including at a location in Randolph.

Home for Funerals and Brockhaus Funeral Homes recently joined forces to keep up the long tradition both businesses have of serving area families through the grieving process with dignity.

“We’ve always been friends with Home for Funerals. We always consider each other neighbors, not competitors,” said Greg Brockhaus who owns Brockhaus Funeral Homes with his brother, Joe. “The two families have the same traditions and the same values. . . . We decided, let’s just help each other out.”

Both funeral homes serve multiple locations throughout northeast Nebraska, including a Home for Funerals location in downtown Randolph.

This partnership officially formed last fall and neither business has skipped a beat. In fact, customers did not notice a difference in services or even a name change, just the addition of support staff.

The Brockhaus family and Eric Gamerl, operator of Home for Funerals, are joined by three funeral assistants at the Randolph location: Brad Lenhoff, Neil Lackas and Cindy Burns.

The Randolph Home for Funerals location operated under the name Johnson’s Funeral Home starting in 1965 when Roger Johnson purchased the then O’Neill Funeral Home & Clothing Store.

Through the years, Johnson owned funeral homes in Wayne, Wisner, Pilger, Norfolk and Stanton. In 2000, Roger Johnson retired and sold the funeral home business to his son and his wife, Brad and Teri Johnson.

Twenty-one years later, the Johnsons sold the business to Home for Funerals.

Home for Funerals, in operation since 1939, also owns a funeral home and chapel in Norfolk, as well as locations in Battle Creek, Madison and Stanton.

About a year ago, Home for Funerals owner John Burns underwent some health issues which prompted the idea to combine forces with Brockhaus Funeral Home.

“We thought it was a good idea to visit with someone like-minded in terms of wanting to serve families,” Gamerl said.

Like Home for Funerals, Brockhaus Funeral Homes has a long history of excellence in the funeral home business.

The business began in 1979 by Greg’s father, the late Gerry Brockhaus, and includes locations in Creighton, Verdigre, Niobrara, Bloomfield, Wausa, Spencer and Tilden. In 2011, Brockhaus merged with Howser-Fillmer Mortuary in Norfolk.

While the Brockhaus men followed the tradition set by their father, Gamerl took a different path to become a funeral director.

Gamerl worked in a lab at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, putting his master’s degree in biology to good use. It was later he took an interest in mortuary science, working at Bethany Funeral Home in LaVista before returning to Home for Funerals in 2015 where he completed an apprenticeship.

Workforce shortages and other challenges are being felt in nearly every business nationwide including funeral directors.

“It’s just like all businesses, everything’s kind of changed,” Gamerl said. “The demands of being in a rural community are 24/7, 365, as we can all attest. You’re just not finding people that want that kind of level of commitment to something like this.”

Families help each other in funeral home businesses

“It’s just a demanding profession - very rewarding for the ability to help people through difficult times. But for a lot of people, it’s a lot to ask,” Gamerl said.

Along with the demands of the job, education requirements can steer people away from the career as well.

To become a funeral director, individuals must take 60 hours of college classes at a mortuary school including some of the more strenuous subjects like chemistry, physiology, biology and others. A funeral director must also complete a 12-month apprenticeship and pass rigorous state and national board exams.

Gamerl said he sees mortuary workforce shortages persisting and so arrangements like the one between Home for Funerals and Brockhaus Funeral Homes may become more of the norm.

“In small towns, this is kind of how it is,” Brockhaus agreed. “We kind of consolidate but yet it’s still a great team.”

At least in the Brockhaus household, the legacy continues with Greg’s sons - Brady and Braxton - as they become involved in the family business.

“It’s what they know. They grew up in it. They always worked around the funeral home,” Brockhaus said.