Death is a fact of life for everyone. Helping those left behind cope with a stressful and grief-ridden time is the mission of the team at Gunderson Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1615 N. 15th St. This family-owned and operated business has provided this service to the community for a half century.

Owned today by Phillip and Keely Gunderson, the funeral home was founded in 1966 by Phil Gunderson’s father, Robert Gunderson, and his partners, Delaine Sellergren and Kenneth Rasch. Sellergren ceased to be part of the enterprise in 1977. Members of the Gunderson family have been at the helm for all five decades. Phil Gunderson and his wife have been the sole owners since 2003.

Phil Gunderson said his father discovered the important part funeral directors play in any community early in life. He said Robert Gunderson’s best friend’s father operated a funeral home just down the street from where he grew up in Osage. Robert Gunderson decided to pursue that calling.

“My father came here and worked at Laufersweiler’s for seven years,” Phil Gunderson said. “Then in 1965 he bought the land, which was a wooded area then, and built the funeral home. This was on the outside of Fort Dodge at the time. The grand opening was in August 1966.”

Phil Gunderson said he was motivated to follow in his father’s footsteps by an early realization that funeral directors can be make an enormously positive contribution to others by helping them deal with a difficult – but inevitable – life event.

“Funeral service and being around the funeral home has been a big part of my life, all my life,” Phil Gunderson said. “Growing up, I saw purpose and value in it. You have the opportunity to meet so many different people in all walks of life and help them at their worst time. … I could never really see myself doing anything else.”

He stressed that helping people has been at the heart of his family’s approach from the day the funeral home was launched.

“I’ve always believed that none of what we do here is about us,” Gunderson said. “It is about serving the families who call upon us and helping them at their worst time. It’s our honor and our privilege to do that.”

He said one of the keys to the success of Gunderson Funeral Home has always been adaptability. A diverse clientele and changing times require offering many options and customizing the services.

“We understand that people come from all different walks of life,” Gunderson said. “We’ve been open to adapting to change and being flexible. We meet people where they are at. There has been a great change in what people need and want at the time of death. … I grew up when most funerals were all pretty much the same. Now they vary as much as the kind of shirts people want to wear. It’s all different.”

He said it is especially important to listen to the client’s needs and provide services that respond appropriately.

“We try to listen and find ways to help them find the path that is going to help them with their grief in the initial days after death,” Gunderson said.

Making certain that people fully understand their options is part of the process.

Some people will want a traditional funeral. Others may opt for cremation and immediate burial with no service. In between, there are countless combinations and variations that can be tailored to suit the desires of the deceased and the family.

“We have funerals and services that are very traditional and we also have many services that are untraditional,” Gunderson said. “Janet Hubbell, one of our funeral directors, is a certified celebrant. … We have a number of families now who want some type of service or memorialization but they are not religious or they may not have clergy and they request that she conduct the service. She took training essentially to conduct a funeral or memorial service.”

The format and locale of whatever service is selected can vary depending on what the client wants, Gunderson said.

“We do a lot both at churches and at the funeral home,” he said.

Gunderson said personalizing whatever arrangements and service are selected is a top priority at Gunderson Funeral Home. He said that can help give the event lasting meaning. The team at Gunderson’s is experienced at that process.

“We do a lot of personalization things with videos and service folders,” Gunderson said. Families will bring us pictures and we’ll create a video memorial that we can play either at the time of visitation or the service. It’s done on a DVD.”

One of the biggest changes Gunderson said he has witnessed over the last few decades is the growing popularity of cremation.

“Cremation has been a big change,” he said. “When I was young cremation was a rarity. It was maybe 3 percent. Now it’s upwards of 45 percent. Our funeral directors educate families about what their choices are regarding cremation. You can still have a visitation and a viewing. The cremation services are varied – from immediate with no services or just a memorial to a full funeral with cremation and then a memorial. There are a lot of components to it.”

Whatever the nature of the final arrangements, the goal at Gunderson Funeral Home & Cremation Services is quite straightforward, according to Gunderson.

“We try to connect with families and understand and empathize with what they are going through,” he said.

Planning ahead

Gunderson said that planning ahead for funerals is a trend that is becoming increasingly popular. He said preplanning is advantageous because decisions needed when a family member dies can be difficult to face during what is an especially stressful time.

At Gunderson Funeral Home specialists are available to help preplan the events that will take place when a death occurs. This helps guarantee that the wishes of the deceased are incorporated into the service and other arrangements. It also can make it possible for financial decisions to be made in advance.

“Call us. We’ll help find a service that is going fit within your means. And find a service that you want.” Gunderson said. “I would encourage people to get those things talked about ahead of time. It makes it so much easier at the time of death.”

He said this can provide comfort for the person whose funeral has been preplanned and for family members.

Special events

At Gunderson Funeral Home, concern for families of the departed extends well beyond the funeral.

An important example of how this ongoing commitment is manifested is Gunderson’s sponsorship of an annual service of remembrance each December called “A Time for Angels.” Held prior to the holiday season for the families that have been served during the year, as well as others in the community who have been bereaved, the nondenominational service is intended to impart a message of hope and inspiration.

“It’s a service to help people cope with and deal with their grief and loss during the holidays,” Phil Gunderson said, noting that Keely Gunderson spearheads this project, which is now in its 18th year. “The names are read of the people during the last year and we add additional names to it. We decided that we wanted to include, not exclude people. We read 350-plus names each year because there is no time limit on grief. … Families will call us with names or bring names to us on the day of the service. … Holidays are a very difficult time for people who are trying to cope with loss.”

As a symbol of remembrance, each year small, specially crafted angels are distributed.

“Each year we have 1,000 angels that go to families,” Gunderson said. “When a family receives an angel it becomes a keepsake. It’s amazing how important that is to them, just the symbolism of it.”

Gunderson Funeral Home also helps support annually a local Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebration. This brings to Fort Dodge a holiday widely celebrated in Latin American countries that gathers family and friends to pray for – and remember – those loved ones who have died.

“It’s a Mass in Spanish and a celebration and a potluck,” Gunderson said.

The team

Phil Gunderson, at age 31, became the head of the business his father launched after his father died on Aug. 31, 1989, at age 53. Keely Gunderson is also very active in the business.

“She assists on funerals but her role is mainly our community events,” Phil Gunderson said.

The staff now numbers about 15. The complement of funeral directors has grown to five, including Phil Gunderson. Kevin Rogers has been with the company for 26 years, since the summer of 1990. Dallas Wall has been part of the team since 1998. Janet Hubbell came onboard in 2003. Phil and Keely Gunderson’s son, Robert J. Gunderson, joined the family enterprise in 2008. Hubbell, who is a funeral director, is the preplanning consultant.

Meet Phil Gunderson

Though born in Iowa Falls, Phil Gunderson has lived most of his life in Fort Dodge. He graduated from St. Edmond High School in 1976, attended Iowa Central Community College and then completed training as a funeral director at the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science, Dallas, Texas. After completing that program in 1979, he worked at Hamilton Funeral Home in Des Moines for three years before returning to Fort Dodge in 1982 to join his father in the family business.

Phil Gunderson said he is bullish about Fort Dodge’s future. He has demonstrated his commitment to the community by undertaking assorted civic leadership roles.

For many years he served on the Trinity Regional Medical Center board. Currently his board of directors memberships include the Berryhill Center, Friendship Haven, Fort Dodge Betterment Foundation and the St. Edmond Foundation.

The manner chosen to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary illustrates a strong belief in Fort Dodge’s future. It was decided to mark the milestone, working in partnership with the Pride In Community Appearance group, by donating 50 trees to the town.

“We were looking for a new and unique way to mark our 50 years,” Gunderson said. “It’s a way to show our gratitude to the Fort Dodge community. Fifty were planted – 48 on Dodger Drive and two by the Freedom Rock.”

Reflecting on the career he chose for himself so long ago, Gunderson said he remains enthusiastic about that decision.

“It’s been a great professional choice,” he said. “To me it is not a job. It’s my life.”