By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
After years of serving La Crosse from afar, Keithley Funeral Homes is bringing its newest chapel to Rush County this spring.
The funeral home is expected to open in late April or early May at 611 Peace St. Ron Keithley, owner and funeral director, said the expansion follows the loss of a local cremation partnership.
"We feel like it's an opportunity for us to explore," he said. "We're giving families another option."
While the funeral home has traditionally served families from its Hays location, it will soon offer the same services in the heart of Rush County.
The building will offer a convenient space for visitations and services, making it easier for friends and neighbors to gather and support one another. The chapel will also provide traditional funeral services, cremations and custom monument design.
La Crosse will now have two funeral homes, including the existing Janousek Funeral Home.
"We're pretty excited about the building we're putting in and remodeling down there," Keithley said.
The new location is being repurposed from a former medical clinic. The chapel will seat about 150 people and include a merchandise room for caskets, urns and monuments, Keithley said.
The interior is nearly complete, while exterior work, including the parking lot, is ongoing. Keithley said renovations will continue after the opening as part of the next phase of the project.
"It's a big enough building that our second phase will be adding an event center to give us the opportunity to have seating for about 100 guests. It can be used if families want to have a dinner there after a service or even community events if someone wants to reserve it," he said.
The event center is expected to be completed in late summer or early fall.
Keithley said La Crosse already has a funeral home that his business attempted to purchase when it went up for sale, but another organization acquired it instead. Before the sale, Keithley had provided cremation services for that funeral home for about 14 years until the ownership changed.
"We decided that we have a little bit of a leg in La Crosse already and Rush County with our business. We have a little name recognition down in that area," Keithley said.
Keithley said his funeral home also has its own monument company, which designs, produces and installs headstones and grave markers itself rather than using a third party.
"We're going to be involved in the community and offer professionalism and compassion to the families," Keithley said. "I'm looking forward to being part of the LaCrosse community in Rush County."
Keithley emphasizes that the goal of the new location is not to compete with Janousek Funeral Home, but to give families a second option.
Keithley Funeral Homes also has chapels in Ellis and Victoria. You can follow Keithley Funeral Homes on Facebook and learn more about its services on its website.