A Springfield Family Funeral Home opens

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

A Springfield Family Funeral Home is open at 215 E. Sunshine. Springfield's newest funeral home is owned by the Luarca family. Ed and Donna Luarca, assisted by their three children, will run the funeral home.

"We believe we can offer a more personalized service and that we'll be able to provide something the Springfield area needs," Ed Luarca said.

For the Luarcas, opening a funeral home is keeping up a family tradition. Ed Luarca's family had a funeral home in California. His mother was from Springfield, and through that connection and a love of the area, the couple was led back to the Ozarks a few years ago, living first in Kimberling City, Ed Luarca said.

The Luarcas chose to open their funeral home because they saw a need for the service they could provide, Ed Luarca said.

"Something we are good at is providing the intimacy that a family needs when they are dealing with the death of a loved one," Ed Luarca said.

In the 1970s, funeral homes "got larger and larger," Ed Luarca said, with a number of family-owned funeral homes selling to large companies that owned several such establishments.

That consolidation, like consolidation in many other industries, left a niche for family-owned funeral homes, Ed Luarca said.

"We're not working on a volume basis. We want the experience here to be very personal and comforting," Ed Luarca said.

A Springfield Family Funeral Home provides complete funeral and crema-tion services, Ed Luarca said.

This is the first business venture for the Luarcas. The company employs the Luarcas and a funeral director, Douglas Weatherford. The funeral home's official opening was Aug. 2.

The consolidation among funeral homes is apparent locally, also, Ed Luarca said. In June, Klingner Mortuary announced that it had been acquired by Keystone Group Holdings Inc., a Tampa, Fla.-based company that owns about 52 other funeral homes all over the country.

The funeral home was the oldest continuing funeral home in Springfield, founded by the Klingner family in 1908, said its general manager, Richard Lindsey.

Ed Luarca said many locally-owned funeral homes still exist in Springfield, but the trend of consolidation could become even more apparent in the city.

"We think we'll be providing something that folks will always be looking for: that personal service that is so rare. We want to be a part of this community and to make what it needs available," Ed Luarca said.

The Luarcas' oldest son, who is 15, also works in the family business.

"Our children, especially our oldest, are very interested in the business," Donna Luarca said.

The new funeral home is located in a renovated, turn-of-the-century home on Sunshine Street that was once home to Buxton Realty.

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