INDUSTRY INSIGHT
LIFE CELEBRATIONS
September 2018 marks the
I
n 1987, Jefferson Memorial Cemetery bought the funeral
home license of David G. Frankenfield & Sons. As Jefferson
prepared to build a multimillion-dollar funeral home, it was
clear that the name David G. Frankenfield was not known in
Pittsburgh and therefore would not attract families. However, the
name Jefferson Memorial Cemetery was well-known. The success
of the new funeral home clearly rested upon the reputation the
cemetery had accrued over the previous 64 years.
Interestingly, under Pennsylvania law, every funeral home
must be operated under the name of a licensed funeral director
in the state of Pennsylvania. Jefferson Memorial searched for a
director with the last name of Jefferson, and was surprised to
find not one in the state with that name. Even more surprisingly,
the funeral director hired to manage the future funeral home,
Jan Beichner, then volunteered to go to court and legally change
her surname to Jefferson so the home could be known as
Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home.
The funeral home was designed and built in a colonial
Williamsburg style. The architect researched 200-year-old design
books to ensure the accuracy of the color of the bricks, the
woodwork, the doorways and even the paint color. Everything
was to be identical to what you would find in authentic colonial
Williamsburg buildings.
On September 1, 1993, after a three-day Open House where
nearly 3,000 people toured the new building, the doors to
Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home were opened. As Paul Harvey
would have said, “And that’s the rest of the story.”
This Industry Insight was provided by Dagny Neel
Fitzpatrick.
Dagny is a fourth generation family owner of Jefferson
Memorial Cemetery, Funeral Home and Crematory
located at 401 Curry Hollow Rd. in Pleasant Hills. For more
information contact Dagny at 412.655.4500 or by email at
[email protected].
SPONSORED CONTENT
25 th Anniversary
of Jefferson Memorial
Funeral Home!
Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home has
humbly served over 9000 families since 1993.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to
you and your family.
Jason L. Catalfu, Supervisor
412-655-4501 www.jeffersonmemorial.biz
[email protected]
WEST JEFFERSON HILLS
❘
SPRING 2018
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