Robert J. Carson
President,
Carson Funeral Homes
As President of the Carson Funeral Homes in Orillia and in Midland I want to take this moment to acknowledge the truly dedicated staff of Funeral Directors and Funeral Director Assistants who are part of our team. They are truly the people who make us stand out in our profession.
They are not only dedicated to us, the management of Carson Funeral Homes, but they are dedicated to you, the families we serve, in your most trying and upsetting times. From our maintenance people who are dedicated to making sure our facilities and equipment are clean and spotless knowing that you are inviting your friends to call, and you want to be proud of the facilities you chose for your loved one. To the professional embalmers who work with great pride in their ability to make your last memories truly memorable, and once again a source of pride for you as your friends call to pay their respects.
We the Carson Family are priviledged to have these people as part of our team. We are also very proud of the team of Funeral Directors who meet with you to discuss your wishes, and to take down information for the required government documents.
Our receptionists, you can tell love being able to not only direct your friends to the proper room and assist them in making donations, but they also love to be able to interact with you, our families. They just seem to have the knack of saying just the right thing at the right moment.
I would like to take this opportunity to say how gratifying it is to all of us at Carson Funeral Homes to receive from so many of you, your cards and letters of appreciation for the help, the care, the compassion and the attention to detail that is put forth by all of us here in our efforts to serve you. It means so much to be appreciated, thank you so much.
So many of our Orillia families know Jon Griffiths, who has been a Funeral Director with our firm for over ten years, and many of you know that he has not been well for quite a while now. I want you to know that Jon appreciates all the concern and the well wishes that have come through here for him. We are all very hopefull that he will continue to progress and will be able to rejoin the firm in some capacity in the very near future. We join you extending our best wishes and encouragement to Jon on his road to recovery.
As always, time marches on. There are changes and advancements in technologies that provide us with the tools to serve you even better. In our efforts to always be the leader in our profession we have recently invested heavily in new sound and video equipment to enhance our services, and allow us to provide more options in the memorialization of your loved one. We can now offer coloured pictures on inmemorium cards, we also have the ability now to offer a big screen showing video and sound memories of your loved ones. Be sure to ask us about doing a video tribute of your loved one on a CD for you, copies can also be purchased for other family and friends.
Our beautiful Reception Facility at the “Old Rectory” continues to be well received by our families, and is being used more and more. Our families continue to rave to us about the food provided for post funeral receptions, catered by “Mariposa Market”. Their staff are great to work with and provide an excellent service. In Midland, we are very proud of the new reception facilities which now are ready, and in fact have been used by many of the families we serve. The purchase of the warehouse facility behind the funeral home has enabled us to store our vehicles over there, and we did renovations to the 4 car garage behind the funeral home to establish the new beautiful reception facilities. If you haven’t seen it, please take a few minutes and ask one of our directors for a tour. We are so proud, we love to show it off.
Talking about our “Old Rectory Reception Centre”, did you know that many non profit groups hold their board meetings there free of charge, and others have used it for senior birthday parties, anniversaries, wedding rehearsal parties, Christmas parties, and just plain family get togethers. We are pleased to be able to provide this beautiful facility for these functions.
Our Portfolio of pre arranged and pre paid funerals continues to grow at a rapid pace. We value the the trust and confidence you all have placed in our firm to allow us to help you in this way. Families have found that it is so much easier to make these arrangements when they have not just suffered a loss, and are usually very tired from sitting with an ill loved one for days. People find they can think so much clearer when doing these arrangements ahead of time and no one they love is sick and dying. This is something you may wish to consider. It is something you should consider. Call us and find out how it works.
To the families we have served over the past year, we value the trust and confidence you placed in our firm to look after your loved ones body with the respect and dignity that it deserves, and to help you through a very difficult time. Please remember that we remain here to assist you long after the funeral. We understand that grief is a journey that goes through many stages. We understand that you have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and there are many ups and downs along the way. Please remember that we are here for you, and if you need some professional help we will guide you in the right direction. We are also pleased to be able to help you directly after the funeral with government and insurance papers. Colin Wackett has had years of experience in these matters, and will gladly assist you.
One of the most difficult times for families is Christmas. For this reason each of our chapel's organize an annual Memorial Service. It is designed to help you include your loved one in your Christmas season. If you would like to attend but did not receive an invitation, please do not hesitate to call us to be included. We know it has helped many families, and we have many who come back year after year. One lady has returned over 12 times.
In our ongoing effort to be there for our families, we provide a Library of books which will help you understand grief, and how to work through it. The task in grief is not to forget about your loved one, but to be able to hold precious the memories, be able to talk about the person and the memories without breaking down all the time. We are also pleased to be able to offer you a collection of articles on this website that we hope will be another aid to you for your walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Robert J. Carson
November 2006