When Jeanne and Jerry Richart had to make funeral arrangements for their young son Daniel in March 2020, they actually lived in Troy. When they asked each other out loud where they should have Daniel’s funeral… Ortonville native and 1965 Brandon High School graduate Jerry said, “I would really like to see him be buried in Ortonville and go through the funeral home where Michele works.” That is Michele Baxter… the Village Funeral Home employee whose mother and Jerry’s mother were lifelong friends.
So Jeanne and Jerry brought Daniel to Ortonville and felt they were completely and thoroughly cared for by director Roy Langolf and Michele. “I just remember them meeting our every need,” says Jeanne. “It was such a difficult time and COVID had just started… truly, anything we wanted they were going to make sure it was taken care of, even if it wasn’t a normal request.”
The one thing that stands out for Jeanne is that Village Funeral Home takes care of one family at a time. “I was used to the larger funeral homes in metro Detroit that have 10 rooms and family comingling in spaces,” recalls Jeanne. “Those funeral homes just aren’t personable at all. At Village, it was just us, just our loved ones and our own area for our food.”
Then not even two years later, but now Holly residents, Jeanne had to call on Roy to help with Jerry’s arrangements in Feb. 2022 after he battled cancer following a double lung transplant. “Roy helped me with Social Security, the pensions, the gravestone,” says Jeanne. “But the one gift Roy gave me was more time with Jerry.” Jeanne had been very concerned about Jerry’s weight loss after his cancer battle while trying to meet Jerry’s wishes to have a visitation. “Roy absolutely helped my soul,” she explains. “He gave me extra days with Jerry looking like his usual self.”
Plus Jerry was back in the Ortonville that he loved so much.
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