Friday, March 29, 2024

Iconic Leavenworth business, Wards Funeral Chapel, closes after 48 years

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Founder Jim Ward opened Wards Funeral Chapel in 1970 in Leavenworth. After Ward passed away unexpectedly in 2008, the family continued to operate the business for the next 10 years, not really knowing what the founder may have wanted.
Now, the family has decided to close the doors on Wards Funeral Chapel, feeling the industry has changed in a way the elder Ward might never have predicted. Jim Ward Jr. said there were several things that went into the decision to close the business.
Number one is the changes in the way Americans view death and dying.
“The way that transition has taken place since he opened the place in 1970 to where we are now. There is big distinction between the two,” Ward said. “Back then, the role of the caregiver was way more integrated with the process of a family dealing with the loss of a loved one. My dad was made for that thing. He just happened to be one of these people whose destiny was to do that thing. His makeup was to take care of people in that way and in that intimate of a level.”
Back then, Ward said the whole process of being a caregiver, taking care of the family and the individual, which his dad held as a sacred trust, was a lot more involved and integrated. As time has gone on, almost five decades since, Ward said you can even tell locally how people have altered their view of death and dying.
What is to be done with the remains of grandma?
“I’m not judging one way or another, it is just different. There’s a lot less hands on involvement of the caregiver. That sort of has driven, when you look at drawing a conclusion on how you move forward given that, we look at the chapel itself, which was built by dad, his uncle and bunch of family members. Yet the almost obsolescence of that property or funeral business reflects the change in trends to me,” Ward said.
Ward believes a lot of change has been cremation driven.
“When we were younger, the chapel and pew were used for the full service all the time, without exception. Over the last 10 years, since dad has passed, that chapel has been used only a few times per year to conduct services. That’s just one indicator of the way the trend has changed,” Ward said. “Now, we’re going to have a memorial at the park or the river and we’re going to scatter ashes or a picnic or be at the Festhalle or some other venue. The need for even a building like in the funeral world, it can be justified in some cases. Those are just indicators of how the business has changed.”
As the family has gone through the process of determining how to move forward, Ward said they realized it has changed so much. He believes his father at age 25, with his desire to serve people, would not have made the same choice, because so much has changed.
“We have a good friend in Yakima who is a funeral director. It’s one of Jim’s best friends. They went to same college in California. He said, basically all you need now is an office and that’s it. It has changed that much,” said Wilda Ward, the family matriarch.
“He was born and raised here. He carried the paper for those people. That is what drove him to want to serve. He was community oriented guy and this was his place. He was bound and determined to bury them, especially the old timers,” Jim Ward said.
As you can imagine, Wards Funeral Chapel touched a lot of lives over 48 years.
“Jim was working at a funeral home in Anacortes. He had an opportunity to go to a funeral home in Tacoma and serve a lot more people. Jim said no, I’m going to Leavenworth and build a funeral home. Those are my people and I want to take care of them. He did,” Wilda Ward said. “The biggest thing I remember, the children were small, he wanted to come back here and he did. Started the first ambulance service in the upper valley. He worked three part time jobs. This is when we first opened.”
In the early days, it was Jim’s ministry. That’s how it was to the family. He was working at the market cutting meat, at the hospital, the hardware store. Both Jim and Wilda worked the hospital to make ends meet.
As time went on, the Ward’s purchased the Edelweiss building with another family.
“It was fortunate they had the other means of income. Dad viewed the chapel as more of a ministry which more about giving than taking. It was something his conscious got to him about doing this for some sort of financial gain,” Ward said. “You would have to ask others. He was like a farmer. You know how many funerals he bartered for? We still have a piano in the house he traded for a funeral. That’s what he worked out with people.”
The chapel was always a secondary thing, Ward said. He probably would have done even it he had to pay for it. Ward said the family has struggled with what to do and how to do it.
“He left this bag in our hands. He did not have the successor-ship laid out for how he wanted it to be done. This was for us to come to grips with over time. It’s taken us 10 years after him to come to grips with the appropriate thing,” Ward said. “At the end of the day, speaking for my two sisters (Lona and Denise), when the next generation looks at what we’ve done. We were able to easily conclude this is appropriate this thing started with them and it ended with them.”
The family could have sold the business and allowed it to perpetuate, but that is not what they wanted. There was that conversation, but as far as the family was concerned, they were very content with the notion that business started and ended with the name.
For the son, taking over was never his calling.
“You have to have that calling. Dad never pressed any of us kids. He knew it was sacred thing. It was laid upon you to do. I wasn’t wired for it. I love to serve people and whole bit but to do that thing is something unique,” Ward said. “That was what he wrestled with, moving forward. Maybe there will be a grandkid with an interest. That did not materialize either. Certainly don’t want to pressure someone in that kind of thing.”
Ward said it has taken them 10 years to get to this point. For his mom, from an emotional standpoint, it was hard to carry the torch herself.
“I was always at the front door and people would see me. They would alway say, it’s great to see you but we sure miss Jim. They still say that,” Wilda Ward said.
The decision to close has been an emotional one for Wilda.
“It was emotional because I knew that would not have been what he would have been doing, if he had been here. But he wasn’t here,” Wilda Ward said.
A large part why it took so long to get to a conclusion like this is because he did not want to let his father down. He did not want this to be equated with failure. They had to come to grips with the soundness of what they were about to do.
Now the community is without a funeral provider.
“Someone will fill in the blanks. We all have to go down valley now to receive those services. That is the crux of when you start thinking about shuttering this place, dealing with the emotional side. It takes time,” Ward said. “Dan (Scott) has been the lynch pin in the things. He was employed by Dad for seven years before he passed. We’re going to retain him through the end of July. He has offers on the table. He’ll stay a local boy.”
Doug Scott was Jim’s right hand man from the time we opened. He passed away just two months after dad passed, Wilda Ward said.
Jim Ward was also known for operating the first ambulance service in Leavenworth.
 “It was all pre-911. They had the funeral home phone and ambulance phone. The first ambulance was a green station wagon. Then, they did some fundraising and such to purchase two legit ambulances. At that point, it transitioned over to the hospital,” Ward said.
The Ward’s had the first 911 system in the valley in their house, Wilda said.
“We answered the phones for close to 15 years. We served from the top of Blewett Pass to the top of Stevens Pass,” Wilda Ward said.
Traditionally, it was not uncommon for the ambulance operator to also be the undertaker, Jim Ward said.
“It’s a 24-hour lifestyle. It was sort of integrated. It was one big thing to the family. There were always people coming and going. Guys would show up at the house and take off,” Jim Ward said. “Started in 1970 to around 1985. Volunteer firemen would help. Taught EMT classes.”
Phones for the Leavenworth and Peshastin fire departments were right in the house. The alarm for both were manual.
“You combine all that stuff, and house was controlled chaos because of all those things,” Jim Ward said. “Our whole family was integrated in the family business of the chapel. We were called on to do the basic things. It was part of the lifestyle we had.”
Back then, it was $7 for an ambulance call, Wilda said.
In terms of what will become of the chapel on Pine Street, Jim Ward said they are still going through a process of discovery.
“We know there is a building there that has some value to it. The process of coming to grips with closing it is really what we’ve focused on. We’re not in any hurry to figure out the future of that place,” Jim Ward said
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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