New funeral home opening in Kersey
KERSEY - The community of Kersey will soon be the home of the Krise Funeral Home on Main Street.
Located in the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, it is beside the building that once housed the Dan Corbe Funeral Home, which served the area until 1974. The Krises are in possession of all the detailed records from the Corbe Funeral Home and treasure the history of their predecessor in this town.
Michelle MuccioKrise and Roy Krise, both graduates of the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science and licensed funeral directors, recently bought the building, which seemed perfect for their needs. They had originally planned to renovate the former Eagles building on lower Main Street but were so impressed with the craftsmanship and beauty of this building, and the larger area for parking, that they made an offer and closed on the sale within two weeks. The Eagles property will eventually be used for displaying monuments and headstones and storage of equipment.
Krise commented that the only thing they needed to do was paint a few interior walls and add some decorative touches. The building was constructed by members of the Jehovah Witnesses congregation in 1976, but a complete renovation was done in 2012 by hundreds of volunteer members from local and other area Kingdom Halls who camped in tents at a nearby park for three days. Drywall teams, electrical teams and construction crews completed the renovation, and all work meets or exceeds code requirements. Two modern bathrooms, a sound system, and a small kitchenette were added, using beautiful oak trim throughout. However, the membership of the congregation gradually began to dwindle, and then the pandemic reduced attendance even further, to the point that the governance decided to close several of the smaller congregations and sell the buildings.
Very few locals had ever been inside the building, and there seemed to be somewhat of an aura of mystery about it. Many thought that there were no windows in the building because that’s the impression one might get from looking at the front of it, but modern, oak trimmed windows are plentiful in the bright interior.
The Krises own Lynch-Green Funeral Home in St. Marys, Krise Funeral Home in Ridgway, and they recently bought Thompson Funeral Home, also in Ridgway. They have plans to turn an area of the Thompson property into a chapel. Krise commented that, ”We rarely have funerals in a church anymore. It seems that membership in many churches is on the decline, so having a chapel onsite just makes sense.”
Muccio-Krise added that, “People from Kersey either must go to Ridgway or St. Marys for their funeral needs, so we wanted to be able to serve Kersey out of their own community. Roy is from Ridgway, I’m from St. Marys, but we both have family living in Kersey. We wanted to locate here also because it is a growing community.”
“We pride ourselves on being a full-service funeral home, as we feel that a grieving family shouldn’t need to take care of details like ordering flowers, arranging for a funeral dinner, and dealing with insurance policies or even issues unique to veterans. We handle all of that for the family,” Muccio-Krise holds an active PA Insurance License which allows her to assist people with the necessary insurance paperwork. She has also served as the Elk County Coroner since 2012.
The funeral home will be operational within the next six to eight weeks. All appli
cations have been sent to the State Board of Funeral Directors and they are just awaiting the final approval.
The Krises live in St. Marys with their four children, Alex, Marcus, Vincent, and Violet.