Williams Funeral Home & JWN Crematory, which recently opened, hopes to bring a fresh feeling of connection and support to funerary services in Durango.
“My husband passed away in 2007, and after that I just had this desire to help people that had lost loved ones,” Williams Funeral Home owner Nancy Williams said. “I didn’t know it right at first, but after a few years I thought that maybe a funeral home would be a good way to help the community.”
Williams said she felt there was a need in Durango for a funeral home that provides extra care for people who have loved ones who have died. She said in the coming months she hopes to create a space for people to share with one another after the death of a loved one.
“We want to start getting people together that have lost their loved ones and hold gatherings here for counseling, and to speak to them about what’s going on,” she said.
Williams said the funeral home, which is located at 28673 U.S. Highway 160, has an aftercare program that starts three days after a funeral is held.
“We have a care program that sends out an email, and says we’re thinking of you and asks how you’re feeling,” she said.
The aftercare emails are interactive and can send people who respond to the questions links to information and resources for dealing with their grief and the logistics of dealing with a dead loved one, Williams said.
“There’s just so much after a death that you have to deal with and it’s so emotional,” she said.
When someone first comes in looking for funerary services, Williams said it’s most important to make the person feel loved.
“With everyone who comes through the door, I will go and speak with them and ask if there’s anything I can do,” she said.
Williams Funeral Home funeral director Larry Jack said for him it’s important to make people feel comfortable.
“It’s a big process dealing with death,” he said. “When people come in, they feel blind, and I let them know that I’ll walk with them through the process every step of the way.”
Jack has worked for several funeral homes in the Four Corners including funeral homes in Farmington and Shiprock, New Mexico.
Williams said it’s hard to calculate the average cost of a funeral because costs can vary so much depending on what people want to do for their loved ones.
The funeral home also offers crematory services. She said it has become popular for people who are having their loved ones cremated to watch the body be placed in the incinerator. Williams Funeral Home accommodates that with a window in its viewing room for families to watch the cremation.
Because the business is new, it is not yet able to provide financing for families who can’t afford a funeral. After a year, Williams said that should be an option.
She said that the past two weeks her business has been open have been busy.
“We didn’t know how busy it was going to be,” she said.
njohnson@durangoherald.com
