Howe-Peterson Funeral Home Serving the Community for 150 Years

The city of Dearborn was initially established as a township in 1833, named after patriot Henry Dearborn who served as a general during the American Revolution. The area was mainly farmland and residents relied on agriculture as a means of living. In 1864 a man named Elba Howe arrived in Dearborn as the local station agent for the Michigan Central Railroad and eventually the town's undertaker. In 1873 he established Howe and Son Funeral Home following the birth of his son Louis. "One hundred and fifty years this year. We are the oldest existing business in the city of Dearborn still operating; we're older than Ford Motor Company," says Timothy Schramm, current owner and CEO of Howe-Peterson Funeral Home.

Schramm explains that Louis Howe began actively working in the family's funeral business around 1903 and later partnered with Edwin Peterson and the Howe-Peterson Funeral Home was established in 1928. It was Edwin Peterson's son, Joseph, who later came to be the owner and operator of the funeral home.The business moved and expanded over the decades and in 1962 a second location in Taylor was opened.

In 1988, Schramm says he arrived at Howe-Peterson to begin what he describes as a very satisfying career choice and worked under Joseph Peterson until his death in1991. It was Joseph Peterson who had taken the time to help Schramm as a high school senior who was considering a job in the funeral business, understand all the business involved. Peterson spent three days taking Schramm along with him to observe funeral plannings and practices, including an embalming. The pair visited a casket company, a burial vault company, a crematory, and a cemetery. "He literally showed me every facet of the funeral service in those three days," Schramm recalls. "At the end of those three days, Joe said to me, 'When you get in your last year of school, give me a call and I'll give you a job.'" Schramm began at Howe-Peterson as a funeral service associate and resident trainee, and by 1990 was a licensed funeral director. He is a graduate of Wayne State University's Mortuary Science Program.

By 2011, none of the members of the Peterson family were working at the funeral home and in 2015 they announced to Schramm that they would be transitioning out of the business and felt he was the logical choice to take the business over. Schramm says the Howe-Peterson name will remain, saying, "The community knows the name, the downriver area knows the name, and for me, it's an honor and privilege to be able to carry that name on."

How has Howe-Peterson Funeral Home managed to navigate 150 years in business? Schramm believes it is the level of care and customer service they provide to families which are rooted in the core values of honesty, integrity, compassion, and professionalism. "We do things above and beyond what a lot of other funeral home do in our level of care for the decedent and our level of care for the family," he says. Everyone who walks through the doors of Howe-Peterson Funeral Home is greeting by a staff member and escorted to where they need to be. Some aspects of the funeral process are outsourced by other funeral homes but Schramm says as a full-service funeral home, Howe-Peterson handles all aspects of the funeral planning and fulfillment of the funeral process. He adds that Howe-Peterson is with their customers before, during, and after the funeral, offering advance funeral planning, assistance with burial and memorial service planning, cemetery monuments and even grief support programs. Titled Aftercare Hope and Healing Programs, Howe-Peterson offers general grief support groups and a special support group for survivors of suicide. Schramm adds, "All of our Hope and Healing Programs are open to anybody in the community, not just client families we serve and they are free."

As a fixture in the community for 150 years, Howe-Peterson Funeral Home maintains a commitment to offering their best service to families in a time of need and it is a service their staff takes great satisfaction in. "I love what I do, I love this place, I love the people that work here. I think it's an amazing honor and privilege to be able to care for families that we do every day. It's an amazing job," says Schramm. "For us, carrying on what we call the Howe-Peterson Way, it is our honor and privilege to carry that on."

To find out more about Howe-Peterson Funeral Home, the services offered, or to find out more about their grief support programs, go to http://www.howepeterson.com. Howe-Peterson Funeral Home's two locations are at 22546 Michigan Avenue in Dearborn and at 9800 Telegraph Road in Taylor.