Today we’d like to introduce you to .
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Our great great grandfather, Adam Ringa, first began working as a funeral director in 1895, operating out of a home office on Bosworth Avenue in Chicago, IL. Adam’s son Frank joined him in the business after graduating from mortuary school in 1911, but had to put his career on hold to fight in World War I. Following the war, funeral practices had evolved; wakes and funerals were increasingly being held in funeral homes dedicated specifically to serving the needs of families who had lost loved ones. Adam Ringa built the first Ringa Funeral Home at Lawndale and Roscoe shortly after the war.
Frank eventually opened two additional funeral homes in Chicago, one on Elston Avenue and another on Grand Avenue. Frank’s two sons, Bob and Frank Jr. attended Worsham College of Mortuary Science becoming licensed funeral directors in the early 1940s. However, their careers as funeral directors were interrupted when the United States became involved in World War II. Both served as officers during the war, Frank in the 101st Airborne and Bob in Army Air Corps.
After the war, the two brothers went to work with their father at the funeral homes on Elston and Grand. By the mid 1950s, the Chicago suburbs were growing quickly and the family decided to build a funeral home in Lake Villa, Illinois, our current location. The family opened the doors of its new facility in 1959, with Bob Ringa Sr. serving as head funeral director for most of the latter half of the century. As the industry evolved, the family closed all of the funeral homes in Chicago, leaving our Lake Villa location as our sole facility.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Bob Ringa Jr. took over the funeral home in Lake Villa in 1994. Andrew joined Bob Jr. in 2012 working side by side until Bob’s 2015 retirement.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of our big challenges is convincing people of the value of having some type of ceremony or commemorative gathering to remember the person who has passed away.
People often say, “Oh, don’t do anything for me when I die. I don’t want a big fuss. Just get rid of me and get on with your lives.”
This sentiment ignores the idea that the funeral isn’t necessarily for the person who has passed away. It’s for the people who are left behind. Even though funerals are accompanied by great sadness, people derive great strength from the people who come to pay their respects. I often tell families that there are people out there who love you and care about you and want to be able to express that to you. For this reason, it’s important to have some kind of gathering that allows people to do that.
I hear it all the time: “I can’t believe so and so showed up to my dad’s funeral! I haven’t seen them in years.”
To put it another way, no one ever said, “Gee, it was really terrible that all these people showed up for my dad’s funeral.”
Ringa Funeral Home – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are the calm, steady hand at the tiller in rough seas.
We are teachers. People often have no idea what to do when a loved one dies. We clearly and thoroughly teach people about everything they need to know, taking as much time as necessary to explain all of the options to not only help people decide what to do, but to eliminate those things they don’t want to do.
We are guides. Using our years of experience and understanding about what works well and what maybe doesn’t, we offer suggestions about how to craft a commemoration that is appropriate for the person who has died and for that person’s family.
If your funeral director isn’t these things, you should find a new funeral director.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Any time we get a hug from the family after the service, we know we’ve served that family well.
We get a lot of hugs.
Pricing:
Contact Info:
- Address: 122 S. Milwaukee Ave
Lake Villa, IL 60046 - Website: www.RingaFuneralHome.com
- Phone: 847-356-2146
- Email: info@ringafuneralhome.com
