Funeral Home Marks 100th Anniversary

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

No stranger to historic milestones, Cooperstown has just hit another one: the 100th year of operation for the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Inc. Funeral Home.

“I’m proud of the heritage here,” said owner and operator Peter Deysenroth. “A lot of businesses don’t make a hundred years, and we have, and I’m very proud of that. A lot of it has to do with the families that we serve. They continue to call us, and I consider that a privilege.”

Deysenroth said he has around 40 years of experience in the funeral home field, joining the Cooperstown business in 1994. Over the history of the business, he said, funeral preferences have changed significantly from burials to cremations.

According to the business’ history page, it was founded on Pioneer Street as the “Ingalls Funeral Home” in 1925 by Chester and Mildred Ingalls. A year later, they moved to Main Street and grew to include a furniture store. Mildred Ingalls would use both locations as a beauty parlor business, too. The funeral home moved to Chestnut Street in 1936, and across the street in 1952. The business gained its Connell from George L. Connell and Dow from James E. Dow in the 60s and 70s.

Deysenroth said businesses will always evolve, and that if the Ingalls were to walk into the home today they’d “be shaking their heads, going, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this this way or that way’” because of how the funeral home business has changed. “But what remains the same is getting people through a difficult time and getting their deceased individual where they need to go,” he said.

To that end, Deysenroth said, he has at times skipped family events to care for grieving families.

“Every time I serve a family, I’m helping them, whether I’m here or sometimes I might be away.”

Despite the changes in ownership, including Deysenroth taking sole ownership in 2005 after more than a decade as an employee, the 1961 Buick hearse Connell drove home from its sale in Syracuse has remained. Deysenroth said the hearse has around 43,000 miles on its odometer.

“I’m having a lot of work done on it this year, just because I want to keep it going and keep it active,” he said.

Deysenroth plans to honor the legacy of those who came before him.

“Chet and Millie Ingalls and George Connell are all buried down in Hartwick Seminary Cemetery, and Jim Dow has a monument in Lakewood Cemetery, so I’m planning on putting a small wreath, just as a personal way to mark their lives,” he said.