After 110 years in Port, funeral home to close

Poole Funeral Home, which has been a part of Port Washington for the last 110 years, is closing on Dec. 1.

It wasn’t an easy decision, owner and funeral director Patrick Poole said, noting the funeral home is one of the longest running family-owned businesses to operate in downtown.

The only non-agricultural family businesses operating longer are Ewig Bros. Fish Co., Schmit Ford— which has moved to Saukville — and Port State Bank, he said.

“It’s very bittersweet,” Poole said of his decision to retire and close the business. “One-hundred-ten years — who would have thought? We made it through AIDS. We made it through strife. We made it through Covid.

“It’s been a good run. But it’s just time.”

Poole Funeral Home has been a family business from the start. Poole noted that through the 110 years there have only been seven full-time staff members — his grandparents W.D. Poole and his wife Mayme, his parents Erin and Marge, he and his sister Ellen and Kristen Andrews, a Port High graduate who toured the funeral home for a class, was intrigued by the business and went on to make it her career.

With such a small staff, it wasn’t unusual for plans to be interrupted by calls.

“We were small and simple,” Poole said. “We were on call 24/7. If someone called, we answered.”

Poole said he’s not sure how many funerals the family has arranged through the years, but noted that they have records of every service.

“I have three handwritten ledgers written by my grandparents,” he said.

   Poole has been a funeral director for about 40 years, but he’s been a part of the business all his life.

“I remember as a kid I’d get up in the morning and there would be a couple people saying the rosary,” he said. “I’d come home from school and there would be the afternoon vigil. At night there was the evening vigil.

“I thought all people did was come and pray all day.”

Poole learned the business from the bottom up, starting as a child by cleaning the smoking lounge before he went to school. He later attended the University of Minnesota, becoming a licensed funeral director in 1984.

At its heart, Poole said, the funeral business is a people business.

“We’re just trying to help people,” he said, often at their worst times.

  Poole Funeral Home began when W.D. Poole bought Grasser’s Furniture and Undertaking. He didn’t want the furniture business so he dropped that but kept the funeral business.

The funeral business, however, wasn’t the only enterprise the family was involved in. They also operated Wisconsin Railway Express, picking up packages dropped off at the railroad depot and bringing them to businesses.

“They were the original Amazon Prime guys,” Poole said.

Erin Poole also started Lakeside Movers.

But at the core was the funeral home. Poole said that the business has changed significantly throughout the years.

Initially, he noted, funerals and visitations were held at people’s homes. The visitations lasted two days with the service held on the third day.

“People stopped and took the time to go visit with the family,” Poole said. “And it took people time to get there.”

Funerals at the time were typically at 10 a.m., with visitation held the night before.

“Now it’s individual,” Poole said. “It can be anything. Every service is tailored to the person, and every person, every family, is unique.

“It used to be more somber. Now, they’ve become more celebratory. We’ve done balloons at a service, had (Wisconsin) Badgers caskets and Kiss band caskets.”

The funeral director essentially organizes the service.

“My dad used to say, it’s just like a wedding but without the dress and done in two days,” Poole said. “You’re ordering flowers, getting the church, arranging transportation.”

The modern funeral home evolved in the 1930s and ’40s, Poole said.

In 1940, W.D. and Mayme had the funeral home building at 203 N. Wisconsin St. built.

“It was built as a home for the family,” Poole said, noting the neighborhood was filled with single-family homes, not the parking lots that dot the area today.

In 1957, at age 65, Mayme retired from the business. Her husband died the following year, and in 1959 Erin and Marge took over the business.

Patrick took over the business in 1988 “with a lot of my mom’s help,” he said, noting his father was ill at the time.

Erin died in 1993 and Marge in 2012.

  Poole said that as news of the funeral home’s closing has spread, he’s heard from a lot of people.

“A lot of good stories,” he said. “That’s been really nice. I’ve gotten calls from people all over sharing memories.”

In a letter to the community, Poole wrote, “The memories shared and tears shed will forever remain in my heart. Your heartfelt ‘thank yous’ and long standing stories have brought smiles and satisfaction for me to carry forward.

“I hope the spirit of the Poole family will remain.”

Now, Poole said, it’s time to spend time traveling and spending time with family and friends — without interruption.

“It’ll be a change, but I’ve got a few projects,” he said.