The early days of the pandemic made gathering for funerals difficult, which likely caused some residents to think that W.J. Jones & Son Funeral Home and Crematorium had closed its doors.
The business has not closed its doors, however, but instead has moved to a new location.
Jones Funeral Home was originally situated at 106 Athabasca Street East across from the Moose Jaw Public Library since its inception in 1940, before it purchased the 100-year-old Parkview Funeral Chapel and its building at 474 Hochelaga Street West in June 2018, explained Dayna Chamberlain, general manager and vice-president.
The funeral home moved to its new location because the building has an attached reception centre, which is something clients had been requesting and one reason why it purchased Parkview and absorbed its operations.
“And families were starting to always have their services over here at this location (on Hochelaga), and so then we made the decision to bring all the staff over here because this is what we were doing,” Chamberlain said. “And as time went on, families weren’t wanting to have it in the Jones because of having the convenience of having the chapel and reception centre all in one building.
“So, then we had to make that decision — and then COVID hit.”
Since the business was unable to hold funerals in its building — it could hold graveside services — most people didn’t know it had moved into the Hochelaga location since they weren’t being taken to the venue, she continued. It was only immediate family making the arrangements that knew this detail.
What really caught some residents by surprise was when they heard this past June that businesswoman Amber Cameron had moved her business, Radian Skin Clinic, into the funeral home’s former Athabasca Street East location. This prompted a flurry of phone calls to the funeral home, where staff had to ease people’s minds that the business was still in operation.
“We just assume everybody knows. We’ve put out advertisements and that sort of thing,” said Chamberlain.
“But people don’t think about us until they need us, and then when they need us or they happen to drive by and they see there’s a brand-new sign out there, and that was when the panic (happened) because they hadn’t heard that this (Jones buying Parkview) is what happened.”
Chamberlain added that the funeral home is changing its sign and benches from Jones-Parkview back to W.J. Jones & Son Ltd. Funeral Home and Crematorium, which should clear up any confusion for the community.
