The beginnings of the funeral home originated with Richard Stewart who started conducting funerals from the families residence in 1879, he passed it on to his son Harry C. Welch, who worked for Harry Stewart acquired the business in 1950, who in turn passed it on to his son James A. In March of 2010 Dan realized his life-long dream of funeral home ownership when he purchased the property from Jame
s A. Dan, a native of Clinton, PA, is the son of the late John R. & Marie A. (Krawchyk) McConnell. He got his start in the funeral business under the direction of Mrs. Moody, owner of the Moody Funeral Home in Clinton. A licensed funeral director and embalmer since 1982, Dan is also a licensed Pennsylvania Life & Fixed annuities resident agent, allowing him to provide Advanced Funeral Planning utilizing the burial insurance option. He has worked in the Beaver Valley & Allegheny County areas for 30 years before acquiring the Hookstown property. In January 2011, Dan began complete renovations (with the help of his family and many friends) of both the funeral home and garage areas (which house the preparation, arrangement & show room areas). It was his vision to change the existing funeral home building into a more spacious area with a calming, homelike atmosphere for families to receive friends, mourn their loss, but yet celebrate the life lived also. As shown in the pictures on our website, we feel that we have done just that. A new Public Address system was installed, and we offer our families the use of monitors in each viewing area to display photo tributes either made in house or that the families provide. In addition to the above changes, two new handicapped accessible bathrooms were added along with a lounge area for the families’ comfort. Additional land was purchased to provide more parking and the handicapped ramp, porch and stairs are heated for safety during the winter months. It is Dan’s and his dedicated staff’s sincere desire to help every family that calls on us to provide a dignified service as chosen in a manner that we ourselves would want provided us in a time of loss.
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