Bocchinfuso Funeral Home new owners Rick and Kelly will hold their 2nd Anniversary Open House on March 18.
How many times do we hear a story in Thorold that time just flies by us? Where do the days, months, years go? Indeed, it feels like yesterday when the couple shown here were photographed to celebrate with our community at their first open house in Thorold in March 2016. Now here is the rest of story.
Two years ago, Kelly Liddycoat and her husband, Rick Westlake, came to serve the Thorold community as proud new owners of the Bocchinfuso Funeral Home.
For Kelly, it was a happy homecoming, since her father, Ted Liddycoat, was born and raised in Thorold and apprenticed under two of the town’s founding funeral directors, Noble S. Crowe and Bill Lamb, before establishing his own successful funeral home in VanKleek Hill.
“Coming to Thorold has been great,” says Kelly, who’s much closer to her family here.
Her career began as a hairdresser, but she found “Because I’m service-oriented, I had so much more to give.”
Kelly’s caring nature earned her a Compassion Award at Humber College. An animal-lover, she rescued two-year-old Layla after the beagle had been adopted and returned to the humane society three times, and Anna Sophia, a dog of mixed breeds.
Rick grew up in Bridgenorth, and began at a funeral home greeting visitors at the door, then did his apprenticeship and became a licenced funeral director in Lakefield and Peterborough, where he became opposed to the corporation funeral home philosophy.
“I didn’t want any part of it, so I moved to a small funeral home,” Rick recalls, which is where he met Kelly.
The two were married, and together managed two funeral homes before deciding to look for one of their own.
“Thorold ended up fitting us best because of the family,” explains Rick. “I want to serve people, not be a salesman. The corporations have to maximize their profits and hit targets. The independent funeral home is more about serving the families and the community. We try to educate families so they make proper choices and don’t buy something they don’t need. With the corporation, there would be no choice. It was part of the package. I think our After Care package is one of the best around because some funeral homes don’t even do it and some charge a lot for it.”
Included in the After Care is the cancellation of health cards and other cards, arrangements regarding Canada Pension Plans and other government agencies, as well as a beautiful keepsake booklet, with photos of floral tributes sent to families along with donors’ names, mailing labels, thank you cards and an itemized list of charitable donations made, all custom printed on stationary that’s personalized to their loved one.
The Bocchinfuso Funeral Home offers traditional, memorial and a variety of alternative services, from butterfly, dove or balloon releases to Celebrations of Life. As an added service, Rick has had boats all his life and currently offers his 32-foot Express Cruiser to those who wish to scatter cremated remains on the water.
In August of 2016, Krystal Riddell joined the Bocchinfuso Funeral Home team as the third licenced funeral director, happy to return to Thorold, which she considers home. Krystal was recently elected Vice President of the Niagara District Funeral Association (NDFA), and serves on several other local committees as well, as do Rick and Kelly. Each of them takes great pride in providing extra personal touches.
Kelly finds it especially rewarding “getting all the little details right. For me, that satisfaction comes from even the smallest thing, like hearing someone say, ‘You got Mom’s hair perfect’.”
And now you know the rest of the story about Bocchinfuso Funeral Home, a family owned and locally owned business servicing our community. All are welcome to help staff celebrate two successful years on Saturday, March 18 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Thanks to Cathy Pelletier for providing us the informative content for this blog article. Cathy is the Marketing Co-ordinator / Administrator, Bocchinfuso Funeral Home.
Click here to view a video on the Intrigue Media community TV network, which plays locally at Henderson’s Pharmacy, Thorold Community Credit Union, among other locations across the Niagara Region.