The History of Pedersen Funeral Home and
Starbuck Funeral Home
1963 – Present

The Pedersen Funeral Home was established in September of 1963 by Ken and Merrill Pedersen. Originally from the Morris area, The Pedersen brothers soon established a reputation for excellence in providing funeral service to area families. In addition, they provided a 24 hour/day ambulance service to the community, with both businesses being operated out of the Pedersen facility located at East Sixth Street and California Avenue in Morris.

In February of 1986, a new chapel was added to the existing funeral home and a redecorating of the entire facility was completed. From this expanded facility, the Pedersens served the Morris area until January of 1992, at which time they completed the sale of the funeral home to Thomas M. Vertin, a long time Pedersen acquaintance and third generation funeral director from Breckenridge, Minnesota.

The Vertin family worked to continue the Pedersen tradition of service to the area families, and in November of 1995 named Jay Dietz to assume the managerial responsibilities for Pedersen Funeral Home. Jay and his wife, Chandel, along with their three children, have been residents of Morris since that time. “We were immediately welcomed into this community, and it has always felt like home”.

On July 1, 1998, Pedersen Funeral Home opened the new facility on the corner of South Atlantic Avenue and South Street in Morris. This 100% handicapped accessible, 7,400 square foot facility has allowed us to continue, and even build upon, our tradition of excellent service to area families.

Although the new facility is important for providing families an inviting, comfortable space in which to celebrate their loved ones life, we feel that our dedicated staff of professionals is what really sets us apart when offering meaningful services to bereaved families. Joining Jay Dietz are funeral directors, Joshua Fossum, who joined our staff in July of 2000, and David Anderson, who joined our staff in February of 2004. Colleen Neal joined Pedersen Funeral Home as office manager in November 1999, and Lois Peterson has served as our pre-planning consultant since May of 2001. Along with these full-time staff members are the support staff that work as funeral and visitation assistants. They are John Anderson, Steve Hokanson, Jere Solvie, Shane Jones, Lauris & Sharon Johnshoy, Ken VanHorn and Rose Murphy.

In October of 1998, we received the opportunity to also work with families in the Minnesota community of Starbuck.  At that time, Mr. Vertin purchased the Starbuck Funeral Home from past owner, Donald Nelson.  The Starbuck Funeral Home then began being operated by the staff at Pedersen Funeral Home.  Consistent with his dedication to the grieving families in the Morris area, Mr. Vertin felt that the community of Starbuck also needed and updated and comfortable funeral home, and plans began immediately to find a location and to design a building that would fit the needs of the community.  That vision was realized when the new Starbuck facility was opened on February 1, 2001.  Photos of both facilities can be viewed on Our Locations.