ABOVE: Crystal and Ean Sinn and Greg Wohlhuter stand outside of St. Paul’s UCC in Welcome, which is the new and second location of Sinn Family Celebration of Life Center.

WELCOME– Just a year after opening the first location in Trimont, Sinn Family Celebration of Life Center has added a second location in Welcome.

Owner Ean Sinn said upon opening his first location, he had no plans to expand.

“When I started out in this business I always thought I’d be serving Trimont, Welcome and Sherburn and I thought (being in) Trimont would be good and we could maybe expand down the road,” Sinn explained.

However, a funeral Sinn had earlier this year at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in welcome opened the door to a partnership between the two.

“I turned to Greg (Wohlhuter) and said, ‘this would make a great funeral home,’ and he said, ‘yes, someday,’ but I said, ‘how about now?'” Sinn said.

The conversation started in February but Sinn said it was a long process as they had to meet with the church board, talk to the city to get the correct permit and then work with the state to get the right licensing in place.

Coincidentally, Wohlhuter, who is a preplanning specialist and funeral assistance, is on the board at St. Paul’s UCC. He said the church board had discussed the opportunity back in March and decided that the benefit to the church would be to get more use out of the building– and more exposure.

“It’s like a double bonus,” Wohlhuter said.

Sinn added that it’s an adaptive reuse of the building and pointed out that there’s a lot of history in older buildings like churches, but often times if they can’t be maintained they get torn down.

“It’s nice to see them retain a community purpose,” Sinn said.

With that in mind, when the matter went to the Welcome City Council in July it passed easily.

“The city was great to work with. They like to see another business in town,” Sinn said.

The licensing was just approved by the state on Oct. 31 which means the location is operational.

The set up is similar but different to the location in Trimont. For that one, Sinn came in, bought the building (United Methodist Church) and did a lot of renovations to it. The church still holds weekly services there and he uses the space for community events as well.

In the winter months they’ve held farmers’ markets and they’ve also hosted blood drives and put on concerts. In addition they’ve had anniversary parties, bridal showers and wedding rehearsal dinners in the space.

At St. Paul’s UCC in Welcome though, Sinn is renting the space as the congregation is still very active. The building, which was constructed in 1951 and added on to in 1996, is in good condition and Sinn only plans to do some minor upgrades like painting, clearing out some items and adding some TVs.

“We plan to do the same thing in Welcome,” Sinn said about holding additional events. “We have the space for it and it benefits me with outreach and it benefits the church with getting some extra people in here to see the building.”

He’s excited about the additional location and what it means for the business,

“Licensing this as our facility allows us to advertise this is as our funeral home and it allows us to have more of a reach toward Fairmont and toward Ceylon and of course Welcome,” Sinn said.

For the location in Trimont, Sinn said their reach has been more significant than he expected. They’ve held funerals in Mountain Lake, Lake Crystal, Jackson and St. James.

Sinn is grateful for but not entirely sure why their response has been so good. He did say he believes they do a good job of doing outreach.

“We encourage people to talk about their funeral planning before it happens and I think people notice that and appreciate it,” Sinn said.

Right now it’s just Sinn and Wohlhuter, but their wives, Crystal and Lisa and other family members eagerly help out when needed. They don’t have set plans but ideas of expanding and offering some other services down the road.

“The biggest thing that people have been saying when they walk into the Trimont location is that this is more than just a funeral home and that’s the biggest compliment we could ever get for what we’re doing. I didn’t know it could be so enjoyable to be serving in this role. It’s very special,” Sinn said.

He hopes to recreate that same atmosphere in Welcome, too.