Welcome to
Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc.
1218 N. Michigan Ave., Saginaw MI 48602
FD#
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Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc.
We invite you to tour our facility and see how we have worked hard to provide our client families with warm and comfortable surroundings.
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Family is always an important element of each service, and we prominently display it in our chapel.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.We provide flat screen televisions to display digital photos or tribute videos during services. We also have stands, tables and bookshelves for families to display other important photos and memorabilia of their loved one.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.Our main chapel can be set up in sections to help meet the needs of each family with open spaces and designated seating for larger services.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.Our main chapel can be set up in sections to help meet the needs of each family with open spaces and designated seating for larger services.
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We provide flat screen televisions to display digital photos or tribute videos during services. We also have stands, tables and bookshelves for families to display other important photos and memorabilia of their loved one.We also can offer flag poles where we can post up to two flags next to the casket or urn table to further personalize the decedent's life.
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To further personalize the service, we can display up to two flags on poles next to the casket or urn table in the chapel. These flags can represent a variety of life events.To honor those who served in our military, we can display flags from their branch of service, including, the Air Force, Army, Army National Guard, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy.We can also display the US flag and the state of Michigan flag for those who served in an official government capacity, or upon request, for any US citizen to demonstrate their patriotism.We can also display the Chirstian Cross if the decedent was of the faith, a leader in the church, or a church worker.In lieu of these flags, we can display a 3'x5' flag that is among the decedent's personal collection to further personalize their service, such as a family crest, decedent's business or vocation, or their favorite sports team.
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It is our priority to provide comfortable surroundings for our client families and visitors. Our chapel space is our primary area to focus on the family and home-like furnishings.Our main chapel can be set up in sections to help meet the needs of each family with open spaces and designated seating for larger services.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture for coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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We provide several books in our lounge on a variety of topics for visitors to enjoy, including poetry by Emily Dickenson, Robert Frost, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and others; death, grief and recovery by Earl Grollman and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; and religious-themed writings, hymn and prayer books.History is important to us and to many families we serve. Our books also include the history of funerals, burials in both private and US Military cemeteries, and histories of the state of Michigan and the city of Saginaw.One of the most commonly referenced groups of books on Saginaw history are those among our Polk's Saginaw City Directories collection. These books served early residents as the original telephone book and business listing of the area. Our collection dates back to 1879. Families are welcome to gently use these rare books to look up the names of their Saginaw ancestors, where they lived, the names of their neighbors, where they worked, the names of their businesses and more.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including this room, which served as a formal parlor and still includes the double-sided fireplace, which shares the wall with the fireplace in the main hallway.Today, the space serves as our comfortable conference room to initially meet our client families to plan the service arrangements, and family lounge, with formal and informal seating, complete with buffet furniture holding coffee and tea service, a beverage cooler, and a variety of books on the bookshelf.The space is both home-like and functional with families' needs in mind.
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Once a private residence, we have kept many key features of the original building, including the double-sided fireplace in the main hallway, which shares the wall with the fireplace in the family lounge.
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Saginaw history is important to us. So, too, is our century-old building that served as the private residence of Fred and Elsie Stork.We proudly honor the original owners by displaying their own unique story in the family lounge.
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We honor our father, Harold Wakeman, with this memorial tribute wall located in the main hallway of our funeral home.Harold graduated from the Wisconsin Institue of Mortuary Science in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became a Michigan licensed funeral director in 1955. Following two years in the US Army, he began his career at Gugel Funeral Home in 1957, working under second-generation owner, Richard F. Gugel, Sr. He purchased the Gugel Funeral Home in 1965 and remained owner of the corporation until his formal retirement on December 31, 1998, when his sons, Brian and Rodney Wakeman, became the fourth-generation owners of the business on January 1, 1999.Harold died on March 17, 2008, in Florida. He is buried in Holy Cross Lutheran Cemetery in Saginaw Township.
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Among the many items of history we have throughout the funeral home is this framed death notice of Mrs. Mary Westbrook, which is displayed in our main hallway.It is the first known published death notice for Gugel Funeral Home.As published:Westbrook - Mrs. Mary Westbrook,65 years of age, wife of William West-brook of West Branch, passed awayat Saginaw General hospital Tuesdayafternoon at 1 o'clock from pneumon-ia. Mrs. Westbrook came to visit herson, John Johnson on Swan Creektwo weeks ago, where she was takenill, later being removed to the hos-pital. Mrs. Westbrook was born in St.Charles. The remains were removed tothe Gugel undertaking parlors. Fu-neral announcements will be madelater.Saginaw Daily News, July 17, 1912, Page 10
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As the oldest continuously operating funeral home in the city of Saginaw, recording our history is an on-going responsibility that we are proud to share.This stained glass window is among our most cherished items we own. This piece came from our former building and is among the many pieces of our history and of Saginaw history we proudly display throughout the funeral home. (See the next photo for a detailed explanation.)
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The History of this Stained Glass WindowIn 1938, funeral home founder Balthas G. Gugel moved his business, the Gugel Funeral Home, into the former private residence of lumber pioneer and mill owner, Washington S. Green, at 419 N. Michigan Ave. Built in 1864, the home incorporated many features common of the era, including wood walls, hand-crafted wood moldings, stair banisters and built-ins, high ceilings, thick solid wood doors and several stained glass windows.Led by our father, Harold Wakeman, the funeral home was moved from the former lumber mansion to the current location in February 1985.Prior to the former building being razed in 2012, several items were removed and salvaged for historic preservation, including this section of stained glass, which was located on the first floor in the main chapel of the funeral home, depicted on the left side in the above photograph.The window was purchased directly from the salvage company by a member of the Wakeman family and was later set into this frame. This beautiful remnant was then generously presented to Brian and Rodney Wakeman for the purpose of hanging in the funeral home as a permanent and meaningful reminder of our firm’s long history in Saginaw. Additional work to incorporate backlighting into the window to reveal its beautiful colors was completed on May 2, 2023, and placed here for display.
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The Meaning of a FuneralThe main purpose of our work is to help our client families begin their lives following the death of their loved ones. The funeral is for that purpose. This reminder of the purpose of a funeral assures families that their loved ones mattered and is displayed in the family lounge.
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Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc.
Wakeman Funeral Home, Inc.
