ABOUT US OUR HISTORY

Over 100 years ago, Frank Wiefels established the first funeral parlor in a vast region of desert and mountain wilderness of the Wild West.

Frank Joseph Wiefels was born in Krefeld Germany in 1860 and migrated to Grand Rapids, Michigan (then the U.S furniture capital of the time) in the 1880's to establish his cabinet and upholstery business.

There, he met and married Francis Dawson. At the time, the furniture and funeral business were very intertwined, as many furniture companies made caskets, and Frank decided to attend embalming school in Memphis in the 1890's.

From there they moved to Stockton, California, where their only child Harold Francis Wiefels was born. It was the same year Frank served in the Spanish-American War.

Later, in 1907, Frank moved the family to Banning, California, a noted TB treatment location with the hopes of helping his ailing wife. There he opened a furniture store on South San Gorgonio Street.

At the turn of the century, Banning was a small but growing farming community without anyone to provide the needed care and facilities when a death occurred. Frank saw an opportunity with his experience and schooling and opened the Banning Undertaking Company in 1908.

Frank had a huge, untamed territory to cover from the High Desert down to the Coachella Valley and west toward Riverside and the Redlands Valley. He was often called upon in the middle of the night to ride his buggy out, filled with gear, a laying-out board and gravity bottles for embalming, to Palm Springs, 29 Palms, Indio or even as far as the Salton Sea. Preparation of the deceased was done in the family's home, often just a shack lit by lanterns and with no running water.

About 1915, Harold F. Wiefels was taken into the business and the name changed to Wiefels & Son Funeral Directors. Frank and Harold worked together until Harold and his wife, Mary Thompson Wiefels, bought the business in 1928.

Harold and Mary ran the business with the same dignity and thoughtfulness that the community had grown to expect from the Banning Undertaking Company. Harold's death in 1934 left Mary to continue the family business with the assistance of her brother Bert Thompson. The death of Bert in 1945 left Mary again with little help in running the business. Her son Howard, just home from WWII, with plans of continuing at UCLA and becoming a lawyer changed, and instead he attended embalming school and took over the family business.

In 1948, Howard saw the need for mortuary and ambulance services in the desert area, he moved to Palm Springs and opened the Vella Road location. In the next several years, additional locations in 29 Palms and Yucca Valley were added covering the entire desert and pass areas.

Howard married Diana Jane Sullivan and had two children, Michael and Lori Ann. Howard and Diana were both extremely active in the community. Howard as the Mayor of Palm Springs and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Desert Hospital and Diana as a volunteer for the Maternity Ward of Desert Hospital.

In 1994, Lori married Mark Matthews and they purchased the Palm Springs and high desert locations from Howard and Diana. In 2004, Michael married Lindsey Winther and they purchased the Banning location.

Today, our company expands throughout Southern California, including locations in Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, Twentynine Palms, and Oceanside.