|
The Freitag family has provided the Bridgeton area with the finest in quality
funeral services and facilities since 1897. Four generations have maintained an
excellent reputation for providing exceptional care and concern for the families
that turn to them in their hour of need. Founder, William Franklin Garrison was
born and raised ion a farm in nearby Deerfield Township. He decided that a
farmer’s life was not his destiny, and therefore chose to become a funeral
director. At the turn on the century, it was the custom for funerals to be held
in the homes of the family or in churches. In 1936, William F. Garrison
renovated his Laurel Street residence and offered it as Bridgeton’s first
funeral parlor.
After her brother William’s tragic death from Tetanus in 1932, Florence Garrison
Freitag decided to apprentice with her father. A woman ahead of the times,
Florence became southern New Jersey’s first female licensed funeral director in
1934. When her father died in 1944, the funeral home’s name was changed to
William F. Garrison Memorial Home. In 1948, the name was changed to the Florence
Garrison Freitag and Son Funeral Home in order to comply with state regulations
that funeral homes operate under the licensee’s name.
The family tradition continued in 1950 when Florence’s son Harry A. Freitag Jr.,
age 22, became the youngest licensed funeral director and embalmer in New
Jersey. Harry and his mother operated the home at 319 North Laurel Street until
the present home at 137 West Commerce Street in Bridgeton was purchased in 1961.
Harry and his wife Carol Wilson Freitag have two sons: William Garrison Freitag,
a retired Lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police, and Kenneth Wilson
Freitag, a funeral director and owner of the Freitag Funeral Home. He received a
Bachelors Degree in Economics from Franklin and Marshall College and graduated
from Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science in 1983, then returned to Bridgeton
to become the manager of the Freitag Funeral Home.
Ken serves the community through his business and they also serve the community
in many other ways. Ken, a member and Trustee of the First Presbyterian Church,
has devoted many years to community service as a past President and current
board member of HospiceCare of South Jersey, President and board member of
Hopewell Crest School, board member and past Treasurer of Cumberland County
Guidance Center, Executive Committee of Southern New Jersey Council of Boy
Scouts, current member and past President of Bridgeton’s Lions Club and a member
of the West Jersey, New Jersey and National Funeral Director’s Association.
Ken said, “I know I speak for my entire family in saying my father, grandmother
and great-grandfather would be very proud to know that the family business has
continued for over one hundred years. Thank you for allowing our family to
continue to serve the greater Bridgeton area.”
|
|
-web.jpg)
