Dodge Funeral Home has been serving the Middleton area community for many years. We’re thankful to be an important part of this community and will continue our longstanding legacy of helping families honor their loved ones.
In 1903, a dry goods merchant, Roy C. Dodge, decided that he needed to have more to do. He decided to take on funeral service. This was in Middleton, and as was the Practice at the time, embalming took place in the home, casket selection was done at the dry goods store, visitation was done in the palor of the deceased's home and funeral services were done in the area churches. Charles Maynard Dodge, a nephew to Roy, graduated from Worshams School of Mortuary Science in Chicago and came to work with him. Maynard bought the business from Roy in 1917, the year he married Veva Cumberworth. In 1923, Maynard Rosencrans, known as, Rosie, attended Worshams and received an embalmers license and started to work with Maynard Dodge.
In 1942 something new, funeral homes, were in vogue and Maynard bought the home, built in 1907, of Dr. Denny in Middleton and had it converted for the use of funerals. Maynard's son, C. Maynard Dodge, known as Junior, joined the firm in 1947 after graduating from Wayne State Univeristy and a stint in the Army in World War II.
Junior married Helen Mirna Dawley on September 7, 1949 and to this union four children were born. The only child interested in the funeral business was their second child, Charles Mark Dodge, who graduated from Wayne State Univeristy and joined the firm in 1976. Junior owned the business in the 1960's until his death in 1987 and Mark ran and owned the business from the late 1970's until he sold it to Paul C. Lux in 1992. Even though the funeral home has been added onto seven times, you can still see some of the original woodwork in the main chapel. Because Mark continued to work with Paul after selling the funeral home, the name remains the same as it was 66 years ago, Dodge Funeral Home.