Oliver's Funeral Home and Crematorium

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Oliver's Funeral Home and Crematorium

Oliver’s Funeral Home: serving Grande Prairie and the Peace Region since 1915

Apr 21, 2021 | 4:48 PM

For over 100 years, Oliver’s Funeral Home has been serving Grande Prairie and the Peace Region.

Before moving to Grande Prairie in 1914, James Bowes (J.B.) Oliver was gaining experience in the funeral service industry. J.B. was working in Calgary assisting in general duties in a funeral home, while also working as a bronco buster. He moved on from that and began a new job installing elevators in the first Swift packing plant in Edmonton, and then tried his hand in real estate.

Though officially established in 1915, the first documented calls for funeral services ran by J.B. were made in 1914, when he was just a man with a horse-drawn cart. In some of those cases, the services were paid for in livestock and garden vegetables.

In September 1915, Oliver’s Funeral Home was officially established, and began working in earnest to provide funeral services for the region.

At the same time, J.B. was operating an ambulance service, which Oliver’s continued to operate until the service was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in 1973.

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In 1917, Oliver signed up for World War I, and handed over the funeral home to Frank Donald. On his way back to Grande Prairie in 1919, J.B. took a stone cutting course so he could start making headstones upon his return to the funeral business.

In 1920, J.B. married Annie Partlow, and the couple had four daughters.

J.B. and Annie Oliver

J.B. expanded on the success of the funeral home in 1923 by building a new store at Grande Prairie’s main intersection, 100 Street and 100 Avenue. There he opened J.B. Oliver Furniture, which he ran while also maintaining his operation as an undertaker.

Oliver’s shop in 1935

J.B. stands beside a chair inside the J.B. Oliver Furniture store

In 1951, a separate building was constructed to house the funeral business.

Oliver’s Funeral Home in 1951

That same year, Laurie Little, the husband of Joan Oliver and son-in-law of J.B., joined the funeral business.

Laurie and Joan Little

The pair ran the service together until October of 1967 when J.B. passed away, at which point Laurie took over the business.

In 1970, they moved the funeral home to their new building on 102 St., where Laurie ran the service for the next year.

Oliver’s Funeral Home in the 1970s

Laurie sold the funeral home to Roger and Denise Winnicky in 1971.

Denise and Roger Winnicky

Oliver’s Funeral Home was remodelled in 1983, upgrading the office and showroom spaces and installing a crematorium.

In 1994 the Grande Prairie Funeral Chapel opened as a second location, and in 2000 the two locations merged as Oliver’s Grande Prairie Funeral Chapel.

Inside the Oliver’s Funeral Home chapel in the early 2000s

The Winnicky family owned and operated the funeral service for 40 years before selling the business to Gene Krause and Jenn Dodd in 2011.

Jenn Dodd and Gene Krause

In 2015, as the funeral home marked its 100-year anniversary, the owners changed the company’s name to Oliver’s Funeral Home and held a big celebration that included the dedication of the J.B. Oliver Park in honour of the funeral home’s founder.

J.B. Oliver Park dedication

In 2017, Chris Clements, a Pastor at Christian Fellowship Assembly Church, purchased the funeral home from Jenn Dodd and became partners with Krause.

The pair ran the company together for a year before Krause, who had worked in the funeral service industry for nearly 40 years, sold his shares and stepped down as owner in 2018. Krause remained a part of the Oliver’s team as a funeral director until September 2020, when he retired.

Clements then formed a partnership with Tracy and Craig McFee, who had been part of the Oliver’s team since 2016.

Left to right: Chris Clements, Tracy McFee, Craig McFee

Over the course of the 100 plus years of serving Grande Prairie and the Peace Region, Oliver’s has been able to serve communities as far as Grande Cache and Peace River.

Along with hosting funeral services, Oliver’s offers grief counselling, community outreach programs, programs to help people overcome the stigma of talking about death, headstones, and funeral and estate planning.

Oliver’s also holds many events to engage the community, including the annual Flag Retirement Ceremony and the Canada Day BBQ, which is used to raise money for local charities.

Oliver’s had to adapt to a more virtual-based model in 2020 and will take the knowledge gained from the year into the future as they continue to provide funeral services for Grande Prairie and the Peace Region.

Inside the Oliver’s Funeral Home and Crematorium chapel in 2020

Oliver’s offers caskets, urns and headstones in a range of styles

(Photo’s courtesy of Oliver’s Funeral Home and Crematorium and Liam Verster)