A life & death business
By CINDY WOJDYLA , CAIN
JOLIET — Tezak funeral home is ready to embrace eco-friendly funerals.
No one has asked for a “green” funeral yet, but when they do, the 100-year-old business will be ready to accommodate them, said Amy Rodrigue, office manager and pre-arrangement counselor for the funeral home her great-grandfather started in 1908.
Embracing funeral industry trends is one of the ways the family-owned business has survived and flourished for a century. Each generation of Tezaks has brought something new to the business to keep pace with changing times.
For instance, Jack Tezak, who co-owns the business with his brother, Dick, oversaw construction of a new funeral home at 1211 Plainfield Road. The home, which changed its name to Tezak’s Celebration of Life last year, opened in 2001, and business has doubled since then, Jack said.
The Tezaks have embraced all the technological and sociological changes in the funeral industry in recent years. They have video capabilities and can host any religion and accommodate any type of personalization.
“I’ve seen people bring in fishing poles and baseball bats,” Amy said of the trend toward personal mementoes and music as parts of funeral services.
Now Amy is ready to add her touch to the business. She plans to use her biology degree to help the business go green with ramped up recycling efforts.
Tezak’s also can help people arrange green funerals with eco-friendly embalming fluids and eco pods, which are biodegradable caskets. The only thing the funeral home can’t offer is a green burial, that is, one without a grave liner or vault. No cemeteries in the area allow such a thing, Amy said.
Cremation isn’t as eco-friendly as burial because it uses fuel for the cremation process and spews emissions into the air, she explained. That’s why many European countries and areas in California are shifting to earth-friendly burial techniques.
“If you want to have zero carbon footprint, cremation isn’t what you want,” she said.
Amy said she wants to use her special education degree to start offering classes on death and dying at the funeral home, too.
Funeral family
So far, Amy is the first member of the fourth generation of the Tezak family to enter the business. And she may have just given birth to a fifth-generation funeral home owner. Her son, Alexander, is 4 months old.
“He has a bib that says, ‘Funeral Director in Training,’” Amy said.
Amy, 31, planned to move to Minnesota this summer but changed her mind just a couple of weeks ago. She said she just couldn’t stand the idea of someone who wasn’t family owning the business.
Her great-grandfather John started the business when he was 21. His wife, Jean, took it over when he died in 1928. The couple’s son, Dick Tezak, ran it until he handed it over to his two sons. Amy said she is comfortable in the biz because she grew up in and around the old funeral home on Ottawa Street in downtown Joliet.
“I used to do my homework sitting in a flat-top casket,” she said.
The long haul
Her dad, Jack, and Uncle Dick are in their mid-50s, and they’ll be retiring eventually. Amy is preparing to take the reins, and her dad is thrilled.
“It’s great,” Jack said. “I was very happy when she decided to do that.”
That type of family commitment to the business is the other secret to the Tezak funeral home’s longevity, Jack said. And that’s one of the reasons the family hasn’t expanded to other locations.
By staying in one building, the Tezaks can oversee most of the funerals and make sure customer service standards remain high.
“We’ve been in business this long because we treat people fairly,” Dick said.
To mark the funeral home’s 100th anniversary, the family has scheduled a celebration from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s Park, 700 Theodore St., Joliet. There will be a polka mass at the Grotto at 4 p.m. and dinner and music by Bob Doszak from 5 to 8 p.m.
“It’s a party,” Jack said. “It’s a thank you to everybody for all of their support for the last 100 years.”
For more information on the funeral home, go to www.tezakfuneralhome.com or call (815) 722-0524.