News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Ross Funeral owner Eric Ross sets out a guest book for an upcoming funeral while at the funeral home on Tuesday. Ross purchased the former Karpus Hunter Funeral Home after helping his father run a funeral home in Pickford and working at other funeral homes in Alpena.

ALPENA — Eric Ross’s father owned a funeral home in Pickford in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Ross grew up around the business and assisted his family in funeral management and operations.

Now, Ross has purchased the former Karpus Hunter Funeral Home in Alpena, changing the name to Ross Funeral Home. Ross purchased the business after serving as a funeral director at several other funeral homes in Alpena.

Ross said the move to own a funeral home and help those dealing with loss was a way to follow in his father’s footsteps and provide his children a path to do the same some day.

Ross said his family will run the funeral home, but he retained key staffers from Karpus Hunter to provide top-notch service and offer a sense of familiarity for people who worked with the previous owner.

“The whole thing is, I wanted to carry on my father’s legacy,” he said. “It is also a way to leave my kids something behind. And they are already taking interest in it. If things go as planned, the legacy of the Ross name will continue through my children and grandchildren, and, hopefully, this will become a multi-generational funeral home.”

So far, Ross said, more people than he expected have come to him to help plan and host funerals. He said he believes that is because he is active in the community and well-known and because of his past employment at other local funeral homes, where he assisted many people struggling with the death of a friend or loved one. He said working with grieving people takes a special type of person, someone who has a great deal of passion and understanding, and he said his family and staff meet that criteria.

“I honestly feel like I was put on this Earth to do this and to be there to help others during one of the hardest times they may have in their lives,” Ross said. “To be honest, my father was the very best funeral director I have ever seen, and I want to mimic him.”

Ross said that, although he only owns the one funeral home, he has larger plans for the future. He said he would like to expand outside of Alpena at some point if the right opportunity presents itself, but, for now, he just wants to make sure things at Ross Funeral Home are running strong.

“That is the plan, but, right now, I can’t really think about that too much,” he said. “But I can see the day where I own one or more other funeral homes in some of the surrounding communities.”

Ross said that, over the next year, people will see changes at the funeral home. Ross has already made improvements to the interior of the building, including new windows. He said a complete repainting of the nearly 100-year-old building is on the horizon and his new sign will be installed soon.

“I’m excited to be a part of the downtown and continue to be a part of the fabric of the Alpena community,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to service it and be there for it when it needs me.”