Mitchell-Auxter expands parking, adds website

This past year has brought many changes to the Mitchell-Auxter Funeral Home.

In August, the business raised the house and barn on its south side on South Main Street to allow the funeral home to expand its parking.

Throughout the fall, a local excavating firm, C.R. Gill, worked to fill-in the holes left by the basements of the two buildings. Gill brought in many loads of dirt and stone and used a vibra-roller to pack and level the ground.

Because of the fast-approaching winter, the Auxters' chose to wait for spring to pave and line the lot, according to a press release. This spring the funeral home will tear-up its existing asphalt lot, Gill will level-off both lots, and the entire space will be blacktopped at once.

This project will add 46 spaces to parking at the local business.

This fall Mitchell-Auxter was able to add another exit driveway; which is marked by new signs from Industrial Image. Already this driveway and the signs have added to the convenience of the parking lot.

Another change during 2007 was the creation of the company website, www.AuxterFuneralHomes.com.

This allows the funeral home to post obituaries, with pictures, of each person served.

In addition to the obituaries, family of the deceased can receive online condolences from friends around the world.

Mitchell-Auxter staff prints out each condolence and give it to the family, they reported.

Also on the website is a short write-up of the history of the funeral homes; beginning with the J.R. Beard Funeral Home and continuing through the present. Each employee also has a biography on the "About Us" page, according to the press release.

In September, Hannah Auxter returned home from college and began serving her embalming and funeral directing apprenticeship with the family business.

She graduated cum laude in May 2006 from Wittenberg University with a bachelor's degree in business management. She then went on to the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science and graduated, as valedictorian, in September 2007. Her apprenticeship will be complete in September 2008.

Hannah Auxter will then take the Ohio licensing tests in order to obtain both her embalmer's and funeral director's licenses.

Mitchell-Auxter already has the only female funeral director in Clyde, Melinda Auxter, and in October will have the only female embalmer and funeral director in the community with Hannah Auxter, according to a press release.