LeRette Funeral Chapel opens doors of brand new facility

Brian and Dawn LeRette are beginning a new chapter of the former Nelson-Boylan-LeRette Funeral Chapel.
The LeRettes officially moved into the new facility at 525 E. Ratliff Rd., a little more than two years after the Sept. 1, 2023, fire at the former location at 410 N. 6th St. that was destroyed by fire and forced them to relocate. Dawn said they initially operated out of their shed across the alley from the funeral chapel.
“We held services at churches in the community, and we relied on our colleagues around the area for use of their facilities.  We had our offices and met with families in our shed. “It worked out good because then we could be there when people came, because that is where they were used to go,” said Dawn.
The timing of the fire happened one day before Dawn’s brother’s wedding, nearly resulting in the loss of an extremely important family heirloom.
“We have a family Bible that my grandma carried in her wedding, along with my mom, my sisters and myself, and my brother’s bride was going to use it. I was able to tell the firefighters where it was, and they were able to save it for us. A family friend restored the Bible for us. Now my nephews are using it for their weddings,” commented Dawn.
From the day of the fire, even up to now, the LeRettes said the community outreach for them has been overwhelming, and people the day of the fire were bringing them things they didn’t even know they needed until they were given to them.
“It’s indescribable the amount of support that we had, and if you start naming individuals, it would be impossible to name them all. There were so many friends, family, and people that showed up for us. The community also had a benefit for us. Initially we were hesitant, but people kept asking how they could help, and some of our close friends proceeded with it,” stated Brian. “It was an overwhelming experience from our standpoint. We happened to show up that night, and there were so many people there for us that it was very humbling.”
After a few months, they moved operations to the former CDS building, which gave them the space to be completely operational.
“We are very thankful that we had that space to be in. We had to be a little creative in how we handled things when we were there, but it worked, the space was great. I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t available, and I thank the folks that owned that building,” Brian advised.
Dawn said they pondered the next steps, on whether to rebuild. Dawn said they decided that they needed to expand beyond the space afforded on 6th Street.
“We had outgrown that area and there were more regulations now than when that building was built in 1960. Parking was an issue, and so many people said that we needed more parking, and we knew we did too. We also wanted to eliminate having an elevator.  The former building had a basement, and we really didn’t want to have a basement anymore. We wanted everything on one level, so we needed to be able to have a space to spread things out, so we weren’t required to have that basement space. We were landlocked down there,” Dawn said.
After deciding to rebuild in a new location, Dawn said they looked at a few potential options.
“For months, we were looking around at existing buildings that we could renovate. We looked at locations that we could maybe tear down and build back up new, and we put offers on a couple places, but it didn’t work out.  We then started looking for land and what might be available.” commented Dawn. “We even had offers from communities outside of Red Oak, and we were humbled by the offers, but we decided we wanted to stay put in Red Oak.  We approached Marty and Larry Barnett about their land up here on Ratliff Road.”
The LeRettes had nothing but praise for how smoothly things went when they sought the land from the Barnetts.
“Larry and Marty were great. There are three lots here, and there was a section that had some regulations in it. They were able to take care of those regulations to make all the properties one unit. That helped out a lot. Also, since Larry and Marty have been in real estate for so many years, they knew what to look for and what we needed,” said Dawn. “All throughout the process, Larry told us that they wanted to make this work for us.”
The LeRettes were also appreciative of the assistance of the City of Red Oak, who provided them with some tax increment financing assistance. The project broke ground on March 24, and they moved in, including the computers and were operational on Sept. 17.
“We are here, and we are all set. We are ready to serve the community. It’s a very functional and nice facility where people can celebrate their loved ones,” stated Brian.
The building has a number of new features that were unavailable at the prior location, and they’ve virtually doubled in size from the former space. First and foremost is the updated exterior.
“The first thing is that we have an 80-stall parking lot, whereas before we only had five stalls, and street parking. We’ve also got the canopy. Which is very nice because we unloaded a lot of stuff in the rain the other day, and we were able to stay dry. You can fit about four cars underneath the canopy, and it can be used as a drop off zone,” advised Dawn.
Moving on into the interior, Dawn said right away visitors will notice how much larger the space is.
“The lobby is four times as big as our other one and it’s very comfortable. We also have two bathrooms in this new facility, whereas we only had one in the old location. We have a chapel that can seat up to 140 people as well,” said Dawn.
Brian said there are a number of other new features that he’s very excited about. 
“Now at the building, we have a community room where families can stay in following services if they choose. The community room also includes a kitchen. We’ve got a three-car garage, and we’re installing a video and sound system. We actually trained on using the new system last week. If we have a funeral with a large gathering, and they can’t all fit in the chapel, we can seat them in the community room and they can watch the video of the service on the monitors in the community room. We will also have the ability to record the services and post them to our website. We also have much more improved professional workspaces as well,” Brian explained. “We have larger grounds, and our neighbors are great. It’s a very pretty environment up here.”
While the building is brand new, Brian said the roots of the building are built on the brick and mortar of their former facility. After the building was demolished, the brick was crushed by Scott Wilson.
“He didn’t tell us at first. When he took all that debris down, they’ve got a machine that will pulverize brick and turn it into basically gravel. They started loading that in and compacted the footings for the building with that. It’s kind of amazing, because part of that building is here. It’s the foundation for this one. It was hard to see the old building be torn down. I started there in 1981. It was weird after the fire to not walk in the back door of that building. But I kept saying, I want something out of that building to be here,” advised Brian. “We had just redone the chapel in our old building. And we had all the wood from the pews. And I was wondering if there was something from the old building we could use at the new place to remember the legacy. After Scott did what he did, I got my wish. That’s what we got to use.”
With the move to the new space comes an official change to the name, and new beginnings.
“The first of the year we changed our name to LeRette Funeral Chapel. We had talked about it but hadn’t really acted on it. After the fire, we thought this was the time to do it. This new venture is Brian and I’s chapter in this journey. At this point, our heart and soul’s driven into all of this. However, we appreciate the Perrymans and the Nelsons and the Boylans, and we’re very appreciative to be a part of the legacy of what they started,” commented Dawn.
The LeRettes are pleased to have rebuilt and reinvested so strongly in the Red Oak community. Plans are for them to give back to everyone who supported them at a special event September 28.
“We’re having our grand opening open house celebration from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 28. The Mills-Montgomery County Cattlemen will grill, and “Reconciled,” our local Christian band, is going to sing and provide entertainment. We will offer door prizes, give tours and just have a good time. It’s our way of saying thank you to the community for all they have done to support us,” Dawn said.