Funeral home gets new lease on life

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/08/2018 (2809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A North Winnipeg institution is expanding into the Park City.

Late last month, W. Cropo Ltd., which runs the Cropo Funeral Chapel at 1442 Main St. and a crematorium in St. Andrews, Man., purchased the former Transcona Funeral Home at 1800 Day St.

“We’re so excited to be here,” said Karen Leggat, one of the owners of Cropo Funeral Chapel. “We think it’s going to be a good fit for us. This community deserves a funeral home in their area that will give them what they’re looking for with honesty and integrity and caring above all.”

The 1800 Day St. business, formerly occupied by Wheeler Funeral Home, has been shuttered since March following allegations that Wheeler Funeral Home was misappropriating funds paid in trust. On July 31, the Funeral Board of Manitoba suspended the licence of funeral director Chad Wheeler, who is currently under investigation by Winnipeg police financial crimes unit. 

Cropo Funeral Chapel was founded in 1957. Leggat’s family bought the business in 2006.

“Caring above all is part of our brand, which is every family we serve we undertake to do that,” said Douglas Maughan, vice-president of Cropo Funeral Chapel. “But it goes deeper than that as well. We try to extend that to the community as a whole.”

“Transcona is a really nice fit for us,” Leggat said. “We work with all faiths to provide all kinds of service, anything from full traditional services to cremation, memorial services, celebrations of life, whatever it is people are looking for.”

According to Leggat, funeral services are just the beginning of a long journey for families of the deceased. At their Main Street location, Cropo partners with Palliative Care Manitoba to provide grief seminars once a month. 

“Families can come and participate, if they want, or just come and listen and not feel so alone,” Leggat said.

Having just completed a large renovation to their Main Street location, Cropo will be doing the same to the new Day Street location.

“What we want to do is refresh everything, to make it up to Cropo standards,” Leggat said. “We want this to be somewhere families can come in and feel comfortable and proud to have their service here. There’s a beautiful ceiling in the chapel that we’re looking to showcase.”

Leggat added that the layout of the new location is already accessible.

Once the renovations are complete, the full range of Cropo Funeral Chapel services will be available in Transcona.

“Sometimes families who come in don’t even know what they want,” Leggat said. “We’re a full service funeral home, we do it all, the whole gamut. Every life that’s lived is unique. It’s our responsibility to find out about that life, to find out about the family and to listen, in order to provide not only support, but a service and way of saying goodbye that makes sense to that family.”

Sheldon Birnie
Community Journalist

Sheldon Birnie is a reporter/photographer for the Free Press Community Review. The author of Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock (1990-2001), his writing has appeared in journals and online platforms across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. A husband and father of two young children, Sheldon enjoys playing guitar and rec hockey when he can find the time. Email him at sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca Call him at 204-697-7112

   Read full biography