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All in the family

Stanley’s Springan still going strong after 100 years

Cathy and Steve Springan stand at the counter of Springan Furniture, where an heirloom cash register holds a prominent place. The cash register remains in use. Jill Schramm/MDN

STANLEY – The history of America’s small towns is one of family-owned businesses, often handed down from generation to generation. In Stanley, the Springan family has kept two businesses thriving for 100 years and, along the way, have helped make sure the community shared the same kind of success.

Springan Furniture and Funeral Home, both owned and operated by Steve and Cathy Springan for the past 30 years, celebrate 100 years in the family this year. The relationship built with the community over the years is a major reason for the longevity.

“That’s our business – knowing our business and our customers, remembering their families,” Steve Springan said.

Bev Neset has seen the value of those customer relationships as a Springan employee since 1991.

“People like coming somewhere where they know the people and we remember them,” said Neset, who added it’s also about trust. “There’s nobody more respected for funerals or stores than Steve Springan.”

Steve Springan grew up in the business, delivering furniture and performing other odd jobs. He remembers his grandfather, Henry, stopping by the store to check on things.

Henry Springan proved up on his homestead near Wildrose and worked for a Stanley bank before buying the local furniture store and funeral parlor in 1917. The joint businesses had been established around 1910. Henry was the third owner in that short time, but Steve Springan said his grandfather clearly saw opportunity with the purchase.

Henry attended embalming school in Bottineau in 1918 and graduated in three months, according to a history by his son, Rolf. Henry was believed to be the first embalmer in the Stanley area.

H. Springan Furniture and Funeral Home moved from Main Street into its present building on First Avenue.

“The earliest recollections I have of the business were when they were both in one building,” wrote Rolf Springan, who bought his father’s business in 1958. “The embalming room and casket show room were both part of the back of the furniture store. The original hearse was horse drawn and the sides and back were carved to look like curtains. In about 1927 or 1928 my father bought a truck chassis and mounted the body of the old funeral coach on it which was the first gas driven coach he had.

“I also remember that at an early age I accompanied my father into homes where the embalming was done right there in their home. Some of these earlier days and nights were quite filled with fascinating impressions and experiences. We really worked under rather primitive conditions such as no electricity or running water.”

At one time in America’s history, furniture makers were called upon to build caskets, and many cabinet-makers trained in embalming to be able to offer undertaking services. Although a differentiation began occurring after the Civil War, it wasn’t unusual to see combination furniture/funeral homes around the country into the 20th Century, according to historians. Today, the numbers of the funeral homes and furniture stores under joint ownership are unknown, but the combination has been termed rare by those in the industry. Springan is the only funeral home in North Dakota connected to another business.

Along with providing furniture and funeral services, many of these early funeral homes also provided ambulance services. The Springan business was no exception. Steve Springan said family and staff would respond to calls with the hearse or family station wagon, typically taking a nurse along. Eventually, the service transitioned into a community-run ambulance service.

The Springans built a separate funeral home building in 1940 beside the furniture store.

“I helped some on the construction of this building,” Rolf Springan wrote. “When the funeral home was completed and we moved into it we were able to remodel and expand the furniture store.”

Rolf attended the University of North Dakota and graduated from mortuary college in Indiana in 1948, returning home to go into business with his father. In 1952, a fire in the furniture store led to its remodeling and improvement. In 1964, the store was torn down and the existing, larger structure built.

Rolf was the only one of six siblings who carried on from his father. His son, Steve, one of four siblings, followed in his father’s footsteps. Steve Springan said he never felt pressure from his parents to go into the business, but neither did he think, growing up, that he would do so. After attending college and then graduating from mortuary school on the West Coast, he came back to Stanley in 1976.

Springan said he still wasn’t convinced the family business would be his career path, but he could see his parents needed some help in the businesses. His offer of help turned into ownership in about 1986.

“Steve’s personality is to take care of people,” Cathy Springan said of her husband’s decision to assist his aging parents. “That’s a natural part of who he is.”

It’s a quality that enables him as funeral director to assist people in their grief, just as his father did. With deep roots in a small, rural community, the Springans often shared that grief in the deaths of friends, neighbors and even family.

“Rolf was the most compassionate, caring person,” Cathy Springan said. After Rolf died in 2005, his wife, Donna, continued to check in each morning at the businesses until her death in 2013, she said.

“She was the anchor,” Cathy Springan said of Donna, who not only provided the business acumen but worked to preserve memories associated with family and business history.

Steve Springan has his own memories of earlier days, before technology. One phone line rang into the funeral home, furniture store and both Rolf’s and Steve’s homes. A call to any of those places would ring in all four.

“Everybody was just sort of on call all the time,” Steve Springan said.

He said it was a nice change when separate phone lines were installed. Today, cell phones provide access without tying a person down at home, which is especially welcome in the funeral home business, where the Springans continue to offer 24-hour service, seven days a week.

The furniture business also has changed, starting with the disappearance of a number of furniture manufacturers.

“Companies have merged or are gone. They were all long-time, good American companies,” Steve Springan said. Customer needs have changed, too, as more frequent redecorating has diminished the importance of long-lasting products. Meanwhile, the industry has moved toward more specialization. Focusing on furniture, Springan Furniture no longer carries televisions and stereos or offers flooring or window covering installation.

What hasn’t changed is the need for businesses to support the local community. The Stanley community knows it can turn to Steve whenever there’s a project, a committee or an activity that needs a volunteer.

“He doesn’t know the word ‘no,’ very well,” Cathy Springan said with a smile.

Sara (Springan) Herr said her parents, along with many of their friends and fellow business owners, are pillars for the community.

“They serve on committees, support local businesses and advocate for the health and longevity of the community. They are active members of their church. They connect people with resources. They drive down main street and wave, whether or not the face is familiar. Our dad is one of the grand marshals of the annual 4th of July parade. At end of the parade, he and his co-grand marshal scoop horse poop off the streets. There is nothing he won’t do for his community,” she wrote in sharing the family’s story.

Herr lives in Missouri and her brother, Gregg, lives in Wisconsin.

Steve and Cathy Springan say this likely will be the last generation in family hands for the Springan companies. Someday, they expect to hand the keys to new – likely separate – owners. They would do so with pleasure if it keeps the businesses operating.

“I want to make sure we leave two businesses here,” Steve Springan said. “We serve northwest North Dakota so they are very good, viable businesses. We want them to continue.”

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