About Us
We are dedicated to serving all people with dignity, care and compassion. We follow a strict code of ethics and treat everyone with utmost respect. We are locally owned and are involved members of the community. This involvement and family ownership assures you that not only are you dealing with your neighbor and possibly your friend but also with someone who has a deep sense of community and pride in ownership. We take great pride in our professional reputation as clinicians of mortuary science and of our care and sensitivity to the families we serve.
We are dedicated to serving all people with dignity, care and compassion. We follow a strict code of ethics and treat everyone with utmost respect. We are locally owned and are involved members of the community. This involvement and family ownership assures you that not only are you dealing with your neighbor and possibly your friend but also with someone who has a deep sense of community and pride in ownership. We take great pride in our professional reputation as clinicians of mortuary science and of our care and sensitivity to the families we serve.
History of Abbott Funeral Home
The history of Abbott Funeral Home of Wabasha can be traced back to the late 1800’s. The McDonald family operated the funeral home and furniture store in a building on Main Street. In 1920 E. B. Wise purchased the businesses and operated both businesses there until moving the funeral home to 2nd Street in 1949, converting the old Standard Oil filling station to the funeral home.
In 1960, James D. “Jake” Abbott and family moved from St. Paul, MN, where he worked for O’Halloran and Murphy Funeral Home, to Wabasha, purchasing the businesses from Mr. Wise and naming the funeral home Abbott-Wise Funeral Home. In 1989, Jake’s son, James E. “Jim” Abbott, and his wife, Claire (Marx) and their three children moved back to their hometown from Austin, MN, where Jim worked for several years for the Clasen-Jordan Mortuary and purchased the business from his father. They renamed the business Abbott Funeral Home.
In 1992, Jim purchased the Buckman-Schierts-Koch Funeral Home, also a long time funeral home in Wabasha, and incorporated that concern into his building. Having outgrown the building and the desire to present a modern, pleasing and functional funeral home, Jim acquired two adjacent pieces of properties and built a new facility. The new building was opened in June of 2000, the old building then being demolished and the space being converted to parking. We are pleased to offer this facility to the people of our area.
With the transition into the next part of his career, Jim sold the funeral home to Douglas Penning in June of 2018.
Our Core Values
Integrity: We strive to be honest at all times with those we are honored to serve.
Genuineness: We strive to present ourselves sincerely and in non-defensive ways as we provide excellent service.
Respect: We relate to each other as staff and those we serve with respect. This involves a receptive attitude that embraces others’ feelings, opinions and uniqueness. This mutual respect allows us to serve our customers together – as a team. We practice teamwork and cooperation.
Empathy: We strive to understand people beyond just the factual content of interactions. We are alert to the feelings that loss creates and attempt to be sensitive in all of our interactions.
Warmth and caring: We strive to provide service in a warm and caring environment. Those we serve should both see and feel this in their interactions with us.
Gratitude: We feel honored and privileged that families have come to us to help them at this difficult time. We have passion for what we do, and people sense this in our commitment to help them to the best of our ability.
Leadership: As “gatekeepers of the funeral ritual,” we play an important role in our communities. It is our responsibility to help families create meaningful, personalized funerals and educate the people of our communities about the value of funerals.
Knowledge and skills: We believe that part of providing leadership is to be certain that our staff has in-depth knowledge of the individual elements of ceremony (visitation, music, symbols, actions, etc.). We recognize that many families lack the knowledge of why funerals are important in integrating loss into life. Therefore, our staff must possess the knowledge and skills to assist families. We encourage an attitude of lifelong learning for our staff and believe that people who continue learning throughout their lives never forget they have more to learn. We believe we are well served to continue to think of ourselves as students.
Our Code of Ethics
- As funeral directors, we herewith fully acknowledge our individual and collective obligations to the public especially to those we serve and our mutual responsibilities for the proper welfare of the funeral service profession.
- To the public we pledge: vigilant support of public health laws; proper legal regulations for the members of our profession; devotion to high moral and service standards; conduct befitting good citizens; honesty in all offerings of service and merchandise and in all business transactions.
- To those we serve we pledge: confidential business and professional relationships; cooperation with the customs of all religions and creeds; observance of all respect due the deceased; high standards of competence and dignity in the conduct of all services; truthful representations of all services and merchandise.
- To our profession we pledge; support of high educational standards and proper licensing laws; encouragement of scientific research; adherence to sound business practices; adoption of improved techniques; observance of all rules of fair competition; maintenance of favorable personal relations.