History

In 1906 Charles Gordon and Jacob Hollinger formed a partnership and opened their business which consisted of undertaking and picture framing in a storeroom on Erie Street South, which they occupied for twenty-two years. They moved to the new funeral home, our present location in 1928 and continued to operate as Gordon and Hollinger.

The Funeral Home idea was comparatively new for this part of the country. Our founders proved their professional leadership and progressive ideals when they obtained a new site and established modern facilities.

Events of 1929 affected our organization which rapidly was becoming accepted by the community. On February 4 the funeral home was formally dedicated as a service institution to the people of Massillon and its surrounding communities. In December of the same year Mr. Hollinger passed away and the partnership was automatically terminated.

Mr. Gordon continued to operate the business until 1936 when another partnership was formed. The principals of the new firm consisted of Charles G. Gordon, one of our founders, his son Allen O. Gordon, and J. Albert Shaidnagle, Jr., a new firm member. Thus our present name dates from January, 1936. This partnership continued for eight years and was terminated by the untimely death of remaining founder, Charles G. Gordon.

Guy Atkinson joined the firm in 1961 and was the manager from 1978 to 1989. In 1967 the firm expanded to Navarre and both businesses are now named Atkinson Feucht Hare Funeral Homes.

In 1981 Atkinson Feucht was purchased by Service Corporation International. SCI introduced Dignity Memorial services to the community. This allowed the funeral home to offer bereavement travel, as well as a 24/7 confidential Compassion Helpline, and other services and discounts. In 2007 the funeral home was sold by SCI to Frank Lewis. This put the funeral home back into independent ownership. The name of the funeral home hasn’t changed and our mission remains the same and has been renewed. That is to provide service beyond expectation to Massillon and the surrounding communities in their time of need not just during the funeral, but also before and after the service.