94 | FDANZ - Campbell & Sons/Affinity Funerals COMMUNITY Providing a fitting farewell for loved ones Campbell & Sons Funeral Services recently merged with Alexandra-based Affinity Funerals, broadening its reach to service the Otago region. T T Russell Fredric Over 125 years and four generations, Campbell & Sons Funeral Services have serviced its community, offering a “safe pair of hands” to grieving families and friends looking for a fitting farewell for loved ones. The Mosgiel-based business was owned and run by Robert and Gaynor Campbell for more than 50 years until about five years ago when it was taken over by the new generation of Campbells – Clark (the eldest brother), Adam and Jared, a non-working director. The company recently merged with Alexandra-based Affinity Funerals which has considerably broadened its reach to service the Otago region, as far as the West Coast. The merger has been a great fit for both companies, Clark says. “Providing an amazing service and giving back to our community is what we’ve always done.” “My dad left school at 17 to take over the family business when his father died suddenly. Serving this community at the time when they need us the most is incredibly important to us, as is giving back to the community. “So it’s pretty rare to find a business like Affinity, with the same values and the same approach to providing a unique and individualised service for the people we work with.” Both businesses focus on creating a celebration of the unique life that has passed, including more bespoke funerals that match the life, personality and passions of the deceased. Some of their recent past funerals have included holding memorials on a mountain top, in a hangar with a line-up of favourite cars and on family farms. Clark, 43, who has been working for the company for 17 years, says he has seen a lot of changes to the way funerals are held over the years. For instance, there is a trend towards smaller private funerals, partly related to people living longer and having a smaller circle of family and friends when they die, or direct cremations, where a person is cremated without a service and the ashes simply interred. To meet this demand, Campbell & Sons is currently building its own crematorium in Mosgiel. “Providing an amazing service and giving back to our community is what we’ve always done.” Clark strongly believes regardless of the size of the funeral, it is an important part of the grieving process to acknowledge the loss through the tangible visual and emotional aspects of a commemoration. “We have some experience now about loss in lockdown and not being able to have a funeral service; a lot of people have had loved ones pass away and they haven’t seen them for the last two or three weeks of life. “That’s having lasting repercussions on the grieving process, which everyone moves through differently. There’s been a lot of disenfranchised grief through lockdown.” Where a funeral has not be able to be held due to Covid restrictions, Campbell & Sons have tried to facilitate a memorial service at a later date where possible. · MOSGIEL’S FAVOURITE FLORIST · www.sendflowers.co.nz · est.1970 Two young vibrant f lower lovers Lush f loral s | Dai ly del iver ies 109 Gordon Road Mosgiel 03 489 7718 ghf . sendf lowers@gmai l . com www. sendf lowers . co.nz
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