We are an independently owned and operated firm, serving the Greater Vancouver area since 1908. Since we were established in 1908, our philosophy and mission has been driven by care and compassion for the bereaved which is at the core of everything we do. 

Thomas James Kearney began coming to Vancouver in 1905. He was still operating his General Store in Bonanza Creek during the Klondike Gold Rush, but on a visit to Vancouver Tom fell in love with a lovely young local girl by the name of Catherine O’Connor. Although a professional Opera singer by trade, Catherine also helped her mother Brigit O’Connor lay out the deceased when a death occurred in their parish.

Tom thought he’d get close to Catherine if he started working with the funeral directors, and shortly after when an opportunity came to invest in the funeral home Green Simon & Lamp Co., Thomas took it. The struggling business needed more and more help and ultimately Tom moved to Vancouver to work there full time. He soon bought out the partners, becoming the sole owner in 1908. Thomas and Catherine were married July 16, 1915 and had three children Ellen, Edmund and Francis (Frank) Kearney. In 1927, Thomas was asked and agreed to become a partner in a second funeral company, the Columbia Funeral Chapel in New Westminster, B.C. Tom ran the businesses successfully until an unfortunate fall forced him to retire in 1932. 

Young Frank left college and returned home to help rebuild the family business. His sister Ellen headed south to the California College of Mortuary Science where she and her dear friend Ruth Emerson became the first women ever to be licensed as funeral directors in California. Frank Kearney died suddenly of an asthma attack in 1975, leaving his sister Ellen (Kearney) Crean and her two sons, Thomas and Michael to continue the family business.

Today the Kearney family serves the Lower Mainland from four locations — Vancouver, New Westminster, Surrey/Cloverdale, and now Burnaby.

Kearney Funeral Services

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