OUR HERITAGE

CENTRAL CHAPEL--a home for funerals...

The Central Funeral Chapel was built in 1985 by Donald J. Feeley. The establishment of the Central Chapel came as the frution of a lifetime dream and the life's work of Don and Regina Feeley. Don Feeley had originally been a Chicago Fireman, became a Funeral Director/Embalmer and built a reputation as one of the finest embalming and restoration specialists in Chicago, lending his expertise to a score of prominent Chicago funeral firms for decades. The vision of the Central Funeral Chapel came about as a result of Feeley seeing the need for an owner-operated funeral home on the southwest side in view of more and more firms selling out to national funeral chains. In fact, Feeley strategically built Central Chapel 4 blocks from a Blake-Lamb Chapel, which was no longer owned by the Lamb Family but run as part of the nationwide SCI Dignity chain. Don Feeley's concept was to serve one family at a time--one chapel, one director, one location. His wife, Regina, put ot use her flair for decorating to create homelike setting and "living room comfort" at the Central Chapel. It had all the amenities of a large firm: spacious coffee and reception room, on-premise casket and urn display yet not the higher costs and impersonalization that we often experience when dealing with large institutions. Don Feeley died in 2004. After that time, his wife continued to run the business with the help of licensed personnel. In December of 2010, Robert Moynihan took over the Funeral Directing and management responsibilities for Central Funeral Chapel.

Lane - Moynihan...something old, something new

Something old...

Lane Moynihan Funeral & Cremation, LLC is the successor to the Ketcham Funeral Chapel, one of Chicago's oldest and finest funeral firms. Established in 1883 by Frank Herbert Ketcham, its original location was near 43^rd & Dearborn in Chicago. Their long time funeral chapel at 5522 S. Halsted St., was opened soon after and was the quintessential old fashioned undertaking parlor. It had an office, preparation facilities, and a small funeral chapel, as most wakes at that time were held in the homes. The business grew and expanded with the opening of Ketcham's Evergreen Park Funeral Chapel at 2955 W. 95^th St. By the 1950's, house wakes had become obsolete and the Ketcham's saw the need for a larger funeral chapel. In 1954, the closing of both Ketcham Funeral Chapels gave way to the building of the new Ketcham Funeral Chapel at 2036 W. 79^th St., Chicago. This was the first funeral home built in the city of Chicago with air-conditioning and included several drawing rooms or parlors as well as a formal service chapel with pews.

In the late 60's, the Ketcham's retired to Arizona and left the funeral business. The business was left in very capable hands as the Ketcham's sold it to their longtime manager, Leonard E. Tobuch. Len Tobuch earned a reputation as an able funeral home manager and stickler for details as the manager of Doty & Son, later Doty-Panozzo Funeral Home in Roseland. Len Tobuch was also well respected within the funeral profession as an expert in restoration and embalming procedures. As many of the families served by Ketcham Chapel moved further southwest and into the suburban communities, Len Tobuch relocated the Ketcham Chapel in 1974 to 2929 W. 87^th St., Evergreen Park. The Ketcham Chapel continued as an independent funeral firm while leasing office and chapel space at the Brady-Gill Funeral Home. Upon the sudden death of Len Tobuch in 1983, Robert J. Moynihan became owner of Ketcham Chapel and continued the business.

Moynihan grew up in Evergreen Park and was very active in the community. He became the youngest president of the Evergreen Park Chamber of Commerce in 1990. Moynihan started in the funeral business in high school working wake duty for Ketcham Chapel and Brady-Gill Funeral Home. He attended St. Louis University and graduated in 1982 from the Worsham College of Mortuary Science with high honors in Funeral Directing and Mortuary Management. Before starting Worsham College, Moynihan was offered a position by James Melka, founder and owner of Beverly Ridge Funeral Home in Mt. Greenwood and adjacent to Evergreen Park. Moynihan served his apprenticeship at Beverly Ridge Funeral Home, where he continued working until 1983. Moynihan could never over estimate the value of having worked for Jim Melka and Len Tobuch. Jim Melka was a self made funeral success story who had a reputation as a sterling funeral director in the community and a reputation as a perfectionist within the funeral industry. Moynihan joined a dozen other funeral directors who received superb training from Melka and Tobuch on their way to owning their own funeral businesses. As opposed to most funeral homes in the area that tended to serve only the ethnic group that the funeral home owner identified with, Ketcham Funeral Chapel and Beverly Ridge Funeral Home served the entire community, all the churches, every ethnic culture.

Moynihan left Beverly Ridge in 1983 to become Vice-President/Managing Partner of the Lain-Fern Chapel in Beverly from 1983 to 1987 in conjunction with Ketcham Chapel. Moynihan left Lain-Fern in 1987 to expand his own business with the acquisition of Kelly-Carroll Funeral Home in Brighton Park, the founding of Ketcham & Moynihan Livery and the American Cremation Society. Later, Moynihan acquired the Mt. Greenwood Funeral Home in 1990 and the Paterson Funeral Home in 1991.

Moynihan left the funeral business in 1994 to pursue other interests including finishing his bachelor degree and attending seminary. In 2003, Moynihan obtained a Master of Divinity degree with concentration in Worship and Preaching  from Catholic Theological Union at Chicago. Moynihan sold all of his funeral holdings when he left the funeral business except for Ketcham Chapel. During these years, Michael Heeney, one of the best and most respected funeral directors on the southwest side, third generation owner of Heeney-Laughlin Sons Funeral Home managed the Ketcham Chapel while Moynihan served as advisor and consultant.

Something new...

In 2006, Moynihan decided to bridge his two careers by returning to funeral service. This was inspired by what Moynihan observed among funeral consumers as an increase in desire for simplicity and cremation which many funeral firms seemed unable to respond to adequately. Many confuse the desire for simplicity with a lack of appreciation for the need to help families personalize and create meaningful tributes. Moynihan also observed a decrease in religious significance for many consumers who struggle to find meaningful ways to honor their loved ones without a caring funeral service professional. Moynihan also believes the eruption of so-called "cremation services" all over the place have fallen short of providing distinctive and affordable service to the community.

Moynihan continued the Ketcham Chapel and his own funeral service practice in Chicagoland with the establishment of Lane-Moynihan Funeral & Cremation, LLC, in 2006. Moynihan accepted an invitation from Lack & Sons Funeral Home in Hickory Hills to locate Lane-Moynihan in their facility. Lack & Sons, established in 1916, has a beautiful funeral home that has been designed with living room comfort in mind. It is a funeral home that "isn't like all the other funeral homes." Lane-Moynihan maintains office space at Lack & Sons and operates much of its business there. Additionally, Lane-Moynihan has affiliations in place throughout Chicagoland to serve families locally.

Bob Moynihan was contacted in late 2006 by a corporate recruiter inviting him to take on the management of four south suburban funeral homes. So, in addition to Lane-Moynihan, Bob Moynihan served from 2006-2010 as Managing Partner/Funeral Director for Lain-Sullivan Funeral Home & Crematory and Hirsch West End Chapels in the far southern suburbs.

The unique contribution Lane-Moynihan makes to 21^st century Funeral Service in the southwest Chicago area is that it integrates tradition with innovation, affordability with distinction, providing all of this by a seasoned funeral director and a century of service by our founders. Read more about our pledge at whats_new.html

Lane and Lain...what's in a name?

Robert Moynihan was Managing Partner of the Lain-Fern Chapel which was a successor firm to Lain & Son. Lain & Son was, for decades, the largest funeral firm in Chicago enjoying a reputation for affordable excellence. DeWitt N. Lane was a pioneer in the Morgan Park neighborhood and the owner of Lackore, Nichols and Lane Funeral Home. When Mr. Lane closed his funeral home, he relocated his business to Beverly Ridge Funeral Home where Bob Moynihan became acquainted with him during his years of training. They enjoyed a good friendship until Dewey's death in1990. Mr. Lane was the kind of funeral director that he was as a person and family man: friendly, honest, and sincere.

Bob Moynihan worked with and for some of the best funeral directors in Chicago, and learned different things from each of them. Although he had a business connection to Lain-Fern Chapel and a friendship with DeWitt Lane, the name Lane is employed as a trade name and does not claim any business succession to Lane or Lain.

If you have any questions about our past or our future, please feel free to call us 708-857-7050 or e-mail us.