Downtown building transformed into
new funeral home    

[APRIL 23, 2004]  The Bennett Funeral Home, located at 620 Pulaski St., will be officially open for business on April 24. The funeral home is owned by the husband-and-wife team of Christopher and Lesleigh Bennett, who together have over 11 years of experience working in the funeral home business. In addition to Christopher being a native to Lincoln, he is also a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and Reserves. He was a combat engineer and received an honorable discharge after serving from 1992 to 1999.

To turn the property -- which was purchased from Kingdom Life Ministries on Nov. 10, 2003 -- into a funeral home, the Bennetts hired mostly local talent and skills, with Webster Construction and painter Michael Simonson. The architect, J.H. Petty, is located in Springfield.

Commenting about the work that was done for them, Lesleigh Bennett said, "The end result turned out better than we were hoping for. We are so happy with the work they had done." In addition to creating a funeral home out of the property, the Bennetts have also converted the back part of the building into their living quarters.

The renovations include numerous changes. "We want to provide homelike comforts for the families," said Lesleigh. The homelike comforts include a private family lounge with a kitchen area. Along with the capability to form all guest lines inside the building, there will also be easy access to the building, and a carport that will be able to hold up to six vehicles for the funeral processions will be attached.

The ceremonial ribbon-cutting will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 24, with an open house to follow until 4 p.m. The open house will resume again on Sunday, April 25, from 1 to 4 p.m.

[Janell Woolard]