Our Founder, Hector Verhoeve, was born in Tillsonburg, and grew up on a tobacco farm near Mabee’s Corners. He was proud of the fact that he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens and sent to a farm team in Seaforth, Ontario. He ended up living with a funeral director there, and began helping out at the funeral home on weekends. Although he excelled at hockey, he decided to enter the funeral industry when he finished high school. After completing his apprenticeship, Hector started Verhoeve Funeral Home (Langton) in 1958. In 1974, Hector bought the former Barrie-Armstrong Funeral Home in Tillsonburg. Both locations are well-established to this day, and have served four generations of some families.
Maurice Joseph Verhoeve, Hector’s eldest son, follow in his father’s footsteps. From the age of ten, he assisted Hector in various ways around the funeral home. Upon graduating from Annandale High School, Maurice pursued his post-secondary education at Humber College. He obtained a “Funeral Director’s Ontario License Class 1” in 1982, graduating with honours and achieving the highest marks in two courses of significance. Maurice was mentored by his late father, Hector D. Verhoeve, who had high standards of funeral service that he strictly upheld.
Following Hector’s sudden passing in 2015, Maurice has run the day-to-day operations of both funeral home locations. He formally purchased the businesses in early 2016. As the owner of Maurice J. Verhoeve Funeral Homes-Burial and Cremation Services Inc., Maurice Verhoeve continues to make every effort to treat others in the same way he would want to be treated.
Maurice’s son, Robert Hector David Verhoeve, has worked alongside both his grandfather, Hector, and his father, Maurice, since the summer of 2010. In 2016, Robert graduated from the University of Guelph with distinction, completing two Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degrees, in Criminal Justice & Public Policy and Sociology. Robert has decided, after careful consideration, to work on a permanent basis alongside his father.
In September 2017, both Robert and Krystyna (Maurice’s youngest daughter), entered Humber College - North Campus to pursue formal designations as licensed funeral directors. Having completed the formal schooling portion of their education, both Robert and Krystyna are now funeral director interns at the Tillsonburg and Langton locations.
"The funeral service is a vocation and a respected profession. It is truly an honour and a privilege to be chosen by a family that is facing the prospects of a loss."
- Maurice Verhoeve