The tradition of caring for families began when Leonard C. Arn moved to Norwich to purchase the Addison Funeral Home from Byron Addison in June of 1907. The funeral home was then named L.C. Arn Funeral Residence. In 1925, Anson B. Arn, son of Leonard, obtained his embalmer’s license. Anson joined his father as a partner of the funeral residence, which then was named L.C. Arn & Son Funeral Residence.
In 1931, the Arn’s rented a building, converted one half into a funeral chapel, the other half into furniture sales. In 1938, the Couzen’s residence, which was located beside the funeral residence, was purchased. In the fall of 1938, the new location was open as a modern funeral residence. In 1945, Leonard C. Arn passed away. Anson then assumed ownership and changed the funeral residence name to A.B. Arn & Son. Anson’s son Roy, who became the third generation of the family business, became partner and operated the business with his father until Anson’s death in 1963.
Roy assumed ownership, changed the name to Arn & Son Funeral Residence. Roy operated the business till the summer of 1993. He then sold the family business to owner Bill Lockie, who renamed the funeral residence to The Arn-Lockie Funeral Home. Roy assisted Bill until his death in 2005.
July 1, 2016, Bill and Sandy Lockie sold the business after 23 years of dedicated service to the town of Norwich and Oxford County. The Lockie’s sold the business to Allison and Mardy Fransen. Allison and I, and son Josh, moved to Norwich, and reside above the funeral home. A long-time tradition that was established by the Arn family. As the new owners, tradition is very significant to Allison and I, and we are not intending on making any changes to the funeral home, or the level of service, that Bill Lockie has provided to the community over the last 23 years.
It is my hopes, to carry on with the traditions that have been established, and to simply add my own personal level of care. I believe Bill and I have a similar philosophy with respect to the profession of Funeral services, that being to provide care and empathy to families in a dignified manner, at a very difficult time. I have been a licensed funeral director since 1997, where I started my Funeral services career at the McCleister Funeral Home, in Brantford. I served Brant county for almost 20 years, working at family and corporate owned funeral homes. Allison has worked at the Brantford Golf & Country Club since 2000, as an events coordinator.