Our family established R.G. Harris in 1910. Robert Harris prepared himself with formal schooling an apprenticeship, and began serving people with the help of his father, George R. Harris, who was a manager with the Detroit Free Press. Four years later George joined his son full time and the firm became known as the R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Home located in the Haste Mansion. Robert's wife, Flora, my grandmother, also obtained her funeral director's license.
Over the years, many changes took place. A move to Cass Avenue and later to Harper Avenue offering families greater convenience...a public relations campaign to inform people about how funeral costs compare...and two branch locations added in the suburbs to better serve the growing number who preferred the Harris family to serve them.
During all these transitions, Robert's son, Tom, and my father, Clarence Rost, who was the founder's son-in-law, continued the quality service families could depend on.
We were the leader in providing cost information to consumers and have always offered cremation and memorial services to be sensitive to families who preferred an alternative to the traditional funeral.
As Robert Harris' grandson, I am committed, along with my son, Matthew, to extending the family tradition to new heights of even better service in aftercare, pre-planning and assistance at time of need.
We believe that the most valuable thing we own cannot be seen or touched - it is the goodwill of people we have served and people who recommend us. We are one of the few remaining family-owned and operated mortuaries serving the community for more than 90 years.
We really care about the people we serve and in doing things right. Our services continue in the months ahead as we have a bereavement support person on our staff who is known nationwide. We also offer a complete pre-planning service, which provides the peace of mind that the plans you make today will make things so much easier for your survivors. In addition, we adhere to strict procedures for every cremation.
We encourage people to visit our facilities, meet our staff, and compare. As funeral service professionals, every day that we come to work, we have the opportunity to make important differences in people's lives. Quite simply, this is our mission.
