Funeral home director fired

Mountain Home was abuzz last week with the news that Jerry Rost, funeral director at Summers Funeral Homes, McMurtrey Chapel, since 1996, had been fired.

Owner Dave Yraguen released Rost last Monday and Tuesday Rost's suit and office memoriabilia were sitting on the lawn outside the funeral home. Yraguen is allowing Rost to live for the next 30 days in the home owned by the company that is provided to the director.

Rost had attempted to purchase the funeral home from Summers Funeral Homes, but that deal fell through earlier this year when the two sides couldn't come to terms on an agreement.

When Yraguen subsequently asked Rost to sign a five-year non-compete agreement, Rost refused and Yraguen terminated his employment.

Rost, who is hugely popular in the community, is chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Banquet Committee, the Elk's lodge, the Son's of the American Legion and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

He is attempting to obtain financing to build his own funeral home in Mountain Home.

"I think there's enough business for two of us," he said. "I'll just want my share of the pie."

Rost said initially the facility he envisions will not have a chapel. "The chapel, and the location (of Summers Funeral Homes) is an enormous advantage for them. But I've already talked to several local churches that will let us use their facilities for services" and he hopes to locate his funeral home as close to the cemetery as possible. It would include a viewing area, a receiving and preparation area, and probably a residence for he and his wife, Janette.

Rost is licensed to do all embalming and to direct funerals, which means all the paperwork and back room work.

"It's a very stressful time, and it's hard to find financing for what we want to do when you're unemployed, but I think we'll be able to pull it off."

Hopefully, by this fall, he said, Rost Funeral Home will be up and running. "I'm going to look at this as an opportunity. I love this town and I'm going to do everything I can to make things work" and build his own facility.

In the meantime, Yraguen, said a funeral director will be sent down from Boise whenever necessary to attend to needs at the McMurtrey Chapel in Mountain Home. "We've got an excellent staff and we'll be covered 24 hours a day, similar to the way we handle our Ustick Chapel," he said. At that chapel, when a funeral director or embalmer is needed, they are dispatched from the main facilities in Boise. "No one will have to drive to Boise to make arrangements," he said.

Yraguen said he and his partners have a potential replacement for Rost in mind, who should be available by September after he receives his license. "We are concerned with Mountain Home, and we are there to stay," he said.