Two Buffalo funeral homes become one on March 5
Apr 10, 2018On March 5, Eric Otterness, Vernon Viets and Kenneth Howe announced Cantlon-Otterness Funeral Homes and Montgomery-Viets Funeral Home became one entity owned by the Howe family in Lebanon.The Howes are also in partnership with Butler Funeral Home of Bolivar and own Holman-Howe Funeral Homes with locations in Lebanon, Seymour, Mansfield, Camdenton and Hartville.This newest partnership will combine operations at the Cantlon-Otterness location on Main Street in Buffalo, and the Montgomery-Viets building will be developed for other purposes. “The firms uniting is a natural and beneficial use of staff and resources that will better and more efficiently serve the residents of Dallas County,” Kenneth Howe said. “The unity of staff will provide better and enhanced service to everyone involved. The combined experience of the families involved will provide over 100 years of benefit to the community.”The new firm will be known as Cantlon-Otterness and Viets Funeral Home in both Buffalo and Urbana with Marlin Viets joining the staff full time as embalmer and funeral director. Monty and Vernon Viets and Eric Otterness will be available as needed.Jarod Campbell will serve as manager and funeral director, and Brad Lewis also will serve as a funeral director. They will be assisted by Taylor Howe, who is the son of Kenneth and Valerie Howe, and Mike Lewis as an assistant to the funeral directors. All prearranged services will be honored as written with Montgomery-Viets Funeral Home.History of funeral homesMontgomery-Viets began in 1946 and was founded by Clyde and Thelma Montgomery. Vernon Viets joined the firm in 1954. He and his wife, JoAnn Montgomery Viets, continued her parents’ legacy for several decades, becoming Montgomery-Viets in 1971. Through the years, the Viets’ sons, Bret, Monty and Marlin, joined the firm their grandfather founded. Clyde Montgomery began his career with Leonard B. Jones, who was the founder of Jones Funeral Home, which became Jones-Cantlon and later Cantlon-Otterness Funeral Home. Jerr... (Bolivar Herald-Free Press)
