{"id":63,"date":"2010-06-02T19:42:59","date_gmt":"2010-06-02T19:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibdesignstudios.com\/preview\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2020-10-19T13:37:46","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T13:37:46","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/?page_id=63","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Dagon Funeral Home<\/strong> of Hornell, NY is the oldest family owned & operated funeral home in the area.\u00a0 Established in 1883 by James B. Dagon, the tradition of excellence has continued for five generations.<\/p>\n

In 1883, only 18 years after the Civil War ended, James B. Dagon (my great-grandfather) established the \u201cDagon Undertaking Parlor\u201d here in Hornell.\u00a0 Embalming was in its infancy, and James B. was truly one of the pioneers of the embalming procedure.\u00a0 In 1912, he was joined in the business by his son, James J. Dagon (my grandfather) who, would eventually take over the business when his father (great-grandpa Dagon) died in 1920.<\/p>\n

James J. Dagon Sr. saw many changes in the funeral business during his 35 years of serving the Hornell community.\u00a0 During his tenure, embalming became the norm, allowing families ample time (usually several days) to say \u201cgood-bye\u201d to their loved ones.\u00a0 It was also during this period that \u201cmodern day\u201d funeral home came into existence.<\/p>\n

In the early 1940’s, Grandpa Dagon purchased the \u201cBabcock Home\u201d at 38 Church St., Hornell and the Dagon Funeral Home has remained at the same location ever since.\u00a0 For the first time, families slowly began having calling hours & services at a place other than their own homes.\u00a0 Another change during this period was that the horse-drawn carriage was replaced by the modern hearse.\u00a0 James J. Dagon Sr. died of cancer in 1947 at the age of 52.<\/p>\n

His son (my father), Jim Dagon had been majoring in pre-law at Sienna College when his father was diagnosed with cancer.\u00a0 Dad was planning a career in law but changed his plans when his dad died.\u00a0 After Grandpa Dagon\u2019s death, dad enrolled in the Renouard School of Embalming in New York City.\u00a0 For the next 2 years, the Dagon Funeral Home was managed by Bob Mason, a licensed funeral director and a good friend of the Dagon family.<\/p>\n

Following his graduation in 1949, dad took over the operation of the funeral home.\u00a0 In 1960, he remodeled the funeral home, making the facilities much larger.\u00a0 My father was very aware of the history of the funeral home and was able to keep and use many of the light fixtures that his father had installed when he first purchased the building.\"\"<\/p>\n

I, Jimmy Dagon, began working at the funeral home in 1972 and have been a licensed funeral director since 1974.\u00a0 My sister, Molly, obtained her funeral director\u2019s license in 1977 and was active in the business for several years.\u00a0 In 1978, we purchased & demolished the home next door, enabling us to finally have a parking lot.\u00a0 I was fortunate to have worked side-by-side with dad for about 11 years.\u00a0 He taught me everything that I know about the funeral business and about people.\u00a0 A nicer & fairer man has never walked the face of this earth!\u00a0 He died of cancer in 1983 at the age of 56.<\/p>\n

Following the death of my father in 1983, I purchased the funeral home and continued the \u201cDagon Tradition\u201d.\u00a0 Although I realized that I had big shoes to fill, I knew that I was not alone.\u00a0 My mother, Marieka \u201cRicky\u201d Dagon, stepped in to help.\u00a0 Although she was not a licensed funeral director, for the next 23 years mom helped with calling hours and worked each and every funeral.\u00a0 The Hornell community seemed to embrace mom, and I know that everyone liked the idea of a woman helping with funerals.\u00a0 I will always be grateful for mom\u2019s help & assistance as she added a \u201ctouch of elegance\u201d to the previously all-male funeral home.<\/p>\n

In 1989 I remodeled the funeral home, nearly doubling the size of the facility.\u00a0 Just as my father did in 1960, I also made a point of keeping the lighting fixtures that Grandpa Dagon had installed so many years ago.\u00a0 I was able to modernize the funeral home, making the facility handicap accessible, while keeping with the colonial style of the original building.<\/p>\n

During my tenure there have been many changes also.\u00a0 Calling hours have gone from three days down to one day or sometimes no calling at all.\u00a0 The cremation rate has risen from 2% to nearly 50%.\u00a0 Photographs and memory boards have been replaced by flat screen TVs and DVD Memorial Tributes.\u00a0 Personalization of the funeral has become the norm.<\/p>\n

My daughter, Laura Dagon Picco is a licensed funeral director and is now part of the staff at the Dagon Funeral Home.\u00a0 Laura served as a teacher at the Hornell Intermediate School for 13 years before deciding that the time was right to become the 5th generation of the Dagon family to serve the Hornell community.\u00a0 Laura had always shown an interest in the funeral business and began working toward her license in 2011.\u00a0 I certainly enjoy working with Laura — it is a father\u2019s dream come true!\u00a0 Once again, the Dagon Funeral Home is graced to have a woman assisting with funerals.<\/p>\n

Throughout the years there have been many \u201cunsung heroes\u201d that have helped out and worked in one capacity or another at the Dagon Funeral Home.\u00a0\u00a0 Some were licensed funeral directors and others were not.\u00a0 Each played an important part in keeping with the Dagon tradition.\u00a0 Some of these individuals that come to mind are Bob Mason, Jack Andrews, Bill Livingston, Cornelius \u201cButts\u201d Leahy, Bud Brundage, Danny Willard, Bud St. George, Todd Forsythe, Phil Grandshaw, Bud Baker, Mike Robbins, Bob Grillo & Rich Scavo — just to name a few.\u00a0 I am grateful to each and every one of them!<\/p>\n

There is one thing, however, that has not changed since my great-grandfather established the Dagon Funeral Home in 1883.\u00a0 For five generations, the Dagon family has been & will always be committed to serving your family with dignity, sincerity & compassion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dagon Funeral Home of Hornell, NY is the oldest family owned & operated funeral home in the area.\u00a0 Established in 1883 by James B. Dagon, the tradition of excellence has continued for five generations. In 1883, only 18 years after the Civil War ended, James B. Dagon (my great-grandfather) established the \u201cDagon Undertaking Parlor\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-63","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4625,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/4625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}