Baker Family Business Began as Furniture Store in 1885
By Emily R. Collins, Staff Writer, Suffolk News Herald
When Robert Washington Baker opened his furniture store in downtown Suffolk in 1885, he likely didn’t think his business would morph into a funeral home. But sure enough, more than 125 years later, R.W. Baker’s descendants own and operate a funeral home that bears his name.
Blake Baker said when his great great grandfather opened his shop, it wasn’t uncommon for furniture stores to handle funerals occasionally.
“They did because they sold coffins,” he said. But in 1916, he split the businesses up and the Bakers were in
the funeral services business from that day on. The family now has two locations in Suffolk, one on West
Washington Street and the other on Lee Farm Road, which is operated in conjunction with Foster Funeral Home.
Baker said the downtown location handles most of their business, and they do about 10 to 12 funerals a month. Baker family members have run the
funeral home ever since its opening. Baker said running a family-owned business has similar challenges to running any business. “Keeping a good staff, keeping the bills and taxes paid,” he said. However, he said, being the owners, they are required to stay at the business as long as it takes. “A lot of times because we are family-owned, we’re here a lot more than we would be if it wasn’t our funeral home,” Baker said. “We work a lot of hours.” He said some people think handling
funerals isn’t hard work, but they couldn’t be more wrong. “A lot of people think our job is riding around in nice suits all day,” he said. “They don’t see what we do in the background and the time it takes to take care of a family.”
Although Blake Baker now runs the funeral home alongside his father, Robert N. Baker III, he almost didn’t get into the business at all. He said his father never pushed him into taking the business and let
him make his own decision about his career. After graduating from high school, Blake Baker attended Ferrum College and earned a degree in environmental
science. He worked in Virginia Beach for a consulting firm, but it was a matter of time before his focus shifted back home while his dad renovated the West Washington Street facility. “I found myself calling home to find out what was going on,” Blake Baker
said. “I finally asked him if I could come back and work.”
Robert N. Baker III welcomed his son to the business.
In addition to Blake Baker and his father, Blake’s wife, Kelly, and his father’s wife, Marie, also help keep the
business running. Also, he has an aunt and uncle and cousin who help out as well.
Blake Baker said one of the biggest misconceptions about the funeral services business is that it’s always
depressing. “Sometimes, death can be a blessing
(if someone has been sick),” he said. “It’s hard when we have babies, kids or young military guys.”
In those instances, Baker said, even the funeral home employees can suffer an emotional toll.
Another misconception is that they don’t struggle through tough economies like other businesses. “Everyone thinks we’re recession proof,” Baker said. “But we aren’t.” When times get tough, he said, people cut back on funerals just like they cut back on other expenses. People purchase less expensive caskets or opt for a cremation instead of a burial. “People don’t see the point to do the extra things,” he said. “We have people call all the time asking about the cheapest crematory service.” In response to the ongoing sluggishness in the economy, Baker said, the funeral home has tried to offer more affordable options for its clients and cut costs as much as possible. “Like every other business, we have to watch what we spend and watch what we buy,” he said.
No matter what service the clients choose, Baker said, the business makes it a priority to provide quality service. Because of their high level of customer service, he said, a lot of their business comes from word-of-mouth referrals. Many families return to the funeral home for all of their needs throughout the years. “They know we’ll treat them fair, provide a good service and we care about what we do,” Baker said. One of the things R.W. Baker does to ensure their clients are happy is to have the same funeral director serve a family throughout their time of need. “When we start with a family, we finish with a family,” Baker said. “If a person is going to trust us to take care of our loved one, then the respect you can show them by showing up instead of someone else is worth it to us.”
Although there are challenges in the business, he said, he is passionate about what he does. “You’ve got to have a passion to be in this business,” he said. “It’s very rewarding when a family come to you and tells you that you made it as easy as possible for them.”
