For over 100 years, the Ertel Funeral Home in Cortez, CO has proudly served Southwest Colorado, Southeast Utah, and Northeast Arizona, as well as two Native American tribes, the Navajo and Ute Mountain Ute tribes. Beginning in 1921 with J.W. Ertel and for three generations thereafter, including Walter Ertel, Keenan Ertel and Kinsey Ertel, the Ertel family made a deep commitment of service to the Montezuma and Dolores County communities, which is carried on by Ertel Funeral Home today.
In 1936, the present building was finished and dedicated, lauded by the Cortez Sentinel as “the finest mortuary on the whole western slope of Colorado.”
For several decades after the construction of the Ertel Funeral Home, it was one of the few places in town with enough space and appropriate décor to lend itself to formal gatherings. Many new churches in the area without facilities used the chapel for their services until they settled in a permanent location. The chapel was often used for wedding and anniversary parties, as well as community meetings, which the funeral home still offers today.
Honored by enrollment on the National and Colorado Register of Historic Places in 1995, the building façade of Spanish-style stucco remains unchanged and original. In the interior, only minor renovations have been needed throughout the years.
“The building is still basically as functional today as it was when it was built,” said Keenan Ertel, who marked Ertel Funeral Home’s 50th anniversary in 1986. “The architect really knew what he was doing back then in the ’30s.”
After 1993 when Keenan Ertel purchased the funeral home from his father, numerous additions were made to better serve the families of the area. With the increasing demand for cremation as final disposition, Ertel Funeral Home purchased its cremation unit in 1997, thereby assuring families that the care of their loved ones would remain solely with Ertel Funeral Home.
In keeping with the idea that each service should be reflective of and honor the life being remembered, Ertel Funeral Home has made a conscious decision to offer a wide variety of personalized services and merchandise that more closely reflect the life or interests of a loved one.
During her tenure, Kinsey Ertel noted that “there’s an immense amount of pride and honor that comes with carrying on our family’s legacy.” Kinsey went on to state “my family and our community have a shared history, and we are excited to note and celebrate that relationship.”
