This funeral home has provided exceptional service to many family friends over the years at the…read moreCedar Rapids, Marion and Central City locations. Great personalities that kindly guide people in a difficult time. I appreciate Jeff and all the staff greatly.

Seems strange to rate a funeral home "Yay! I'm a fan.". But then again, I wore a red dress to my…read moreMom's funeral, so I suppose I've already disregarded the normal somberness that accompanies these things. I chose Murdoch in Marion for my Mom's cremation and memorial because we had my Dad's funeral at the Murdoch funeral home in Manchester, IA. The staff members were all respectful and helpful throughout the process. I had originally planned on using the Murdoch location in Cedar Rapids but changed my mind after we'd already sat down with the funeral director. Instead of passing me off to someone else he continued to work with me on the details and was at the Marion location for the memorial. That's going above and beyond in my opinion and I really appreciated it. My Mom didn't want a traditional funeral service but we wanted to have a memorial reception for her. It was obviously not the type of event they normally do at Murdoch (or most funeral homes I imagine) but they handled all my requests and didn't give me any push back at all. Ryan, the funeral director I was working with, was patient and helpful while walking me through the options for the service and obituaries. I was surprised how quickly they typed up the obituary and had copies for me to edit. They also very quickly got me pricing for placing an obituary in the Chicago Tribune. I expected both would be something I'd have to come back for later or would be emailed to me, but it only took about 10 minutes while I was busy with other decisions. When I showed up expecting a table in the room to put food and drinks on they had a table set up with everything I would need in about 5 minutes. Towards the end of a very long day I realized I'd have to figure out how to get all the flowers and plants home. Onore, who was helping Ryan and was available throughout the afternoon/evening for anything we needed, quickly let me know that they could deliver the flowers for free the next day. Maybe that's common for funeral homes to do, but I didn't expect it and I greatly appreciated it. These little things don't sound like a big deal but in the middle of a difficult time they make all the difference in the world. Now, when I say the flowers were delivered "free" I suppose that's probably not the right word. Maybe I should say "for no additional charge than the incredible amount they had already charged me". Had it not been for the incredible price tag of this modest event I would've given them 5 stars. I can't believe how expensive anything having to do with a funeral is. I can't help but think they're taking advantage of people, along the same lines as anything "wedding" related is automatically more expensive. I suppose this is probably more a comment on the industry, not Murdoch specifically. I would recommend any of the Murdoch funeral homes. They made a difficult time just a little bit easier and I can't say enough how important that is.

This is a review that no one ever wants to write…read more After a long illness, my father died recently. The end came somewhat more precipitously than anticipated, and we had only started to make plans for his passing. In fact, just a couple hours before he died I made my first phone call to Teahen and spoke with Brian. He requested some additional details, but before I had a chance to review the information he sent, I was informed of his death. The hospice nurse contacted Teahen, and despite the fact that we had not established any formal relationship with them, Brian arrived very soon afterwards to take my father to their beautiful and comforting funeral home. A couple days later, my family went to Teahen for our final visit before cremation, and to plan the memorial service. Since none of us expected such a sudden passing, we were mentally and emotionally unprepared to think about the details - and there are a lot of things to consider. Beth was exceptionally helpful and patient and generous with her time as she guided us through the planning process that day. We came away feeling relieved and reassured that a fitting memorial would be arranged. In addition, she was invaluable in taking care of certain administrative annoyances that we were happy to not have to worry about, such as informing Social Security and obtaining the death certificate. Over the course of the next several weeks, the plans for the memorial slowly began to take shape. Throughout the entire process, Beth was always available and immediately responsive. She put us in contact with different people whose services would be needed, such as the Hy-Vee florist that they regularly use. My wife is a former professional florist and manager of a floral shop, and she can attest to the high quality of the arrangements that were delivered to the church. Everything went remarkably smoothly, from beginning to end. We are grateful to Beth, Brian, and everyone at Teahen Funeral Home.

The care, compassion, attention, and support from every member of the Teahen family and funeral…read morehome was far beyond anything we could have imagined during the most difficult days of our lives. Will always be thankful for Teahen.

Love this place! Small, quaint....just like Iowa. : )read more

I will highly recommend Mike at Eastern Iowa Monuments. He was extremely personable and easy to…read morework with. The headstone he created for my father turned out absolutely perfect. From the font that looked a lot like Dad's writing to the picture of the fish jumping, he brought our vision to stone.

The hallmark card has not been written to describe how wonderful the people that work at Stuart…read moreBaxter are! They came highly recommended and they certainly did not disappoint! From the time they picked up my husband, and I walked back into the room. There was a flower laying on his hospice bed, , such a comforting touch.. They listen to what I wanted for his funeral and visitation, and it was all good! I've never heard that's not how we do it, or that's not how it's done. They are amazing from beginning to end very professional. they are certainly a blessing at a time when you need it most! Nate and Mason and Jacob are amazing. Thank you again for everything that you did and continue to do. Mrs Kirk C

We have only positive things to say about Stewart Baxter! We needed their services in March of…read more2024 and primarily worked with Mason. He was absolutely wonderful. He was pro-active with helping us and we never felt as if we were asking too much or were a bother. Along with him, every staff member was helpful, compassionate, and very accommodating to our needs. Every ask we had, was responded to quickly and they were so caring. Their after-care team was very helpful and we had no idea they even offered that service. The building is beautiful and we thought seating for 300 would be enough, but we ended up with some standing. Even with that, all attendees were able to see and hear the service with the TVs and they offered live streaming, which was a need for our family. With over 500 people at the visitation, they handled the traffic and made sure people were safe as they were parking. The owners were both there at different times, making sure everything was going well. If there were any issues, they were transparent to us and we didn't have to worry about anything. We are so thankful for the staff at Stewart Baxter and would highly recommend them to handle your family's needs at possibly the most difficult time in your life. The family of Kyla Klima

Mark & Jeannie were extremely compassionate, honest, and attentive to our families needs. These…read morefolks are pillars of the community. I would highly recommend their services to anyone looking for a reasonably priced product backed by exceptional service.

The employee was unhelpful and gruff. He wouldn't even discuss styles or options until we discussed…read morefinancials. And then told us to go walk through a cemetery to figure out what we wanted and dismissed us. We spent our money elsewhere.

Visited with Russ to discuss plot purchases in order to have everything in place prior to our…read moredeparture from this world. Russ was very informative and helpful. Oakland is a city-owned cemetery, which allows prices to be on the low side compared to privately owned cemeteries. They plan to build a new columbarium this year, which we plan to reserve a spot for our cremains. It will be a meditative place for our family to visit.

I was on a road trip from Nebraska to Indiana and my friend wanted to stop here to see the Black…read moreAngel. Apparently there are several in Iowa and they each have a unique story. It was an interesting detour, if you're into that kind of thing, and I found a lot of back history about the angel. The black angel of Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City is an eight and a half foot tall burial monument for the Feldevert family, erected in the cemetery in 1912. Since that time, it has been the source of many stories and legends in Iowa City --- most connected to the mysterious change in color that the angel took, turning from a golden bronze to an eerie black. The black angel of Oakland Cemetery was erected by Teresa Dolezal Feldevert, a physician who had immigrated to America from Strmilov, Bohemia, Teresa and her son, Eddie Dolezal, came to Iowa City, where she worked as a midwife. They lived in Iowa City until 1891, when Eddie died of meningitis at the age of 18. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery and Teresa had a tree stump monument erected over his grave. After Eddie's death, Teresa moved to Eugene, Oregon where she married Nicholas Feldevert, who died tragically just a few years later in 1911. In the wake of this loss, Teresa returned to Iowa City and she hired Mario Korbel, a Bohemian artist in Chicago, to design the angel that would hover over the body of her son and the ashes of her husband. After the installation of the angel, Eddie's monument was moved from its original location to its present site alongside the angel. His remains, along with the ashes of Nicholas Feldevert, were placed in a repository under the angel's base. Teresa died of cancer on November 18, 1924, her ashes were also placed beneath the angel and soon after, the strange stories began.

I recently experienced an unexpected tragedy in my family. While traveling for work in Iowa my…read morebrother passed away in a vehicle accident. He was 2 1/2 hrs from home. I chose Iowa Cremation to assist with my needs. The 2 directors I spoke with over the phone were very kind and helpful; and when you are still in shock and maneuvering through all that needs to be done, that kindness certainly goes a very long way. Since I live out of state, everything needed to be handled via phone and email. They sent me the documents that needed to be signed via email. Later, when I received an itemized statement in the mail, it was then I saw a charge for "non-members" of $650. This, I then learned, was for ones that had NOT made 'pre-need' arrangements with them. I did see later, upon my closer examination of the many pages of documents that had been emailed to me to sign; that there was indeed a charge included of $650 for 'non-members'. Unfortunately, I had failed to look at that closely enough upon signing. I never imagined there would be a charge for something like that. I certainly now feel it a bit unfair to charge a 'penalty' (my viewpoint) for not being a member; especially since my brother did not even live in that state, and would not have had a 'pre-need' membership with them. This was, of course, an oversight on my behalf for not examining the documents closely enough at time of signing. I am writing to share my experience with others who may find themselves in a similar situation so that they may not be blind-sided by this 'non-membership' charge.