ADRIAN — Christmas trees of every theme imaginable fill the halls of Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, thanks to Bill Van Valkenburg.
This master of decorating is in his seventh year of setting up and taking down specialty trees for the Anderson-Marry family of funeral homes. He has completed 42 trees at the funeral home’s Adrian location, and a total of 60 trees across all six locations. He also decorates trees for some area churches, bringing his total to about 70 festive firs.
There is the Pez tree dedicated to his son, who was born on Christmas Day and died at the early age of 35. On this tree, there are at least 200 Pez dispensers that his son collected throughout his life. Then there is the dinosaur tree, the farm tree, the veterans’ tree, the Victorian tree, the Disney tree, the doll tree, the Candyland tree and the fire truck tree, just to name a few.
Van Valkenburg lost his wife in April, after 45 years together, so he dedicated the Vintage tree to her with her favorite yellow roses, white daisies and Boyds Bears. The veterans’ tree displays at least 70 names of veterans who served in all branches of the military.
Van Valkenburg has been a pastor for 52 years. He spent 30 years as pastor to the Seneca Church, and then took the sole ministry of the Canandaigua church three years ago. He presides over funerals whenever needed and has for the past 18 years. He also plays a mean pump organ, and spontaneously sat down and played an entire Christmas carol to demonstrate his skill.
So how do you land a gig like this? He started working for Anderson Funeral Home founder Mike Anderson and then current owner Brian Marry. He told it like this: “The boss said go down to the basement and bring up a box of decorations, and let’s see what you can do.” He did just that, and has been decorating trees for them ever since.
This expansive tree display can be seen by the public during an open house on Sunday, Dec. 3, from 2-5 p.m. at Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, 3050 W. Beecher Road, Adrian. The open house is being held to benefit Associated Charities of Lenawee County.
