Seeing dead bodies when he was a child was just part of everyday life for Paul Wright.

His father bought Schoening Funeral Services in Kamloops when he was six years old, and the family lived above the funeral home.

“I was kind of embarrassed about it, actually,” he said. “They would go around the class and ask what your dad did, and I was always embarrassed to say he was an undertaker.”

Although he never planned to become a funeral director himself, Wright followed in his father’s and his sister’s footsteps, and joined the family business when he was 27.

After graduating from UBC with a degree in commerce, he worked for BC Hydro for a while before the work ran out.

“They weren’t building any more dams,” he said. “I needed a job and I thought I’d give the family business a try. Simple as that.”

Today he and his sister Sandra Irvine own and operate Schoening Funeral Services, which operates Merritt Funeral Chapel, the only funeral service in Merritt.

The building at the corner of Garcia Street and Granite Avenue is a former Methodist church that was built in 1909.

About 100 Merritt families have services arranged there every year, and Wright said it was time that renovations were done.

“The building was in serious need of an upgrade,” he said. “There wasn’t proper foundation underneath it, so that was the first thing we did, was hire a building mover from Kelowna.

We wanted to retain the original building characteristics of the building, and save at least part of the original church building. The builder lifted the building up and allowed us to excavate underneath it and pour a proper concrete foundation. Then we lowered the building back down onto the new foundation and probably about 60 per cent of the project involves new construction, which will include office space, casket and urn display space, body preparation facilities and vehicle storage. We’re upgrading and expanding.”

The Merritt Funeral Chapel building will be open by the end of the year, and in the meantime, services are being offered through a temporary office on Quilchena Avenue across from the Legion.

This is not the first time Schoening Funeral Services has had to temporarily close a building for renovations and keep the business going.

In Kamloops the funeral home was closed for eight or nine months in 1992 for a complete renovation of the facility.

“We have experience operating out of a temporary facility and still being able to provide the same level of quality service,” said Wright.

“Merritt has been good to us with providing us with a good source of business in the community, and we’d like to return that to the community by providing them with a better facility,” he said.

Merritt Funeral Chapel offers full burial and cremation funeral services, including washing and dressing of bodies.

Schoening Funeral Services employs eight fully-qualified staff members, including three embalmers.

Wright said once people get into the funeral service business they tend to stay with it long term.