Orem’s Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home marks 70 years of serving families
Kelly, left, and Teri Sandberg pose for a photo on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home in Orem. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald
Teri, left, and Kelly Sandberg pose for a photo on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home in Orem. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald
Kelly, left, and Teri Sandberg pose for a photo on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home in Orem. SPENSER HEAPS, Daily Herald
You could call Kelly and Teri Sundberg’s marriage a match made for heaven. Plus, it’s really good for business.
The Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home in Orem celebrated 70 years in business in March, and Kelly Sundberg is the fourth-generation owner. His great-grandfather, Edwin Dee Olpin, started one of the first mortuaries in Pleasant Grove in the late 1800s. He had three sons, who branched out to other cities and carried on with the family business. Elwood Sundberg married into the business, marrying one of Olpin’s granddaughters, LuJean Olpin.
In 1946, Elwood Sundberg and his wife opened a new mortuary on State Street in Orem. The 2,000-square-foot funeral home sat in the same place it is today, but at that time, Orem’s State Street was a dirt road. Kelly Sundberg says his mother, LuJean, always claimed that in those days, she could visit other neighbors and merchants across the street, and still be able run back to answer the phone in three or four rings.
As Orem grew, the Sundberg-Olpin Funeral Home grew as well, now sitting at 27,000 square feet.
“I’d say we’ve added onto this building about every 10 years, at least, since the ’60s,” Kelly Sundberg said.
The youngest of six children, Kelly Sundberg grew up in the home that is attached to the mortuary — mowing lawns, setting up chairs, vacuuming and prepping for funerals. Early on, he’d go out with his father on calls, learning as he went. But when he officially decided to go into the family business, he went to California for mortuary school.
There he met Teri, and they call theirs “a different love story.” Before getting together, neither had much luck getting second dates. Too often, during the first one, their date would find out they were studying mortuary science and get spooked, or a bit grossed out. Once Kelly and Teri met, though, they clicked, and made their home in Orem. What’s even more rare, is that they’ve worked side by side at the funeral home since.
“We’re that 17 percent of marriages that work together and don’t get divorced,” Teri Sundberg said laughing. “And our three kids were spoiled — they were raised with both of us around all day.”
Teri Sundberg is the funeral director who works directly with grieving families, making sure to ease their stress and worry one detail at a time.
“They walk in here, and it’s the worst day of their life. I feel like, if I can ease their burden a little bit during that time, I’ve done my job,” Teri Sundberg said.
She is so dedicated to her job, it took her 17 years to quit “taking my work home.” Death and all the details that go into planning a funeral is always mentally and emotionally taxing. And funerals of children are always the hardest. She remembers the name of every child.
“But it’s an amazing job,” she’ll tell you. “When you take care of someone, you get to know them through their family’s stories. I feel like I know tons of people that maybe I’ll get to meet someday, after this life.”
Kelly Sundberg does all the behind the scenes embalming and prep room work. For every person, his goal is to make them look as natural as possible, and he does that by treating each individual like family.
“He’s very gifted at it. I get credit for what he does, but he’s very talented. His dad always said what you do back there has a big influence on the funeral,” Teri Sundberg said.
Sitting in one of the parlors of the elegantly antique funeral home, that sense of peace and respect is palpable. Unobtrusive tissue boxes are within reach throughout the rooms, and there are plenty of alcoves and sitting areas for grieving loved ones to collect themselves. Though the building has grown in size over the years, it still maintains the cozy feel of home.
For the Sundbergs, who lived in the home attached to the building — the one Kelly grew up in — until 2003, it’s always been more of their home and lifestyle, than a business. It’s one that supports their family, two full-time and a few part-time employees, and is one of Orem’s only full-service funeral homes. Neither Sundberg has any plans to retire anytime soon, following a long tradition on both the Olpin and Sundberg line of working in the family business up until the day of their own death.
“It’s a unique lifestyle,” Teri Sundberg said, mentioning that the funeral home has hosted parties and wedding receptions in its halls as well. “And, growing up around death as a regular topic, our family has weird conversations at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But this place is a part of us, it’s a part of our family.”
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