Foster Funeral Home's legacy lives on

HURON — Even with relatively new ownership, a local legacy business that just celebrated its 100th operational year vows to uphold its time-honored traditions in caring for families as they memorialize their late loved ones. "Everything we do is about working with you, putting in a lot of effort, to give the care and compassion when you need it most in the worst time of your life, seeing it through the best way we can," said Vincent Mannino, owner of Foster Funeral Home on Main Street in Huron. Mannino, a 2010 graduate of EHOVE Career Center and Vermilion High School, learned much of the business from former owner and the business namesake, Wayne Foster, who has stayed on in an advisory role. Foster took over the business in 1985, passing the torch to Mannino about five years ago. During his nine years in the field, Mannino — who appreciated how a funeral home cared for his grandmother, inspiring him to work in the field — has risen through the ranks, serving in many different roles. At Foster, today, he also serves as a funeral director; an embalmer, or a person who prepares the body for funeral services, burial, cremation and more; and a crematory operator, who handles the cremains process. In fact, in 2024, Foster Funeral Home installed its second on-site crematory. Mannino said Foster Funeral Home has the newest crematory in Erie, Huron or Ottawa counties. Additionally, Foster Funeral Home also has the biggest on-site crematory facilities in the region, he said. Balancing the new, such as making investments, while remembering its heritage can help ensure Foster Funeral Home continues for generations to come, Mannino and Foster said. "It's important, to both of us, to keep the tradition of giving the community and city of Huron a place to mourn," said Mannino, who previously worked in a funeral home in Pittsburgh, helping him realize the significance of a small-town, independently operated funeral home in tight-knit communities, like Huron. "It's so valuable to have a local funeral home here and not a corporately run place." Added Foster, a 1973 graduate of Huron High School: "That personal touch in a small community is so important because you are helping the parents and grandparents and others who you know around town. It's invaluable." Foster specifically wanted to hand the business over to Mannino, noticing parallel traits the two share. "He's very meticulous with everything he does, and he's also a considerate person," Foster said. "And that's the way you have to be in this business. In a small town like Huron, you have to meet people and even become friends with them. That's why Foster Funeral Home has been around as long as it has, and, I believe, will continue to be around for many more years." Mannino thanked Foster for instilling confidence in him. "Caring for people and doing so with compassion is really important to me," Mannino said. Bio blast Here's some history about Foster Funeral Home as provided by its website and Wayne Foster: • The actual home, at 410 Main St., goes back to Huron's bustling days of the mid-1870s. Built by a well-known Huron carpetner, Franklin Garrett, in 1876 for the sum of $400. • Franklin Garrett sold the home ot S.M. Jackson in February 1877. The home was one of the few that the Jacksons owned throughout Huron. • Lucy Jackson sold the home to Charlotte Lake on Oct. 2, 1890. She remained at the residence until Jan. 31, 1901, when the property was sold to Thomas M. Sprowl. • Sprowl's homestead was next to the 410 home of the Garrett/Jackson property on Main Street. The Sprowls rented and leased out the home until late 1923 when Thomas Sprowl sold all of his property throughout Huron in preparation for moving. • The home was sold to Wright M. Stein and transferred on March 13, 1924. Stein would make some extensive repairs to his new residence by adding on and enlarging and preparing to engage in the undertaker business. • The founder of the funeral home was Wright Stein. He built the funeral home on the back of a house on Main Street in 1923 and opened it in 1925 at the present location. • Wright Stein's son-in-law, John Dutt, took the business over in 1952. • Ronald Wheland purchased the funeral home from John Dutt in 1961 and operated it until retiring in 1985. • At that time, it was purchased by Wayne and Sandra Foster. The funeral home then became the Wheland-Foster Funeral Home and, in 1995, the name was changed to Foster Funeral Home. • In 1998, the cremation facility was added to the funeral home. • In 2021, Vincent Mannino became the new owner of Foster Funeral Home. At 29, he became the funeral home's youngest owner in its history, surpassing Foster who was 30 at the time he became owner. • In 2024, a second cremation facility was added at the funeral home site.