After 43 years of owning and operating the Larson-Timko funeral home, the sale was finalized for the building between Trish Timko and David and Alison Dengler. The story of how the current incarnation of the funeral home took shape goes back to 1979 when Carl and Trish Timko attended a funeral director’s convention in Niagara Falls.

“We looked over 10 years for a funeral home in the perfect town before we happened upon Fredonia,” Trish Timko told the OBSERVER. “That year there was a convention in Niagara Falls for funeral directors and Bill Larson went to it and it had gotten out that he was selling, it got back to Carl, we met and were invited to visit Fredonia.”

It was love at first sight when they arrived in the village, even despite the fact that the building had no shutters and was painted lime green.

“We fixed that right away and switched to our classic white with black shutters look,” Timko shared. “The village welcomed us and Bill Larson made our transition smooth introducing us to the beautiful community.”

Trish Timko stands at the door of the Larson-Timko Funeral Home with official owners David and Alison Dengler. Photo by Jo Ward

However, just being funeral directors was not the only thing the Timkos would come to be known for. Hailing from less fortunate families in the Niagara Falls region both Carl and his wife built their lives up in hopes of sharing what they had with the community that they belong to. Though Carl died of Alzheimer’s disease in 2020 many stories of their generosity live on throughout the area.

“We always loved to play Secret Santa and we did that here as well,” Timko said. “We didn’t need the kudos, nor did we want them.”

Hesitant still to talk about the number of things they had done, Timko’s family filled in the blanks.

Besides being the benefactors that donated the clock in Barker Common and the purchaser of the body cams for the Fredonia Police Department, the Timkos have donated to every organization in the area at some point in the 43 years they’ve lived here, they also have gone up to individual strangers and given them money to just attend the fair or to go to some other event that they were interested in. They donated money to Rich Goodman every year to buy bikes for needy children, supported all of the volunteer fire departments throughout the area as well as the village fire department, and even walked up to a volunteer at Lakeshore Humane Society and gave them a $10,000 check to help support the organization.

The Timkos have donated to many other area residents throughout the years without anyone knowing who they were.

“We really loved helping and supporting our community throughout the years and we hope others will also continue to help their community in any way they can,” Timko added. “David and Alison also like Fredonia as much as Carl and I do. They will carry on Bill and Carl’s legacy. They will now be taking care of all the needs for the wonderful village of Fredonia. Thank you for your love. This is bittersweet, however, I feel the business is in good hands with David and Alison Dengler.”