Lee Funeral Home: Last Home For Most Rich and Influential Kenyans
Since its official opening in 1984, Lee funeral home has been the home for most of Kenya's great and influential men and women. The premier funeral home has...
Wale Peter
The last ceremony is more often than not highly accorded with respect in the African culture. A man is a sum of his/her memories, hence what are they usually remembered for? We as the living tend to honor the dead with a decent send-off and remember the memories we shared with them.
Traditionally, for example, the Luhya people of Kenya prepared a body by preserving the deceased in wet sand or charcoal then, they placed dimes on their foreheads and used animal skins to wrap the body and placed them in reeds that were like a casket.
Equally to such respectful accordance and preparations is the Western culture. It is for this reason that John Stuart Lee, a Kenyan born, raised, and educated mzungu of British decency, founded the Lee Funeral Home.
Seeing the appalling state of the then Kenyan mortuaries specifically the Nairobi City mortuary, Mr. Lee saw it prudent to offer services that led to the proper burial of the dead.
[John Stuart Lee founder of Lee Funeral Home.]
John Lee took interest in running Funeral Homes when he joined the Police force in London and deployed to work at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
His interest and passion to help the Kenyan situation was seconded by several other people including the then chairperson of Nairobi Hospital Charles Njonjo.
The high-end funeral parlor was constructed in 1987 and officially opened on December 12th, 1989. The family-owned morgue boasts to own a luxurious Chapel and a fleet of expensive hearses.
Its reputation precedes itself to have been the last home and host of dignitaries and men of high accord in the society, including very recently Kenya’s third president H.E. Mwai Kibaki.
Other dignitaries who have been hosted by Lee Funeral Home include; former Kenya’s second President H.E. Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi and Kenya’s former ministers: Nicholas Biwott and the late John Michuki.
Many describe the funeral home as a place where power, wealth, influence, and history meet due to the many wealthy and high-end government officials that have received first-class quality services until the time of their cremation or burial.
Guided by their service motto “We are dedicated to helping the bereaved cope with the loss of a loved one by providing a professional and compassionate response to their needs,” the home of personalized service and premium funeral home offers services such as cremation services, exhumation services, sale of caskets, funeral transportation, and repatriation services.
The charges of the funeral home range from Ksh 3,000 for the daily storage fee, Ksh 5,000 for the body handling which includes washing and dressing, and hiring a Jaguar hearse would have one coughing up to Ksh 130,000 for transportation. The rates of coffins on the other hand would range from Ksh. 35,000-130,000.
Thirty-three years later Lee Funeral Home still stands, striving to offer quality services to the dead indeed, John Stuart’s vision has borne unimaginable fruits.
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