Our History

Hello and welcome to the Timson & Melroy Funeral Home.

Since 1924 this funeral service has served families from Marion, Morrow and Crawford Counties with the kind of small town dignity that makes the people who come through our door feel as though they have come to the home of a friend and not just into another business establishment. Unlike other firms who have multiple locations and huge staff, we are a husband and wife run and owned funeral home. This allows us to keep our costs for the families we serve affordable.

It is our pledge to help anyone in their time of need regardless of their race, creed, color or financial situation. The caring and experienced professionals at Timson & Melroy are here to support you through this difficult time. We offer a range of personalized services to suit your family’s wishes and requirements. You can count on us to help you plan a personal, lasting tribute to your loved one. And we’ll carefully guide you through the many decisions that must be made during this challenging time.

You are welcome to call us at any time of the day, any day of the week, for immediate assistance. Or, visit our funeral home in person at your convenience. We also provide a wealth of information here on our web site so you can learn more from the privacy of your own home.  Again, Welcome to our Home.

Mark and Nichole Melroy

History of the funeral home

In 1916 Homer D. Timson had a dream of some day owning his own funeral business. A native of Caledonia and while still in High School the sixteen year old was encouraged by the local funeral director and physician to attend embalming school and become a funeral director.

That summer he enrolled in a six week course at the Columbus School for embalmers and graduated, but could not take the State Board examination until he was 21.

When the United States entered World War I Homer joined the army and served in France as an ambulance driver. After his discharge he returned to Columbus and reviewed for his examination and was granted his embalmer's license. In the years that followed he served his apprenticeship under M. H. Gunder of Marion, founder of the Gunder Hall & Foulk Funeral Directors.

In 1924 Homer and his new wife Opal moved to Caledonia where they opened a store front operation on the village square called the Homer D. Timson Undertaking and Furniture Company.

In 1926 the Timsons purchased a new Chevrolet Ambulance that would be the first of many that the funeral home would own over the next 50 years as they continued to provide this necessity for the community.

In 1927 the funeral business was moved to a newly remodeled home on South Main Street where the business is still located today. This was the second "funeral home" established in Marion County. In February of 1936 Homer Timson died of septicemia contracted while embalming leaving his wife and two children to carry on. Mrs. Timson was determined to continue the dream. On April 6, 1936 Robert H. Allen came to Caledonia to become the funeral director and embalmer for the Timson Funeral Home. In 1939 Mrs. Timson and Mr. Allen were married and continued to operate the Timson Allen Funeral home until their deaths in April and September of 1980 respectively.

In March of 1981 Mark Melroy came to Caledonia to pursue the day to day operations of the funeral home. Mark Melroy is a native of the Tiffin area and moved to Caledonia upon his graduation from the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. Since that time he has continued the challenges of operating a small town business by offering a dignified service that continues the practices of Homer & Opal Timson and Robert Allen.