By SUE RYAN
News staff writer
July 4, 2007

July 5 marks 25 years to the day since Frank and Sheryl Akin bought Anderson’s Tribute Center in Hood River.

On Monday, they transferred ownership to the newest owners, Jack and Debbi Trumbull. The Akins will formally retire on Thursday, the same evening they will host the Chamber of Commerce Business After-Hours event from 5 to 7 p.m.

Frank and Sheryl Akin recalled arriving in Hood River in July 1982 to a sleepy farm town before the rise in popularity of wind sports in the Gorge.

“The town was changing; windsurfing was just beginning to take off,” Frank said.

They had moved from Corvallis and chosen Hood River because of their search for their own business. At that time Frank had already been in the funeral service industry for 12 years following graduation from mortuary school.

He and Sheryl had been traveling around Oregon for a number of months, looking at several mortuaries. Both were originally from Portland and wanted to stay in the state, if possible; close to family in the metropolitan area.

They found what they wanted in Hood River and bought their business, then called Anderson Funeral Home, from Ray and Doris Cotner. Up until that time, the mortuary had been owned by the same family members for 40 years. (See sidebar for history.)

Sheryl remembers the couple lived in the back of the mortuary for the first four years during the early days of their having their own enterprise. They have enjoyed their time serving the community but both said they are ready for what they call “a semi-retirement.”

Frank said the timing was right to sell Anderson’s Tribute Center. That is partly because he and Sheryl found an independent mortician and his wife wanting to buy the business; partly because of other business interests they devote time to and partly because their daughter, Adrienne, has finished high school.

“She will be starting at Mount Hood Community College in the fall in human services/elderly care,” he said. “The time was just right.”

But he and Sheryl want the community to know they aren’t leaving.

“We’re staying in Hood River,” he said. “We feel really privileged to have served the community for 25 years as local service providers but I want people to realize Sheryl and I are not moving.”

Frank plans to be available on the sidelines to help the new owner, Jack, if need be. The Akins said they are delighted to have found a couple interested in their lifetime achievement. Frank said it was important to him Anderson’s Tribute Center remain independent.

“I wanted to sell to an individual instead of a corporation — these days so many of the mortuaries are owned by corporations,” Frank said.

During his search for the right successor, Frank attended a funeral director’s convention in McCall, Idaho, in 2005. He played golf with Jack and the two talked. The Trumbulls had been searching for a mortuary to buy.

“He expressed interest but I wasn’t ready to sell quite yet,” Frank said.

The Trumbulls had been serving families in funeral services since 1991 and the next step for them was to own a business. Jack followed up the conference with an in-person visit and the two men hit it off well. Jack was interested in Anderson’s Tribute Center but also in Hood River because of family ties to the area.

“My grandparents, Bob and Betty Trumbull, lived here for many years,” Jack said. “My grandfather was the agent for Union Pacific Railroad for many years.”

His mother, aunts and uncles all grew up in the Hood River Valley. Jack and wife Debbi moved a year ago to Hood River, from Boise, Idaho. The couple has two children: Lauren, 7, and Caleb, 5. Debbi teaches reading at May Street Elementary.