As Northwoods Casket Company approaches its 20 year anniversary, Schmidt's appointment reflects the company's commitment to growth and innovation. In her new role, she will be responsible for leading the company's sales and marketing efforts, including developing and implementing new strategies to expand its customer base and increase brand awareness.
Fitzgerald, Garcia Join Northwoods Casket Company
Mary Fitzgerald, Client Relations Manager
Beaver Dam, WI. Northwoods Casket Company is pleased to announce the addition of Mary Fitzgerald and Tim Garcia, both of Beaver Dam, at their facility in Beaver Dam.
Mary joins Northwoods Casket as Manager of Client Relations. In her new role, Mary will assist customers of both Northwoods Casket Company as well as Casket Builder Supply, a division of Northwoods Casket. Fitzgerald’s background includes customer service relations, marketing, inventory management, job development and education. She stated; “I am thrilled to be a part of the Northwoods Casket team and contribute to the continued growth of this company and of Casket Builder Supply. Owners Jonas and Julie Zahn have created a business culture which focuses on craftsmanship, creativity and impeccable attention to detail in assuring customers the highest quality product. They are also committed to our community and our environment. I could not have found a more welcoming and engaging employment opportunity.”
Tim Garcia, Production Manager
Tim joins as Production Manager and is heading up and coordinating the preparation, finishing and assembly of caskets and cremation urns. With a background in manufacturing and a love of home woodworking and furniture building, Tim’s skill set is a perfect fit for Northwoods. Being a musician and an artist, Tim appreciates the quality craftsmanship and attention to detail required to make the high quality caskets and urns created at Northwoods.
Owner and Chief Executive Officer, Julie Zahn, stated; “Mary and Tim are a perfect fit for our fast-growing company. Mary’s commitment to developing and maintaining strong relationships and Tim’s talent and strict attention to detail are assets to our company and essential as we continue to expand.”
Founded in 2006 by Julie and Jonas Zahn of Beaver Dam, Northwoods has grown steadily and now builds more than 500 wood caskets annually that are sold to more than 200 funeral homes nationwide. The company proudly uses only sustainably harvested, Wisconsin-grown lumber. They can be found online at www.NorthwoodsCasket.com.
Casket Builder Supply was also founded by the Zahns and began serving casket builders in January of 2019. Casket Builder Supply provides a valuable resource to craftsmen and casket builders around the country for all of their casket building needs. Casket Builder Supply carries casket hardware, wood parts and accessories, casket upholstery, woodworking tools and wood finishes. They can be found online at www.casketbuildersupply.com.
Northwoods Casket Donates to Tree Nursery
Beaver Dam municipal workers remove a tree that was planted in the nursery 3 years ago so it can be transplanted in the city.
Beaver Dam, WI. Northwoods Casket Company, based in Beaver Dam, WI, made their 8th annual donation to the Beaver Dam City Tree Nursery on April 15th. The donation is part of the company’s ongoing initiative to plant 100 trees in Wisconsin for every casket they deliver.
Julie Zahn, Chief Operating Officer at Northwoods, stated “This is our favorite time of the year. We love planting trees and making it possible for others to do so as well.” The company has been donating to the nursery since 2012. The donation allows John Nuemann, the City Arborist, to purchase and plant new seedlings in the nursery every year. He has rows of trees of all different ages, some of which are ready every year to be transplanted throughout the city. “I’m proud that our donation helps keep the planting cycle going every year.”
About Northwoods Casket Company
The Wisconsin company, founded in 2006, builds locally sourced wooden caskets and delivers to every funeral home in the state of Wisconsin with next-day delivery service. The company builds a wide selection of caskets in 50 styles and finishes suitable for cremation or burial. For more information go to www.northwoodscasket.com or call (920) 631-7077.
Melby Funeral Home partners with Northwoods Casket Company to plant trees
Belmont School to receive five trees
Platteville, WI. — Melby Funeral Home in partnership with the Northwoods Casket Co. will plant five trees at the Belmont School on Tuesday, October 30th. Three oak and two maple trees will soon provide shade at the beautiful school. In years to come these trees may be the subject of children’s drawings and paintings or serve as “safe zones” for a friendly game of tag during recess. This is the first of many annual plantings Melby Funeral Home has planned for the area in cooperation with the Northwoods Casket Company of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Matthew Melby, owner of Melby Funeral Home says, “When I first met Julie and Jonas, I simply knew this would be a long-term relationship, that we’d be in business together for many years, and we’d plant many trees together for our communities to enjoy."
The Northwoods Casket Co. facilitates a statewide tree planting initiative by donating trees to Wisconsin communities and sponsoring reforestation projects on public lands throughout the state of Wisconsin. These donations are part of the Beaver Dam company's commitment to plant 100 trees for every casket it builds. With the help of the Department of Natural Resources and local funeral homes like Melby Funeral Home, the company has helped organize tree plantings in Beaver Dam, Sheboygan, Minoqua, Jefferson, Wonewoc, Blanchardville, and Belmont. Olivia Witthun, DNR Regional Urban Forestry Coordinator who helped organize several of these planting events shares, "This partnership is about planting a legacy. These communities and their residents will reap the benefits of these trees for years to come."
In addition to the urban forestry donations, the Northwoods Casket Co. funds reforestation projects with the DNR with one such project in the Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Unit in Sheboygan County in 2012. According to Patricia Murphy, the Regional Forestry Supervisor, "Northwoods Casket's funding will help plant approximately 10,000 seedlings, or about 10 acres, and will be part of a larger reforestation project in the state forest." The new stand of forest will consist mostly of cherry and mixed oak trees.
Northwoods Casket Co. has built a casket business primarily focused on Wisconsin funeral homes. The company is committed to sustainability by crafting caskets from locally sourced, sustainable woods adorned with non-toxic finishes, natural oils, and VOC-free natural wax and oil wood finishes. Casket interiors are made from biodegradable, natural cotton, and other environmentally friendly fabrics made from hemp, flax, and wood pulp. Styles range from historic to contemporary. Above all, founders Jonas and Julie Zahn have committed to plant 10 million trees in their lifetime and plant 100 trees for every single casket the company builds. “Planting trees is a core element of our business. Planting 10 million trees is more than a commitment to the good people of Wisconsin—it is a promise I have made to my two children,” says Jonas Zahn.
About Melby Funeral Home
Established in 1865, Melby Funeral Home has been serving Platteville area families for more than 150 years. Current owner, Matthew Melby, is an avid supporter of local tree-planting and sustainability.
About the Northwoods Casket Co.
The Wisconsin company, founded in 2006, builds locally sourced wooden caskets and delivers to every funeral home in the state of Wisconsin with next-day delivery service. The company builds a wide selection of caskets in 50 styles and finishes suitable for cremation or burial. For more information go to www.northwoodscasket.com or call (920) 631-7077.
Casket company promises sustainability
Contributed to the Wisconsin State Farmer by Gloria Hafemeister, Correspondent
Beaver Dam — “We’re a tree planting business that happens to build caskets,” said Jonas Zahn, who, with his wife Julie, owns Northwoods Casket Company.
Jonas Zahn pictured with a 100% metal free pine casket--one of more than 75 different styles the company crafts here in Wisconsin.
Jonas grew up on a dairy farm and had a 20-year career in the corporate world, but he and Julie started this business as a way to satisfy his desire to provide something that will benefit generations to come.
“We need to make a profit in this business in order to survive, but making money is not our goal,” he said. “Our goal is to plant 10 million trees for the next generation and the generation after that. We’re financing that goal with profits from our casket business.”
Read more at the Wisconsin State Farmer
Environmentally friendly to the very end
By Gloria Hafemeister | Watertown Daily Times
Beaver Dam - When Jonas Zahn’s grandfather died just before Christmas in 2004, he and other family members gathered in his grandparents’ farmhouse to talk about funeral plans. While family members had trouble agreeing on what Grandpa would want, Jonas came up with the idea of building a casket for his grandpa. He pointed out that Grandpa was a big John Wayne and Clint Eastwood fan and he always wanted to be a cowboy. “I remembered the coffin from the movie ‘Unforgiven’ that was known as the toe-pincher. I offered to build one like it for Grandpa,” he recalls. His grandma agreed it would be what her husband wanted and family members offered to help. Together family members made a Transylvanian coffin design. The process brought the family closer together and provided an outlet for their grieving.
The whole thing, however, got Jonas thinking about modern caskets. He thought about how environmentally unfriendly modern caskets are, how most of them are made in China and other countries, and about the cost. “It just didn’t make sense to me to bury Grandma or Grandpa in a steel box that probably cost more than they ever spent in their lifetime on a bedroom set,” he says.
Making that first casket sparked his interest in the natural burial movement and he started making some prototypes of caskets that were aesthetically pleasing but also practical. He began making environmentally friendly caskets in the carriage house behind their home. As interest grew and he began selling quite a few of them through funeral homes around the state, he began storing them in his huge home. His wife, Julie, said, “We had caskets all over our house. Our children were little and they had caskets all around them.” The couple joked, “We never let them take a nap in any of them though.”
As their business grew they eventually bought a former funeral home in Beaver Dam, and they now have a showroom and plenty of space for assembling, painting and completing caskets for the business that has grown considerably. Julie, a photographer by profession, does all of the company’s catalogs that are sent out to funeral homes all around the country. Jonas Zahn’s college degree is in civil and environmental engineering, and he has worked with high-tech startup companies for more than 20 years. He continues his IT work and guides the casket business with help from his wife, his dad, Jim Zahn, and numerous other talented crafters.
Read the complete article at The Watertown Daily Times.
Feingold visits Northwoods Casket, Black Waters Coffee
Feingold travels the state in search of Wisconsin entrepreneurs
Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is visiting new businesses and entrepreneurs across the state of Wisconsin in preparation for his upcoming bid for Wisconsin Senate in 2016. Feingold spent a few hours in Beaver Dam during the quiet hours of the afternoon on Sunday, July 5th with Northwoods Casket Co. founders Jonas and Julie Zahn and Black Waters Coffee founder, Josiah Vilmin.
Feingold is looking for entrepreneurs with new ideas and new businesses in Wisconsin--the kind of people and ideas that will bring new industries to our state and create jobs for Wisconsin in the coming decades.
Learn more about Feingold's visits throughout Wisconsin on his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/russfeingold
Russ Feingold learning about an historic 100% non-toxic "limed oak" finish on a casket made from locally sourced, sustainable Wisconsin red oak.
Feingold visiting with Jonas Zahn, Michelle Zahn, and Josiah Vilmin at Black Waters Coffee
The Most Honorable Mission
“If someone told me 15 years ago that I would be managing a casket company, I would have laughed them out of the room. I mean, how absurd!” Julie laughs. “But it’s something that everybody can relate to. It’s something we all have to deal with, and we have to make choices that are in line with our values.”
Urban Forestry Council Awards Northwoods Casket Co. for "Innovations in Urban Forestry"
Jonas Zahn, Northwoods Casket Co. founder, accepts the “Innovations in Urban Forestry” award from Jeffrey Treu representing the Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council.
Beaver Dam, WI. The Wisconsin Urban Forestry Council presented Northwoods Casket Co. owners Julie and Jonas Zahn with an award for “Innovations in Urban Forestry” recognizing the company’s commitment to plant 100 trees for every casket the company builds.
In 2012, the Northwoods Casket Co. helped sponsor a 175,000 tree planting in the Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern unit near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Since 2010, the Northwoods Casket Co. has annually selected 3-4 communities in the state to sponsor urban tree plantings under the guidance of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry initiative. Through the company’s program trees have been planted in villages and cities large and small, in public parks, on public school grounds, street terraces, and private property.
“I’ve seen a lot of creative tree-planting programs, but this one—a casket company giving back this way—is very unique,” expressed Jeffrey Treu UFC member and resident of Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Northwoods Casket Co. founder, Jonas Zahn, is serious about planting trees. Zahn has committed to plant ten million trees in Wisconsin in his lifetime. “Planting ten million trees is not just a commitment I have made to the good people of Wisconsin, and the state legislature,” Zahn says, “it is a promise I’ve made to my two children.”
About the Northwoods Casket Co.
The company, founded in 2006, builds sustainable, eco-friendly caskets and delivers to every funeral home in the state of Wisconsin with next-day delivery service. The company builds a wide selection of caskets in 30 styles and finishes suitable for cremation or burial in prices ranging from $500 to $5,000. For more information go to www.northwoodscasket.com or call (920) 631-7077.
About the Urban Forestry Council
The non-profit Urban Forestry Council (UFC) advises the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on the best ways to preserve, protect, expand and improve Wisconsin's urban and community forest resources. Learn more about Wisconsin’s Urban Forestry initiative and the UFC at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/UrbanForests/
Local Casket Company to host Grand Opening this Saturday
Beaver Dam, WI. On Saturday, September 20th, from 11am-5pm, the Northwoods Casket Company is hosting a Grand Opening event at their new casket gallery and furniture store located in the former Koepsell-Murray funeral home property at 109 N. Lincoln Ave. in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
The 10,000 square-foot funeral home will serve as the casket builder’s headquarters, workshop, and gallery. The accessible ground floor will exhibit more than 30 casket styles, colors, and personalized options all available for purchase through local funeral homes. Additionally, the gallery will sell home furnishings by the company's new brand, Carriage House Works. The 5000 square-foot remodeled basement will serve as workshop space for both finishing and upholstery activities, while all woodworking activities will continue at Northwoods' multiple other workshops around the state of Wisconsin.
“The gallery is a game changer for us,” says Jonas A. Zahn, founder of Northwoods Casket Co. “For almost ten years we have sold caskets nationwide through catalog sales to funeral homes,” says Zahn. “This gallery will help build local demand by making it possible to display one-of-a-kind, themed, and personalized caskets for local delivery.” The casket builder delivers to every funeral home in Wisconsin with next-day white glove delivery service. “This is a fantastic idea,” says Russ Koepsell, “and a very fitting use for this funeral home that served our family business for so many years.” Beth Koepsell-Zeamer has already started sending families to select a casket, cremation casket, or urn that suits the family and says, “the family was very happy to be able to just come on down to our former location and select something that is both local and personal."
Northwoods Casket Co. has built a casket business primarily focused on Wisconsin funeral homes. The company is committed to sustainability by crafting caskets from locally sourced, sustainable woods adorned with non-toxic paints, natural oils, and VOC-free natural wax and oil wood finishes. Casket interiors are made from biodegradable, organically grown natural cotton, and other environmentally friendly fabrics made from hemp, flax, and wood pulp. Styles range from historic to contemporary at prices ranging from $500 to $5000 with most models below $3000--the average price paid for a casket in the U.S. Above all, founders Jonas and Julie Zahn have committed to plant 10 million trees in their lifetime and plant 100 trees for every single casket the company builds. “Planting trees is a core element of our business. Planting 10 million trees is more than a commitment to the good people of Wisconsin—it is a promise I have made to my two children,” says Jonas Zahn.
Carriage House Works is the company’s new brand that sells Arts & Crafts period furniture, steampunk and Edison lighting, reclaimed lumber, vintage wood flooring, milk paint, natural oil finishes, and vintage lamp parts. Handcrafting home furnishings is a natural extension of casket making and vice versa. Historically, caskets were made by local furniture makers. “We love what we do--crafting fine things from wood, using natural oil finishes, borrowing techniques mastered in 16th century England, and bringing both quality and beauty into the home." Everything in the gallery is made from locally sourced materials by the hands of local artists with sustainable and eco-friendly products and techniques.
For more information visit the company online at www.northwoodscasket.com and www.carriagehouseworks.com.
The gallery features fine handcrafted caskets, furniture, and photography art on canvas.