Our History

The Ronald L. Seals Funeral Home, which has served the Fortville area and surrounding communities for more than half a century, originally opened its doors under the name of Paul C. Cory Funeral Home. The funeral home was founded in 1952 by Mr. Cory, a Fortville native. In 1957, the chapel was added to the funeral home and the house next door was purchased so that the family did not have to live upstairs at the funeral home. Mr. Cory ran the funeral home until his death in 1964. Following his death, his wife Dorothy ran the funeral home for almost a year.

In November 1965, Ronald L. Seals purchased the funeral home from Mrs. Cory, and Ron and his wife Darlene moved their family from Terre Haute to Fortville. The funeral home was then known as the Cory-Seals Funeral Home. A year later, the Cory name was removed and the funeral home became known as the Seals Funeral Home. In 1980, the funeral home was incorporated as Ronald L. Seals Funeral Home.

Through the years Ron continued to make improvements to the facility. In 1970, Ron removed the old front porch, shifted the location of the front door and added on a lounge area. Through the 70's and early 80's, Ron continued the funeral home expansion. The old barn behind the funeral home was leveled to make way for a large addition with a selection room, preparation room, new restroom facilities and an enclosed garage. A portion of the new addition also included a basement, known as the Seals Community Room, which is often used by various organizations at no charge.

To make way for the expanded parking facilities behind the funeral home, two homes were razed and a retaining wall was built along Staat Street to tidy up the terraced lawn area. Because the new addition was brick, Ron had the old section bricked in 1987 to complete the look of the funeral home.

In 1989, with the help of his sons and a contractor, Ron laid down 40,000 brick pavers to create a striking parking area. In 1995, during a complete redecoration, all of the funeral home's furniture was reupholstered, new paint and wall paper were applied and new carpeting was laid. Then, in 1997, both entrance doorways were replaced with gorgeous new doors complete with beveled glass designs.

In August 2002, after 37 years of service to the Fortville area, Ron and Darlene sold the funeral home to longtime associate Mike Staton. Keeping the familiar Seals family name, Mike continues to run Seals Funeral Home today.