Mishler Funeral Home will be celebrating its 75th anniversary with an open house Friday, Aug. 13.

News Release

MILFORD — Mishler Funeral Home, at the corner of SR 15 and CR 900N, Milford, will be celebrating 75 years in business with an open house from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 13.

The event will feature food by Saucy’s Barnyard BBQ, free door prizes including a monument. There will be fun for the kids and ice cream for everyone. Call (574) 658-4197 with questions or to RSVP.

The open house will also include collecting school supplies for local schools and the launching of a medical loan closet.

The medical loan closet provides the loan of durable medical equipment for those in need in Kosciusko County at no cost. Loan items include crutches, wheel chairs, canes, walkers, bedside commodes, raised toilet seats, shower seat/benches, adult incontinence disposable underwear. The inventory will change frequently and it is recommended calling ahead to make sure what is needed is available.

Through this loan closet it is asked people return the loaned items (except the disposable underwear) in clean and working order once the items are no longer needed.

But it goes beyond loaning out items. Community donations of items are accepted. It is asked items be in good working order that have been clean/sanitized. No medications of any kind can be accepted. Someone from Mishler Funeral Home must be on-hand to receive equipment at the facility.

By donating items, the public is joining the mission to make a positive difference in the lives of people affected by aging or disabilities in the community.

Hours to receive loan items or donate items are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. But it is recommended to make an appointment to pick up or drop off. Curbside service is offered.

Third Generation

The Mishler Funeral Home is a third generation tradition.

Wade Mishler established the Milford facility in 1946 after purchasing the funeral home from C.R. Brittsan, located in the former Doll’s Decorating Services.

Mishler was born and raised west of Milford and was first introduced to the science of undertaking by a friend of his father’s, Charles C. Rohrer. Rohrer owned and operated a combination furniture store and undertaking business in New Paris.

On May 29, 1937, Mishler, then a senior at Milford High School, got a job with Brittsan, gradually learning the trade. In 1939 he enrolled in the Indiana College of Embalming in Indianapolis. He completed the courses but had to wait until he was 21 to get his license.

Not long after receiving his license, Mishler was called to fight for his county and would spend the next four years in the service as an embalmer, setting up morgues in the West Indies and Philippines.

Mishler returned home Dec. 7, 1945. A few months later, May 1, 1946, Mishler, with the help of his family, bought out Brittsan and moved the undertaking business down the street. The Mishler Funeral Home, at 110 Main St., would continue to stand for almost 50 years. Mishler Funeral Home was the first exclusive full service funeral home to service the Milford area.

For 26 years Mishler provided undertaking services and ambulance services to the town of Milford.

He then ventured into Bremen in 1969 with his son, Greg. A new facility on the east edge of Bremen was built in 1974.

When Wade Mishler retired in 1988, Gary Eastlund who had purchased the Syracuse Funeral Home from Charlie Harris in 1985, acquired the Mishler family business on North Main Street and later built the new facility in Milford in 1997. It became known as the Eastlund Funeral Home-Mishler Chapel.

Ryan Mishler, grandson of Wade Mishler and son of Greg Mishler, took over the Bremen funeral home upon his father’s retirement in 1999 and then purchased the Syracuse and Milford locations when Eastlund retired in 2001. The Mishler-Eastlund Funeral Home was sold to Dave and Sheryl Eastlund Colquitt Dec. 11, 2009.