A Richland funeral home has expanded to all three of the Tri-Cities after a recent acquisition.

Einan’s at Sunset recently acquired Hillcrest Funerals and Cremation, which has locations in Kennewick and Pasco, as well as Columbia River Gardens Cemetery in Pasco. Despite the change in management, Einan’s is taking care to ensure that family and the community stay at the heart of its vision.

“We care about the level of service the community receives when someone in their family dies. And so, just being able to reach families further than the Richland location has been something that we find value in so that we can make sure that the community is taken care of,” said Holley Sowards, director of funeral operations for Einan’s at Sunset.

Serving Kennewick and Pasco had always been of interest to Einan’s, Sowards said. When Blaze and Adrianna Titus, Hillcrest’s owners, decided to retire, Einan’s was invited to enter a bidding process to acquire Hillcrest.

Einan’s and Hillcrest found that they held similar values, and Einan’s was ultimately chosen to take over management of Hillcrest, effective Sept. 16.

Einan’s declined to disclose the sale price, but Sowards said it’s “our biggest investment to date.”

Change and consistency

Einan’s two new funeral homes have been renamed Einan’s at Hillcrest – Kennewick, and Einan’s at Hillcrest – Pasco.

The names are new, but much is staying the same.

“Although there’s a lot of changes going on with infrastructure and stuff like that, it’s essentially remained the same, except for it’s got a new name,” Sowards said. “The other neat thing is that all the staff is the same. So the faces are going to still be familiar.” 

Staff at both locations decided to stay on under the new ownership, bringing the total number of Einan’s staff to 66, Sowards said.

She said that the Pasco and Kennewick branches will honor any pre-arrangement agreements purchased through Hillcrest. Hillcrest also owned the Bruce Lee funeral home off Lewis Street in Pasco, and ownership of that business has transferred to Einan’s as well. The actual building, however, is being sold by Hillcrest.

Sowards will oversee the Pasco location, while Crystal Percifield, licensed funeral director and embalmer, will lead the Kennewick team. Sarah Smith, licensed funeral director and embalmer, will manage Einan’s at Sunset in Richland. 

Technology represented a new and positive change for the locations as well. Sowards said that the Pasco and Kennewick funeral homes had been largely dependent on paper systems, and there was a need to shift to digital and enable communication across the three locations.

Ownership

This is the first time Einan’s at Sunset has acquired other locations. Since its establishment in 1956 as a private entity, Einan’s changed hands a few times before ending up owned by the nonprofit Richland Cemetery Association, said Pat Hollick, cemetery general manager.

The association doesn’t control Einan’s day-to-day operations, only the cemetery operations. “The for-profit entities, which would be the funeral homes, have a separate board of directors,” Hollick said. 

Because Einan’s is owned by a nonprofit, profits feed back into the various companies for remodels, equipment and other needs. 

“That’s how we’ve been able to pay for major projects over the years without necessarily increasing our prices to the public,” Sowards said. 

Those other companies include CODA Alternative Funerals and Cremation in Kennewick, launched in 2020, and Compassionate Cremation Society, an online cremation company that started in 2018. Hillcrest’s ezCremate became a Compassionate Cremation Society company and continues to serve families at the same price point, a press release stated.

Range of options

Acquiring Hillcrest’s Pasco and Kennewick operations helps Einan’s to cover a wide range of different service options, bridging the gap between the CODA Alternative Funerals and Cremation and Einan’s Richland location, which will remain the “top tier option,” Sowards said.

“We’ve tried to make sure that we have an offering for anyone in our community, regardless of circumstance or budget,” Sowards said. 

Some aspects of the Pasco and Kennewick locations are being improved. Hollick said that they’re working to improve mapping at the Pasco cemetery and looking to create some cremation niches. 

Sowards said they hope to create an option for catering and receptions at both Hillcrest locations, and they’ve already set up the Pasco location for that purpose. 

“We see a lot of opportunity and growth for Hillcrest and Columbia River Gardens Cemetery in the future,” Sowards said. “But our biggest focus starting out is stabilizing.”