This Boise business had operated downtown since 1911. Here’s what just happened to it
Summers Funeral Homes, which operated for 81 years in a two-story brick building at South 12th and Bannock streets, has closed and consolidated operations in Meridian.
Former Summers owner David Yraguen sold the 15,591-square-foot building and 0.28 acres of land at 1205 W. Bannock St. to Idaho Power.
Summers will operate from its Meridian chapel, built in 2001 at 3629 E. Ustick Road. That chapel also has an on-site crematory.
“While our iconic downtown Boise location will always have a special place in our hearts, we are committed to continuing to offer the highest quality funeral care for Treasure Valley families at our Meridian facility for generations to come,” Quinn Peterson, a Summers funeral director, said in a newsrelease.
Yraguen, who bought Summers in 1986, 10 years after he started with the company, sold the business in 2017 to Foundation Partners Group of Orlando, Florida. Yraguen and his wife, Robyn, continued to live in the building’s second-floor residence, where original owner Clyde Summers once lived.
Yraguen joked that with the sale, he had to evict himself and find another place to live before the building closed last week. The couple bought a townhouse on the Boise Bench, he said.
Idaho Power doesn’t have any immediate plans for the building, spokesperson Sven Berg said.
“Obviously, that could change,” Berg said by phone. “Initially, we’re going to use the parking lot for employees.”
The building lies a block north of Idaho Power’s headquarters at 12th and Idaho.
Neither Yraguen nor Idaho Power would disclose the sale price. But the seller hinted that he got a good price.
“After all of those years of toil and getting up in the middle of the night, they finally made it worth my while,” Yraguen said by phone.
Summers was founded in 1911 by P.L. Fry. There were four other owners before Yraguen, who grew up in Vale, Oregon, and his partner, James McGuire, bought the business from A. Dale McMurtrey. McGuire died in 2000.
Besides Summers, Foundation Partners Group operates Accent Funeral Home in Meridian, Flahiff Funeral Chapels in Caldwell, Rost Funeral Home in Mountain Home and Lienkaemper-Thomason Funeral Centers in Weiser and Ontario, Nyssa and Vale, Oregon.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
