About Our Staff

Danny Coleman, Aftercare Coordinator

Mariann Canning, Life Tribute Professional,
Certified Funeral Celebrant

Mariann, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, believes strongly in the value of the funeral.  Funerals, memorial services and celebrations of life are important ceremonies that allow the grieving to honour, remember, pay tribute to and recognize the significant role of the life of the deceased.  These expressions of love have meaning in the moment and will offer healing in the months to come.

His son Greg and his wife Yuko have their own private English Language training school in the most southerly island of Miyako, Okinowa, Japan.

Since his retirement, Ivan worked part-time at golf courses, as a handyman and for the former Perth & District Funeral Home.

Jeannie and I are both looking forward to a long and wonderful relationship with John and Janey O'Dacre, and O'Dacre Family Funeral Home Inc.Chapel and Reception Centre.  

A year and a half ago Kirra returned to the Perth area. After four years as the general manager for a company in Kingston and Ottawa she decided the best thing for her and her teenage daughter was to go back home. Valuing family, community and quality over quantity she feels strongly that this area is the perfect environment to foster these things.

Kirra's daughter attends St. John's Catholic High School, and Kirra, when not working or being a busy single-parent, enjoys various creative projects, cooking and baking and reading both fiction and non-fiction books.

Kirra will be a familiar face to many local residents having spent almost 15 years in the customer service industry. She is pleased to join the dedicated team of the O'Dacre Family Funeral Home, and to have the opportunity to extend heartfelt compassion and empathy to members of her community in some of their greatest moments of need.
 

Ashley has always had a strong interest in the funeral service industry, and never a chance to apply this curiosity, so with the recent passing of her mom, she was inspired to pursue this curiosity further. She especially enjoyed how John treated her family and her like part of his own stating "he made the most difficult time in our lives, just a little bit easier".

Ashley feels proud, very honored and privileged that John has allowed her to pursue her passion of becoming a funeral director and says "he is a superb teacher, with immense amounts of knowledge that I can only wish to learn, I feel very lucky to have John as my mentor, as I feel I will learn so much, and I will contribute as much as I possibly can to the incredible environment, and care that John and Janey offer already".
Ashley plans to attend Humber college, for the Funeral service course, become licensed, and one day, in the future open her own funeral home. Her passion is to help people in one of the most difficult times in their lives, offer care, support, and love to all whose lives she touches, and make a terrible time a little less stressful, as what was done for her not so long ago.

Earl graduated from Perth and District Collegiate Institute.   He was Co-Manager at Myers' General Store in Balderson with  his father 1976 to 1999. During the years 1978 to 1989, he also had the pleasure of serving as Postmaster for the Balderson and surrounding areas.  In 2000, he joined the staff of the Perth Pet Value as a sales clerk and also processed the weekly orders. 

In 2005, he became employed at Balderson Village Cheese & Country Store, where he is currently working as a sales clerk and also overseeing the stock room.  In 2007, he had the opportunity of joining the staff of the Perth and District Funeral Home on a part-time basis.  Now he looks forward to continuing to be involved in the new O'Dacre Family Funeral Home Inc. Chapel and Reception Centre.

Earl takes pride in everything he does and has enjoyed maintaining the exterior and interior of the beautiful funeral home.

Earl is an active member of the Lanark Baptist Church, where he continues to serve as head usher . 

Some of Earls hobbies include watching sports (especially the Ottawa Senators), watching movies, reading and listening to music.  Earl is looking forward to working with John and Janey's in their new endeavour and will try to help them serve their Perth and area clientele with the utmost care and respect. 

Mary Cross is a proud member of the O'Dacre Family Funeral Home Inc. Chapel and Reception Centre team.  A funeral, wedding and Church supply organist for the last twenty years in Perth, Mary enjoys providing joyous, uplifting sacred music, believing every funeral service is a unique celebration of that person's life.

A former teacher, with further continuing education studies at McMaster, Guelph and Queen's Universities, Mary is trained in piano and pipe organ.  Frequent trips to Britain and Europe have given her a life long appreciation of Cathedral music.

Mary's years of sharing ministry with her husband, the Reverend Richard Cross, inspired her to embrace his true Ecumenical position in the community.  Hence, she is equally at home playing services in Catholic, Anglican and all Protestant Churches. 

Richard's sudden unexpected death gave Mary a profound first hand experience of grief and subsequent healing, and deep empathy with all who undergo loss.

Mary is proud of her talented family, all of whom enjoy making music during their visits to "Postlude", her beautiful home in the country. 

Ralph Buttrum, Producer of Memories of a Lifetime Video Tributes

 In keeping with the O’Dacre Family hallmark of quality and attention to detail, Ralph actively seeks out and incorporates the newest technologies and techniques to ensure that every Video Tribute is of the highest quality and will provide comfort and joy for families during the memorial service and for years to come. Ralph scans each of the 30 or more images provided by the family and crops and adjusts every image for optimal video rendition. Titles, captions, motion and transitions are applied along with a soundtrack of music selected by the family. The video is burned to the very best quality DVD which is printed with a custom designed label. The individually designed insert for the DVD case is printed on high quality photographic paper with long lasting ink. All this attention to quality ensures that each Video Tribute will last for years and will be treasured by grandchildren and great grandchildren alike for generations to come.

John & Janey O'Dacre are proud to introduce you to Ralph Buttrum, our newest team member, whose attention to quality and detail is akin to the O'Dacre Family Funeral Home Inc., philosophy of family care. 

Lisa was born, raised and educated in Smiths Falls, Ontario.  She attended St. Lawrence College  in Brockville, and graduated with a diploma in Cosmetology.  Shortly after, she was employed with  for Elaine's Beauty salon in Merrickville, where she spent five years, honing her skills.

From there, she moved to the First Choice Haircutters chain and worked both in Smiths Falls and Perth.
She as now made her home in Perth and is enjoying being the Sole Proprietor of  her own salon known as Lisa's Cuts-Curls-Colours, located at 26 Wilson Street West, in Perth.

Lisa is thrilled to be a part of John and Janey's beautiful funeral home team and proud to be personally selected to work for these lovely people, and very happy to be part of this new business venture.