George Stauffer jokes that his father Doug worked hard to get his family off the farm, and now his own dream is to take them “back to square one” again.
Kidding aside, the Stauffer Funeral Home business isn’t going anywhere; at the same time, George’s life experience has brought him a fresh appreciation for his rural roots. From a stint at the rodeo to going all in on Stauffer Funeral Homes, George has always been quick to accept a challenge. Now, as he continues to invest in the family business, he’s looking forward to a new chapter – one where he can balance his professional life with personal passions, like riding horses and raising a few head of cattle.
Having taken an unlikely journey to where he is today, George is “grateful,” he says, for his variety of experiences. The Stauffer family story – at least as far as funeral homes are concerned – starts in Walkersville on the family dairy farm.
Almost Hung His Hat in Tennessee
George says his father Doug, who founded Stauffer Funeral Homes, began looking toward mortuary science as way to chart a different path for himself and their family. After receiving his degree at John A. Gupton College in Tennessee (and marrying George’s mother), Doug returned to Maryland and purchased a Walkersville funeral home, which laid the business’s foundation. George was born shortly afterward in 1973; around that time, Doug developed his vision for a second property, a “state of the art” funeral home. “This eventually became our Frederick location,” George says.
George, however, took a bit of a detour. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother back to her home state of Tennessee, where he later lived with his Uncle George (“Many Georges in my family!”). There, he spent his teenage years on a farm, immersed in rodeo life and horse training. It was a life he quickly came to love. Through these experiences as a young man, he built a strong work ethic and savvy business sense. But with limited economic prospects – and his height posing a challenge in the rodeo world – George began to reevaluate. “Life is all about timing,” he says. “I reconnected with my dad, and it happened to be the perfect time for me to come back to Maryland and start learning the funeral business.” He began an apprenticeship with Stauffer Funeral Homes, and hasn’t looked back since.
George went on to earn his mortuary science degree at his father’s same Tennessee college. It was there he met Courtney, his future wife, on a first date at – of course – the rodeo. “It felt like our stars aligned,” he says. This year, they celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary.
Back in Maryland, George and Courtney dove into the business headfirst. “There were a few years where I did everything—mowing the lawn, embalming, cleaning. We were a small business trying to grow, and I was on-site 24/7.” The effort paid off: since 2000, Stauffer Funeral Homes has expanded to six community locations, offering full in-house services, including on-site cremation. “We handle everything, and we serve every family as if it’s our family,” George says.
The Frederick location began major renovations in 2020, and constantly evolves to better serve clients. All the décor has been modernized, a coffee lounge has been added, and gathering spaces now feature digital display screens and lighted memorabilia niches – and the updates continue. When he’s not at work, George likes to be outdoors: “You can usually find me on my tractor, hunting, at one of my kids’ sporting events, or at the gun club,” he says.
The Next Generation
One of the happiest results of Stauffer’s success is that he’s been able to introduce his daughter, Lennox, to one of his great loves: riding. “She takes lessons at a farm in Middletown,” he says. Sharing this with her has made him even more motivated to seek out land for cattle and horses. “Growing up around livestock was such a special part of my life,” he recalls, “and I’d like my family to have that same opportunity.”
Meanwhile, George’s son, Clay, is already looking to carry on the family legacy. Now nineteen, he’s planning to study business in college with the goal of learning the ins and outs of how to help run Stauffer Funeral Homes. Named after his great-grandfather, George Clayton Stauffer, he represents the next chapter in a proud family story – one he’ll no doubt make his own. StaufferFuneralHome.com