Clinton C. Baker founded what was to become the Olson Funeral Home in Truman, Minnesota in 1911. Service to the people of Southern Minnesota became a family tradition when Mr. Baker's son-in-law, Edward E. Olson joined the firm in 1919. Mr. Olson, a pharmacist at Foster Drug, received a degree in Mortuary Science from the University of Minnesota. Ed and his wife, Bernice Baker Olson settled in Truman and dedicated their lives to helping people cope with the loss of a loved one through death. To serve families better, they expanded the firm to include a location in Fairmont, when they purchased the Homer Jones Funeral Home in 1936. In 1940, they built the funeral home at 5 Downtown Plaza. Since then, several additions have been made to that location.

They selected associates who shared their sensitivity and compassion for bereaved families. George C. Hultgren joined the firm in 1946 and served as a funeral director until his retirement in 1981. Laurence Olson also served the firm as a funeral director for over thirty years. Continuing the legacy of daughters and son-in-laws committed to funeral service, Neal and Jane (Olson) Huemoeller assumed responsibility of both funeral homes in 1965. In 1972, a fourth generation daughter and son-in-law, Greg and Helen (Huemoeller) Hilgendorf joined the firm. In 1979, the firm expanded again, purchasing the Goodell Funeral Homes of Fairmont and Ceylon. Greg and Helen became part owners in 1981 and sole owners in 1986. In April of 1992, the Olson Funeral Homes were the first firm to join with Prime Succession, Inc., a funeral home merger and acquisition company based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Like many other funeral homes that took the corporate funeral service path, Olson Funeral Homes found out the hard way that this was a bad decision for both the funeral homes and families they served. After numerous staff changes, John E. Zaharia was hired in October of 2000 to manage and operate all three Olson locations.

On December 21st, 2001 John, along with his wife Teresa, purchased the Olson Funeral Homes from Prime Succession, Inc. The funeral homes took on a new name, Zaharia Family Funeral Homes, to reflect the local ownership. The focus of the funeral homes was put back onto service to families and respect to survivors. A guarantee was put on the funeral homes’ services…if there’s anything we didn’t handle up to a family’s satisfaction, they don’t pay for it! We are simply that detail oriented and are genuinely dedicated to serving our families.

In November of 2002, Teresa obtained her insurance license. Teresa and Nan Darnell offer burial insurance services to our families with the flexibility to meet the scheduling needs of customers.

Zaharia Family Funeral Homes looks forward to the future with this promise to the families we serve: Compassionate Service…from Our Family to Yours.