Grand opening of funeral home celebrated after years of hard work and dedication
On June 21, Larkin and Garcia Funeral Care, owned by Jim Larkin and Sam Garcia celebrated the official opening of their funeral home, located at 1844 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kan, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
They are dedicated to providing high quality funeral services to all of the families that they serve.
Ten years ago, when Sam Garcia was 18 years old and living in California with his family, he began working at a funeral home as a part time funeral assistant. During that time, he started getting more involved in the funeral home by baking cookies for the families, moving flowers and driving vehicles.
He realized that he really enjoyed helping families, especially during such a difficult time.
That need for comfort was driven home for him when his best friend was killed in front of him. Experiencing that loss and watching his friend’s family go through such a tough situation, led him to pursue a career in funeral services.
Four years later he met his partner Jim Larkin, who took him under his wing as a mentor. He suggested him to move to Kansas City because of the large Latino community here.
Garcia decided to move to Kansas City and attended the Kansas City Kansas Community College for his mortuary degree.
After purchasing the location that would become the funeral home they decided that it would be completely remodeled.
“It took 10 years to get here,” said Garcia, “and I always remember what my parents told me growing up, never say no to work and if you do something do it fully and don’t just do it half way.”
