Merkley-Mitchell Mortuary

How to choose a mortuary for a loved one when you are 3000 miles away. The Unilocal reviews convinced me and when I called, I was immediately connected with Lorna.
Lorna listens with her heart. She was clear about everything that would happen. She called to update us at various times with care and compassion. She’s exceptional and her kindness made a difficult time much, much easier.
Thank you Lorna and everyone at Merkley-​Mitchell for taking care of Brenda.

I have to admit that I did not look forward to working with a mortuary. I imagine it must be a challenge for people to have to figure out how to deal with so many different familes in such different degrees of pain and suffering. I want to publically thank Lorna and the staff at Merkley-​Mitchell for working so hard to make things run smoothly as we planned our Dad’s memorial service and the burial. Each person deals with grief in their own way, and add to that the high costs of today’s funeral services and you have tense situations. Lorna was good at helping us understand the choices and find the alternatives that worked for us. We were all very pleased that the ceremony honored our Dad in ways that were important to us.

You don’t do business with a mortuary during the best times of life, so it’s really important to know the kind of place you can trust to actually help you deal with what is an extraordinarily stressful event.
Merkley-​Mitchell has the staff and the experience to be that kind of business. There are not adequate words to express my gratitude to Lorna and the rest of the M-​M staff for their professionalism, the peaceful environment and their absolute kindness as I dealt with this most difficult circumstance.
Merkley-​Mitchell is not bargain basement service, but the costs here are competitive with other local mortuaries. Although I have no other personal experience in the San Diego area, from what I have heard, I would not want to deal with anyone else.
Peace and blessings.

I’m not certain why it took me so long to write this review but anyway, here it is. Two years ago I lost my wife of 31 years. For many years I had heard of how predatory and unscrupulous mortuaries could be, preying on the bereaved and exploiting their vulnerable state for additional profit. My experience with Merkley Mithchell could not have been further from that scenario. In fact they went out of their way to inform me of ways I could avoid unnecessary expenses and helped me to save money. They made the entire experience infinitely less stressful than I could ever have anticipated it would be. When my time comes, I want then to take care of me. I know I’ll be in good hands.

Founded as the Merkley Mortuary in 1917, this business was once located on what are now the grounds of Scripps Mercy Hospital. In 1928 (four years after Mercy Hospital opened) W. H. Mitchill, perhaps sensing that a bit more separation was appropriate, hired a team of horses to drag his business down Fifth Avenue to its present site. The Art Deco façade was applied soon after. In 1941 Merkley invited Warren Austin into the business, which became the Merkley-​Austin Mortuary. Richard Mitchell acquired the business in 1968. In 1997 the mortuary was bought by the Alderwoods Group. Alderwoods was acquired by Service Corporation International in 2006.
Merkley-​Mitchell Mortuary recently underwent exterior renovation to add an ADA-​compliant ramp to the front entrance. The project was executed by Cesar’s Exterior Designs. CED’s banner with the motto that they build for life hanging from the mortuary presented more irony than I could ignore, thus my photo. Naturally you will notice the grammar error in the motto.