About Us

Gerald M. Birmele is the current owner and licensed funeral director for the Calvin Funeral Home in Hartford, Michigan. He has been a licensed funeral director in the state of Michigan since 1991 and has been the owner of the funeral home since 1997.

Gerald, or Jerry as he is known by most locally, has resided in the Hartford community for most of his life. He is a 1970 graduate of Hartford High School and a 1975 graduate of Western Michigan University (in Kalamazoo, Mich.), where he earned a bachelor's degree in education. He also graduated from Worsham College of Mortuary Science (in Wheeling, Ill.) in 1991. Before training to go into the funeral business, he taught elementary school on an Indian reservation in Norris, S.D.

Gerald married into the funeral business. His father-in-law, Dale Leonard, was the owner and operator of the funeral home from the mid-1970's until his retirement at the end of 1996. He married his wife, Cindy, on Dec. 28, 1980 in Hartford. They currently reside in Hartford, living in a house right behind the funeral home parking lot. They have three grown children - Janell, Jerrod and Jenna.

Gerald and his family are excited to continue the long-standing tradition of providing caring and compassionate funeral and cremation services for residents of Hartford and the surrounding communities.