What Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes does

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes is a family-owned death-care operator headquartered in Athens, Georgia, founded in 1989 and serving northeast Georgia communities for over 35 years. The company operates three funeral home locations (Athens, Watkinsville, and Danielsville) along with two cemetery properties — Athens Memory Gardens (acquired 1997) and Oconee Memorial Park (acquired 2004) — and runs what is described as the only on-site crematory in Athens-Clarke County. Its service portfolio spans traditional funerals, cremation, veterans' services, green burials, pre-need planning, grief support, and, since 2020, companion-animal cremation through Athens Pet Cremation. The firm employs between 101 and 250 staff.

The revenue model is fee-for-service across the full death-care value chain: at-need case revenue (funerals, cremations, burials), pre-need contracts (often trust-funded and producing long-dated deferred revenue), cemetery interment rights and monument sales, and recurring perpetual-care fees on cemetery inventory. Customer segments are highly fragmented across individual bereaved families, veterans, pre-planning consumers (typically aged 55+), and pet owners in the regional market. Operational credibility is evidenced by 13 consecutive National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Pursuit of Excellence awards and induction into the NFDA Hall of Excellence in 2021.

Lord & Stephens is privately held under the Lord family with no disclosed institutional capital, debt offerings, or M&A activity beyond the two cemetery acquisitions completed in 1997 and 2004. Strategic posture is that of a mature, locally embedded multi-location operator emphasizing service breadth, regulatory standing (Tom Lord has held Georgia Board of Funeral Service appointments in 2014 and 2020), and industry leadership (Jason Wommack served as GFDA President, 2022–2023), rather than technology-led differentiation or geographic roll-up.

Name

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes

Legal name

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes

Website

https://lordandstephens.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes is a family-owned death-care operator founded in 1989 in Athens, Georgia, serving northeast Georgia through three funeral homes, two cemeteries, and the only on-site crematory in Athens-Clarke County, with traditional, cremation, veterans, green, pre-need, and pet cremation services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Athens

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Traditional Funeral Services: Full-service funeral arrangements including visitation, funeral service, and graveside service with casket selection, funeral flowers, and embalming services
2. Cremation Services: Cremation services with options for traditional funeral service followed by cremation, memorial services, or private services, including urn selection and permanent memorialization options
3. Cemetery Services: Burial plots, mausoleum entombment, cremation niches, and cremation scattering gardens at Athens Memory Gardens and Oconee Memorial Park cemeteries
4. Veterans Services: Assistance with VA burial benefits, military funeral honors, headstones/markers, and veterans death benefits
5. Pre-Planning/Pre-Funding: Advance funeral planning services with inflation-proof and price-guaranteed pre-funded plans through Physicians Mutual, with flexible payment options
6. Sepio Guard - Out of Area Protection: $499 membership for away-from-home assurance protection, covering costs to return deceased individuals from anywhere in the world
7. Medicaid Spend Down Services: Irrevocable funeral trust accounts to help families qualify for Medicaid
8. Athens Pet Cremation: Pet cremation services including private cremation with ash return, communal cremation, and burials

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes provides individualized funeral, cremation, burial, and memorial services to families across Northeast Georgia through three funeral home locations and two owned cemeteries. The company operates the only on-site crematory in Athens-Clarke County, offers veteran funeral services, advance pre-planning with pre-funded plans, and extends its death-care services to pets through the Athens Pet Cremation division. Grief support, live streaming, online memorials, and tribute video services complement the core service delivery.

Product overview

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes is a family-owned funeral service provider operating since 1989, offering a comprehensive portfolio of death care services across three Georgia locations (Athens, Watkinsville, and Danielsville). The company provides traditional funeral services, cremation services with an on-site crematory, veterans' services, green burial options, and pet cremation through its Athens Pet Cremation subsidiary. Additional services include advance funeral planning with pre-funded payment plans, grief support programs, cemetery services at affiliated properties (Athens Memory Gardens and Oconee Memorial Park), Medicaid spend-down consulting, and travel protection through Sepio Guard. The offering represents a single-brand multi-service model unified by the core funeral home brand with specialized sub-brands for pet cremation and cemetery operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Athens Pet Cremation: Pet cremation services operated as a division of Lord & Stephens, providing cremation services for pets with manager Lindsie Moore.
• Athens Memory Gardens
• Oconee Memorial Park

Products and services

• Traditional Funeral Services
• Cremation Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 13 consecutive years of NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award recognition
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• Local FloristssupportingOthersPartnership with local florists to offer flower ordering directly from obituary pages on the website. Orders are made fresh and delivered by local florists.
• Local Veterinary ClinicssupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAthens Pet Cremation partners with local veterinarians to provide pet cremation services, acting as a referral source for pet owners seeking dignified pet memorialization.
• Physicians MutualcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOffers inflation-proof and price-guaranteed pre-funded funeral plans through Physicians Mutual insurance. This partnership enables flexible payment plans for pre-planning families.
• National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)supportingOthersProfessional membership organization. Lord & Stephens has been an active member with staff serving in various capacities from treasurer to president. Company has received NFDA Pursuit of Excellence award for 13 consecutive years.
• Georgia Funeral Directors AssociationsupportingOthersProfessional membership since 1899 providing network of resources to funeral service professionals. Lord & Stephens staff have served in various capacities including president.
• Academy of Graduate Embalmers of GeorgiasupportingOthersAssociation promoting the funeral profession through education advancement and mutual improvement. Staff member James Johnson is a member.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• StoneMor Partners: US cemetery and funeral home operator with a heavy cemetery real estate footprint, similar to Lord & Stephens' ownership of Athens Memory Gardens and Oconee Memorial Park. Most directly comparable on the cemetery-side of the business.

Emerging players

• Park Lawn Corporation: Canadian-headquartered death care provider expanding rapidly across the US via acquisitions. Comparable as a multi-state funeral and cemetery operator pursuing a buy-and-build strategy in similar markets to Lord & Stephens' four-county footprint.
• Neptune Society / National Cremation Society: National direct-cremation providers offering flat-rate, online-purchased cremation services. Comparable as the lower-priced, no-frills alternative competing for the same cremation families in Lord & Stephens' regional market.

Broad incumbents

• Carriage Services: US-listed death care provider operating funeral homes and cemeteries across multiple states with decentralized local branding. Highly comparable in operating model and service mix to Lord & Stephens' multi-location, locally branded approach.
• Dignity plc: Major UK-based funeral services operator that has expanded in North America. Comparable as a multi-location funeral and cremation brand operating under local heritage names, similar in service-mix breadth to Lord & Stephens.
• Foundation Partners Group: Private-equity-backed multi-state funeral and cemetery operator. Comparable as a roll-up platform acquiring independent funeral homes and cemeteries, the type of consolidator Lord & Stephens competes against for share and talent.
• Service Corporation International: The largest funeral, cemetery, and cremation operator in North America with thousands of locations. Comparable as a multi-brand, vertically integrated death-care platform, though Lord & Stephens is a single-region independent operating at a much smaller scale.

Others

• Precoa: National pre-need funeral planning marketing and funding organization partnered with hundreds of funeral homes. Comparable to Lord & Stephens' Physicians Mutual pre-funded planning program in serving as a pre-need pipeline and funding partner for independent funeral homes.
• Legacy.com: Dominant online obituary platform partnering with thousands of funeral homes to publish obituaries and drive family leads. Comparable as the digital obituary and family-acquisition channel that Lord & Stephens' website obituary listings integrate with.
• Wilbert Funeral Services: Leading supplier of burial vaults, caskets, and cremation products to independent funeral homes. Comparable as an ecosystem participant and supplier partner serving the same independent-funeral-home channel that Lord & Stephens operates in.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/lordandstephens

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles17 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes