Our History

100 Year History

The Lehman-Dzendzel Funeral Home continues a long tradition of funeral services in Celina, Ohio. Our history begins over 100 years ago when Clair W. Vale moved to Celina from Cincinnati, Ohio to help the Carr Funeral Home. In 1923, Vale originally founded the Vale Funeral Home in a storefront on Main Street in downtown Celina to serve the Celina community. In the early years, embalming was performed at the deceased's residence with hand pumps, and funeral services were held in the residence. Vale was a member of the St. Pauls United Methodist Church in Celina. They owned the Struckman Mansion on present day Livingston Street. The Struckman Mansion was built in 1865 and purchased by Vale from St. Paul's United Methodist Church in 1937 as the new location for the funeral home.

In 2003, the Lehman Funeral Home in Celina, Ohio, was purchased from Mike Lehman with Steve Dzendzel as director. The funeral home is located at 901 Myers Rd and operates as the Lehman-Dzendzel Funeral Home. The former Celina Vale Funeral Home was founded in 1923 by Clair W. Vale and operated as Vale Funeral Home for many years. When Wilbur E. Stein became a partner in the funeral home in 1945, it was known as the Vale & Stein Funeral Home, located at the corner of Livingston and Ash Streets.

Vale retired in 1960, and Michael Lehman started in 1961 while in high school, becoming a partner of the firm in 1972. The firm was then known as Vale-Stein-Lehman Funeral Home. When the business moved to the Myers Road facility in July 1979, the name Vale was dropped, and the name Stein was subsequently dropped in 1985, following the retirement of Stein in 1981.