Kurt grew up in Middletown schools and has been working around the funeral home since he was a teenager. He demonstrates his dedication by the way he cares for families day in and day out as well as the support he provides to many of the organizations in and around Newport. With the help of his staff and the people of Aquidneck Island, he helped bring The Moving Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial to Newport in September 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Robert Potter League for Animals and the Newport County YMCA. Kurt enjoys outdoor adventures with his wife Meaghan O’Neill Edenbach and their two children, Nick and Oona. 

Kurt is a member of the RI Funeral Directors Association and an active member of Selected Independent Funeral Homes.  He is a graduate of Portsmouth Abbey School and Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. He completed his professional training at Gupton Jones College in Atlanta. Kurt then joined his father and uncle at the funeral home as a licensed funeral director in the spring of 1997.  Over the last 20 years, he has taken on many of the day-to-day responsibilities of the funeral home and holds a state Insurance License to assist with providing preplanning options for the community. 

Most people know him as Bob. He is an Aquidneck Island native and has lived in almost every town in the county. He joined the family business in September of 1968 and graduated from the New England Institute in 1970 acquiring both Massachusetts and Rhode Island Funeral Director/Embalmers licenses. Bob was known for his compassionate approach with families. He loved to hear stories families would share with him and shared a few of his own.

Now mostly retired, Bob now lives in Portsmouth with his wife Corinne, and their golden retriever, Revere. He has two sons, Robert Jr. and Christopher, and thirteen grandchildren with another on the way. Bob was a past President and life member of the Newport Rotary Club. He is also an active member and past Commanding Officer of the Artillery Company of Newport which participates in Revolutionary War re-enactments and maintains a museum in Newport. Bob also enjoys skiing, boating, hunting, and motorcycle riding. 

He is a 1964 graduate of Fairfield University with a BA in Sociology. He proudly served in the US Navy as a Lieutenant on the Destroyer, USS Forrest Royal from 1966-1968, and in the Naval Reserves from 1969-1974, serving on the USS Purdy and the USS Dash.  

Eddie has been a licensed funeral director with the Memorial Funeral Homes since 1988. He grew up in the Slatersville area of North Smithfield. He was raised in a restaurant family and attended Johnson & Wales College of Culinary Arts before beginning his career in funeral services at Curtis J. Holt Sons Funeral Home in Woonsocket in 1984. 

Ed organizes the “Cooking for You” program for surviving family members, which he delivers with other members of the Memorial staff as well as remembrance events throughout the year. He lives in Middletown with his partner Scott and their perfect dog, Ivan. 

Sean is a homegrown Newporter which gives him a deep understanding of the people on the island. Sean served our U.S. military in the Air Force.  

In his time away from the funeral home Sean loves to golf, play poker, and walk on the beach. Sean lives in Middletown with his wife, Leisha, their daughter Kaitlin, and their cat, Beni. Sean has two grandchildren who he adores! He hopes to join the ranks of the devoted dog lovers on our staff in the not-too-distant future. 

Sean has come to funeral service as a second career and found that he loves serving families during their time of need. Sean’s down-to-earth manner makes him very approachable. Sean graduated from FINE Mortuary College in July 2008 with an associate degree in Mortuary Science and received his funeral director’s license in January of 2009. 

Courtney is a native Newporter, she brings her kind-hearted nature and attention to detail to every family she serves. You may recognize her from around town as she has been a friendly face and manager at the Newport Blues Café since the early 2000s, as well as helping at The Hungry Monkey. Courtney has a background in hospitality and event planning and comes from a family of police and medical professionals. After giving nursing school a thought, she decided a career in funeral service would be the most rewarding. She enjoys helping and guiding the families in our community, in hopes they experience a sense of relief.  

Courtney is a proud mother of two boys, Jamison and Jack, as well as her rescue pups, Charlie and Max, and Harper, her ex-racehorse rescue. Outside of work, family, and fur babies, her interests include wellness and fitness, traveling, and horseback riding. Courtney enjoys the volunteer work she does for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and Save One Soul Animal Rescue League.  

Courtney started her work in the funeral service as an embalming apprentice in March of 2016. She graduated Cum Laude from FINE Mortuary College in August of 2018 with an Associate’s in Funeral Science. She joined the team at Memorial Funeral Homes as a licensed Funeral Director in March of 2019. 

Rachel is an old soul trapped in a young person’s body, but we wouldn’t have her any other way. As the oldest sister of four girls, she functions through her caring nature and love. She is a crazy dog person with a mild to moderate collie obsession.

Rachel was raised with Jewish faith and has always found fascination in ritual and cultural universals.

Rachel received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Rhode Island and her associate degree in Mortuary Science from FINE Mortuary College. During her studies at URI, she took a course in Thanatology and understood her true calling.

Before graduating, she began serving her apprenticeship with Memorial and enrolled at FINE, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Rachel is a licensed Funeral Director and Embalmer at Memorial Funeral Homes. She has been a part of our team since 2018. Rachel specializes in working with the structured procedures within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

She is an expert on cremation memorialization. She feels deeply compelled to do the work she does and appreciates the ability to connect with families. Rachel looks forward to becoming a familiar face within the community.

In her free time, you can find her at the park with her pups, Dewey and Nala.

Lisa Marie Alves (no relation to the Presleys) is a lifelong Aquidneck Islander and she is the heart and soul of our Funeral Home. At the age of fifteen, she began working as a telephone operator for the company’s answering service. Three generations of women from her family have run the answering service for the firm, her mother, her sister Lisa, and now her daughter. Lisa went to cosmetology school and took a part-time job working for her stepfather, Bob at the funeral home. Post graduation she worked part-time as a hairdresser and at the answering service. After working part-time in the office for the funeral home she was hooked. At the beginning of 1989, to date, she is both the first and only Office Manager the company has ever known. Lisa has honored the funeral home with more than 3 decades of service. Her favorite part of the job is the feedback received from the families we serve.

Outside the funeral home, Lisa is happily married to her high school sweetheart, Mike. They have two children Victoria and Michael, as well as their four dogs Easton, Stanley Cup, Mason, and Axel. Lisa is a Boston Bruins fan!  

Kim has experienced bereavement firsthand after her husband of 19 years died suddenly of leukemia at the age of 48. Kim has been a stay-at-home mother for seventeen years and home-schooled her only son for most of that time. She has a B.A. in theater/dance and an M.F.A. in performance arts.

Kim has done coursework in individual and group crisis intervention with first responders, clinicians, and clergy affected by Hurricane Sandy and 9/11. She has done bookkeeping for local contractors, taught ESL for a literacy program, run her own gardening business, and taught speech communications and acting. She also helped manage and promote a twenty-million-dollar housing project in Massachusetts. She has been heavily involved for ten years at Channing Church where she researched, wrote, and offered many services as well as helped with marketing and community outreach.

Since her husband’s death she has been reading and studying up on the funeral industry and grief support. She has always loved writing and is thrilled with the opportunity to share her stories to help others feel understood and less alone in this crazy club, no one ever wants to join.

Leo hails from Swansea, Massachusetts. Leo attended Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River and began his career working in funeral service there in 1984. He is happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have two adult children. In his spare–time he enjoys playing golf and traveling the world. Leo is a huge Jazz music fan and loves playing his tenor saxophone.  

Leo is a licensed funeral director and is our preplanning specialist. He has over thirty years of experience in the field. Focusing on advance planning has given him a keen understanding of the needs a family has in this difficult time. If you would like to learn about what options you have, Leo can help you find the peace of mind of knowing your wishes have been accurately documented. 

John is a retired Middletown Firefighter. John is an amazing cook and talented handyman. He enjoys going on vacations with his wife Sharon plans for them. He is also a member of the Freemasons. 

Over the last 6 years, he has taken the responsibility of overseeing the Newport Monument Company and all granite, bronze, and engraving work. John has vast knowledge of all of the local cemeteries and is a great resource for permanent memorialization. 

John is a native of West Hartford, CT, and grew up in East Greenwich RI. He graduated from Bishop Hendricken High School in June 1984 and Babson College with a degree in Management in May 1988. Before joining Memorial Funeral Home, John spent many years in banking as a Vice President-Operations Manager with Citizens Bank in Warwick. He brought his approachable demeanor to hospitality and served as an Operations Manager with Marriott International, where he still helps part-time. 

John joined the Memorial Funeral Home team in February 2018 and has lived on Aquidneck Island for 16 years. He enjoys living in Newport with his two dogs, spending time near the ocean, and swimming and has provided a happy home to many dogs over the years.

The Rev. Dr. Lark d’Helen has been a happy transplant from the state of Minnesota for over 25 years. Lark lives in Middletown with her spouse Joyce and their Shih Tzu. In her downtime, she can be found walking on the beach with her dog Boomerang, or relaxing in her beautiful yard with friends. 

 Lark began as a minister and worked as a chaplain and advisor in hospitals and nursing homes. She has been guiding the grief support and outreach programs of Community Connections and Memorial Funeral Homes for the last 7 years. Lark has spent 10 years as adjunct faculty at the University of Rhode Island in the College of Nursing’s Interdisciplinary Thanatology program. She has the highest level of certification in the field of death, dying, and bereavement. A Fellow in Thanatology from the Association for Death Education and Counseling.