Full History

The Erickson Company originated in Evansville, Minnesota, in 1921, owned and operated by Oscar Erickson. In April 1925, Oscar and Loren Erickson acquired the furniture and funeral service from John Sater in Elbow Lake, and in1946, Harlen O. Estenson joined the company. The Erickson Funeral Home was established in Hoffman in 1947, and the present funeral home in Elbow Lake was completed in 1948.

In 1952, Paul Erickson, a graduate of the University of Minnesota Mortuary Science Program, joined the Erickson Company. Loren Erickson retired in 1963, at which time he sold the furniture store and funeral home to Harlen Estenson and Paul Anderson. The furniture store was sold in 1974.

In 1976, E.T. Lowell Smith, a graduate of the University of Minnesota Mortuary Science Program, purchased Mr. Estenson’s interest in the funeral home, and a partnership was formed between Lowell Smith and Paul A. Anderson.

After thirty-one years of serving families in Elbow Lake, Hoffman, and the surrounding area, Mr. Smith sold the funeral homes to Thomas Vertin, a third-generation funeral director from Breckenridge, Minnesota. This cooperative venture was aimed at continuing the Erickson-Smith tradition of personalized, professional service. The team at Erickson-Smith Funeral Home & Cremation Service is proud to carry on that tradition, today and far into the future.