The history of Baker Funeral Home began with a gentleman named Otto Egge, who was employed as a salesman in a furniture store in Minot, North Dakota. The company was located next door to a Mortician who influenced his life immensely. He used to visit with him quite often and observed many daily activities that were involved in the Funeral Home business. Because of the drought that lasted seven years, he quit his job and came back to Mayville, with the decision already made to go into the funeral business.

Otto had attended Mayville Teachers College for almost four years previous to going to Minot and had enough credits to transfer and attend the University of Minnesota, College of Mortuary Science for only one year before receiving his diploma. He served as an apprentice for one year and in the fall of 1931 he purchased this building and opened Egge Funeral Home. This business was run in conjunction with the Furniture Store and was owned by Otto and Karsten Egge.

Otto Egge retired in 1940 and on the 1st of January, the Funeral business was purchased by Karsten Egge. For a few years it was operated in a location next to the furniture store until 1938 when it was moved to its present site. This building was remodeled to increase the needed size in 1956.

John Baker joined Egge Funeral Home in summer of 1952, and in 1962 John Baker became a partner in the Egge Funeral Home with Karsten Egge.

Aside from the funeral service, the partnership also operated an Ambulance Service. A combination Cadillac Ambulance and a Ford Station Wagon were both purchased in 1961, rendering 24 hour service to the entire community.

In 1967, John Baker became sole owner of Egge Funeral Home, at which time he renamed it Baker Funeral Home. John’s son, Steve associated with the firm in 1976. Steve owned and operated the Baker Funeral Home from June 1984 thru December 1995, and in 1989, Mr. Baker attached a chapel to the main building.

In 1996, Steve Baker partnered with the Vertin Family. Tom Vertin, a third generation funeral director, operates funeral homes from his hometown of Breckenridge, Minnesota. This cooperative venture was aimed at continuing the Baker tradition of personalized, professional service that families have come to expect.

The history of Lindsey-Carlson Funeral Home began in Page in 1898, in the back of a barber shop on Main Street. Carl Steen, the barber in Page at the time, soon moved his undertaking business to Block 16, where he stored caskets upstairs and the embalming procedures were completed downstairs. Local residents supplemented their income by lining caskets.

When Mr. Steen moved on, P.L. Foss, local pharmacist, took over the business, employing Roy Lindsey to begin learning the trade. Roy eventually took over the business in 1923, at which time it moved to the Steurr building.

Maynard Lindsey became licensed in 1934, and soon after joined his father in the business. The business was then moved to the present location, which was then the home of R.C. Lindsey. In later years, a mortuary was added to the home. The funeral home held an open house in July of 1941, where over 700 people attended.

Maynard’s two sons, Richard and Mark, later attended mortuary school and joined Maynard in the family business. Mark and Maynard remained in business until 1974, when they sold the funeral home to Gary and Jean Carlson.

In 1981, the Carlson’s partnered with the Vertin Family, at which time the staff at Lindsey-Carlson and Baker Funeral Home joined to continue the tradition of service to families.