TYRONE — The Feller Memorial Home is closed but will likely reopen as an event center.

Terry W. Tate Jr., who along with his wife Ashley, bought Feller from T. Michael and Suzanne Feller on March 31, 2021, was not able to renew the license for Feller, which expired Feb. 1.

Tate and his wife also own the Richard H. Searer Funeral Home Inc., where he serves as supervisor.

Tate didn’t apply to renew the license for Feller because he no longer has a supervisor for that facility. He had a supervisor who left last year and he hired a temporary supervisor to fill the position until the license expired.

Under Pennsylvania law, Tate could not serve as supervisor at both locations.

“Legally in Pennsylvania to have a funeral home license, you have to have a supervisor at each location. It can’t be the same person. My license is here at Searer Funeral Home. I can’t be the supervisor at both,” Tate said. “When our license for renewal for Feller came up, it couldn’t remain a funeral home.”

The state Board of Funeral Directors will do a final, closing inspection. After the closing inspection, the location would no longer serve as a funeral home, said Adam Shaffer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association.

“Terry’s plan is to turn this building into an event center that could be rented and used for services or gatherings of any type,” Shaffer said.

“We would be able to use it as a funeral chapel for viewings and services under the direction of the Richard Searer Funeral Home rather than Feller Memorial, but we can’t advertise it as a funeral home,” said Tate, who also said the facility will be given a new name.

Tate said plans are in the works for the Feller location.

“Ultimately, the plan has been since we purchased it, and Mike and I talked about it, was to essentially combine the two businesses and build onto the land at Feller and make it one funeral home to accommodate both funeral homes’ needs,” Tate said.

Tate said he has been reaching out to contractors regarding the project.

“We want to see if they can do what we have in mind. We will need to talk to an architect to do the drawings. We are in the beginning steps,” Tate said. “It will be a financial undertaking, (and) we will work with CNB Bank to accomplish what we need.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.