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Grant Mortuary changes hands

Noelle Leavitt Riley
Grant Mortuary was sold to the Allnutt family. Owen Grant, back left, stands next to Suzanne and Rick Allnutt, and Jesse Arthurs who is the new manager of the business. Ellen Brockett, bottom left, and Sunny White will remain working for the mortuary.
Noelle Leavitt Riley

Perhaps the most important role of a mortuary is to be compassionate, caring and understanding to the families that have lost loved ones.

That’s exactly what Owen Grant has done for the Craig community for the last 34 years as owner of Grant Mortuary. After humbly serving thousands of local residents, the time has come for Grant to retire from his full-time duties.

“I’ve just been doing it for many, many, many years. I was ready to be done with the day-to-day operations. Plus, I’m getting older,” Grant said of his business.



Thus, he sold his business to the Allnutt family, which owns 13 mortuaries in Colorado. Rick and Suzanne Allnutt are now the proud owners of Grant Mortuary — a business deal that was made final on Aug. 22.

Although the Allnutts now own the mortuary, Grant will still help on a part-time basis. He also looks forward to delving into parts of life that he’s not been able to enjoy as much due to his busy schedule.



“I have a home in Arizona, so I’m going to spend time there,” he said.

The Allnutts — who have worked in the mortuary business for 128 years in Colorado — are excited to take over the operations.

“I’m the fifth generation of my family to operate the business,” Rick Allnutt said. “It made a lot of sense to partner up with Owen.”

He and his wife live in Fort Collins and will commute to Craig monthly, stopping in Northfork where they have family, he said.

They hired Jesse Arthurs as the new mortuary manager, and he has deep ties to the Craig community. He graduated from Moffat County High School in 2001, and his parents and all five of his siblings still reside in Craig.

“I was born in Rangely, and my mom and her family grew up in Craig,” he said.

His mom is Juanita Wagner, and Arthurs used to spend every summer in Craig with his aunt and uncle Debbie and Ron McElroy. His uncle ran Craig Cemetery for 30 years, he noted.

Arthurs also did his apprenticeship at Grant Mortuary in 1998-99, and most recently worked at Taylor Funeral Services in Delta for nine years. He understands the importance of giving the community the same care and service under the new leadership.

“We’re going to treat the families the same way Grant Mortuary has always treated them, with compassion, and we’ll be treating them like they’re our own loved ones,” Arthurs said.

Arthurs and the Allnutts recognize how important Grant and his business have been to Craig and Moffat County for the past three decades.

“We’ve got some big shoes to fill,” Allnutt said. “We’re going to keep operations like they have been.”

Sunny White and Ellen Brockett will continue working for the mortuary.

Contact Noelle Leavitt Riley at 970-875-1790 or nriley@craigdailypress.com.


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