Mainely Urns History
Our funeral roots predate both cell phones and the internet.
1986 - 37+ years ago Robert “Bob” Turner started Turner Sales (now Turner Memorials https://www.turnermemorials.com/who-we-are/). Bob sold funeral supplies, urns, embalming fluids and chapel furniture to funeral homes and crematoriums all over Maine, New Hampshire and to a few in Vermont and Massachusetts. Bob was a road warrior, armed with a briefcase full of catalogs, a backseat full of embalming fluid jugs and of course a trunk packed to the gills with urns.
Spring 2003 - By this Bob had esablished Turner Sales a the go-to supplier in the Maine and NH with nearly 100 clients. His kids three girls were all grown up and his son in-law Michael had a child on the way with Bob’s middle daughter. Michael was without a job, laid off from an internet startup when the Dot-com bubble burst but had some online experience. Michael had modest ambitions but thought an internet urn store might help at least pay for some diapers or take the edge off a minivan payment. He had worked for a few internet start ups in sales and saw there were only a few mom and pop looking online urns stores. Michael asked Bob…”if I build an online urn store, can I buy the urns from you?” Bob said “OK.”
Summer 2003 - Michael borrowed a scanner from his brother-in-law "Uncle Dubba", taught himself both Photoshop and how to build an entire ecommerce website in a few months…and also how a scanner worked. He put $100 in a Google Ads account, turned on MainelyUrns.com and on On August 5, 2003 he got an order, another on the 6th and another on the 7th! Diaper money at last!
2003 - Now - After nearly two decades of hard work and long days we have truly grown into our own little success story. Through the commitment of our amazing people, our ever-evolving headquarters here in Maine, our collective big ideas, and mostly, our attention to the smallest of details - we continue to anchor our place in the market as the leader in craft, innovation and customer service. We are proud to carry the torch Bob lit way back in 1986.
From our most tenured employee, to our newest hire — we all know we don’t do this solely for ourselves. We understand deeply that with every product we lovingly create, our work means so much more to someone else. And that while we look to sell our products, we are driven to imagine, create, and deliver compassion like no other brand ever could.
Oh, if you bump into Bob know he affectionately goes by "Bonka" now. He has his 7 grandkids to thank for that.
Michael Madore
Proed Owner of Mainely Urns and Memorials Since 2003