Our History
Our tradition of service started in 1952 when Henry Gramer first purchased a funeral home -- a historic building located on Main Street in downtown Clawson. The building has been operating as a funeral home since the early 1940’s. Both Henry, and his brother Richard served the community for many years. Henry passed away November 21, 2005 and Richard is now retired. Paul, Henry’s son continues to carry on their legacy of service. Our landmark home has been preserved and remodeled extensively.
In 2003, Paul purchased our second location, Diener Chapel in Shelby Township. The Diener Funeral Home was founded by Dale Diener and has been serving the community for nearly 50 years. You may notice a name change, however in recognition of the Diener family and our commitment to Shelby Township and Utica communities, the location is now called Gramer Funeral Home – Diener Chapel. Dale is enjoying retirement. His daughter Dawn Diener-Drozd works in close relation with our staff.
We are proud to be family-owned funeral homes. We believe this is important and meaningful to families, because we understand the importance – and the personal reward – of assisting friends and neighbors in times of need.
We also consider it our duty to preserve the landscape of the communities we serve. In 2000, we received the Clawson Beautification Award for landscaping enhancements to our original Clawson location – a well-regarded landmark, which has the distinction of being the town’s oldest house. In 2005, after renovations both inside and out, our second location, Diener Chapel was also honored with the Shelby Township Summer Beautification Award.
