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A hearse leads a funeral procession down Miller Road in Celina toward Tom Robbins' farm.
CELINA - Local auctioneer and farmer Tom Robbins loved his farm.
"That's where he loved to be," daughter-in-law Lori Robbins said. "He loved his farm. He was a farmer (and) he loved being out there."
It only made sense that upon his death on March 25 at age 79, the family would choose to bury him on the property.
"I said, 'Why don't we bury him at home?' because he kind of always joked about being buried at home," Lori Robbins said.
She quickly reached out to funeral director Mary Jo Hellwarth at W.H. Dick & Sons-Hellwarth Funeral Home of Celina and asked if it was a possibility.
"And she said, 'I don't know.' She said, 'Lori, this hasn't been done (for) a long, long time,'" Lori Robbins said. "She said, 'Let me make some phone calls.' And she did, and she called me back and said, 'We can make this happen.'"
After receiving Lori Robbins' initial call, Hellwarth consulted with the Hopewell Township trustees, county prosecutor Erin Minor and the Ohio Funeral Directors Association to assess the legality of a home burial.
Upon checking with local officials, Hellwarth learned that in Mercer County it is legal to bury a loved one at home, but not within city or village limits, she said.
There are no state laws in Ohio that prohibit home burial, and state law allows family cemeteries, according to the NOLO legal encyclopedia.
However, prior to holding a burial on private land or establishing a family cemetery, it's necessary to check with local zoning authorities or the city or county clerk to find out if there are any zoning rules to follow.
"The only other really requirement was that they had to record that on the property deed, that there is a burial on that spot in case (the property) be sold out of the family," Hellwarth said.
Tom Robbins' son Eric, grandson Cole and other family friends carry his casket.
Prior to the mid-1800s, home burials and family cemeteries were common in the United States, according to the U.S. Library of Congress. The 19th century is considered to have been the genesis of the modern American funeral industry.
"Towns grew into cities, which quickly became severely overcrowded," the website states. "As local cemeteries ran out of burial space, the rural park cemetery emerged. Located far enough away from the city to require transportation, coffin makers began to offer additional services like carriage rentals and hearse transportation to the gravesite."
Hellwarth added that as people sold their properties and moved away from the area, she thinks they got more into using cemeteries because it's recorded and people know where individuals are.
There are still "little country cemeteries" sprinkled throughout the Grand Lake region, she said.
"Those old cemeteries, they're still kept up by the property owners, but a lot of times they've changed hands in their different families. But they're still there. You just don't see anybody else ever buried there. It's just the people from years ago."
Tom Robbins was buried at his home farm on March 29, 2024.
Tom Robbins' widow, Mary Jane Robbins, with some help from their grandson Cole Robbins, chose Tom's final resting place near a wooded area that can be seen from a big picture window in the family home's dining area, Lori Robbins said.
"It used to be a pasture area where their horses were, but one side's still a pasture," Lori Robbins said. "And the other side's just kind of a sparsely wooded area, and back behind, way back behind, a pond."
Once the grave site was chosen, Hellwarth said the family proceeded with a regular funeral visitation at the funeral home.
"Then, instead of going to the cemetery, we went out to the farm where the individual was to be buried. It was back in a wooded area, and we hired the folks who dig the grave to take care of that," she said. "And then we hired somebody from the vault company to bring the vault out and set up the tent and get everything ready."
Following Tom Robbins' burial on March 29, an infinity cross marked his gravesite until a tombstone was recently placed, Lori Robbins said.
"It's nice having him there on the farm," she said. "His tombstone just got put up. It turned out really nice. It's comforting just knowing that he's there. It's just, kind of nice. You can go out there anytime you want and talk to it."
Flowers decorated with labeled ribbons lay atop Tom Robbins' casket.
Tom Robbins, born on August 10, 1944, in Celina, was a 1962 Parkway (formerly Rockford) High School graduate, according to his obituary. He was a well-known local auctioneer of 62 years, real estate broker of 32 years, and farmer that raised Belgian draft horses and rabbits.
"He was a wonderful grandfather, and he treated people the way you're supposed to treat people - and, you know, for us to be able to keep him on his farm, it's kind of neat," Lori Robbins said. "He still has one old horse left out there and we go over and we feed her and still take care of her."
Tom Robbins' purchased his farm just outside of Celina in 1997, son Eric Robbins said. Now, Lori and Eric's son Cole Robbins is in the process of buying it in order to keep it in the family.
"It'll be closing here soon. He bought part of the farm, like the house and the buildings and like 8 acres from Grandma (Mary Jane Robbins)," Lori Robbins said. "Grandma's going to live there until she passes, then Cole will take over the house. … He's the caretaker and it will be a family cemetery. We all plan to be buried there. We will rest there too."
