The longest serving funeral director in Shropshire has recently retired after serving the county’s families for over 56 years. John Tranter of L Tranter & Son (St Georges) joined his father and grandfather at the West Street premises in 1960, where he continued to work full time until January of this year. On leaving school John started an apprenticeship as a Draughtsman at The Lilleshall Company but was unable to complete his training due to contracting Tuberculosis. Following two years in hospital and unable to return to his apprenticeship, John took the decision to join the family business, which was started in 1898 by Leonard Tranter. The next 56 years would see many changes, improvements and expansion to the business which now employees over 20 people and operates three branches in St Georges, Donnington and Newport. During that time John’s experience, guidance and local knowledge has helped thousands of Shropshire families plan fitting tributes for their loved ones.
Symon Tranter, fifth generation of the Tranter family to run the company stated, “My father has dedicated his whole working life to the families we have served, often working seven days a week and being on call 24 hours a day. These days we operate an out of hours rota system covered by our dedicated team, but for many years before this dad covered 24 hours a day on his own. I feel privileged to have worked alongside my father for nearly 30 years and have learned almost everything I know from him. Jointly we have amassed over 85 years in the industry and his professionalism, dedication and values have been the cornerstone of my training. On behalf of all of our team I would like to wish him a long and enjoyable retirement.”
