Owner / Operator

John Moles

Hello, I’m John Moles, fourth generation owner of Moles Farewell Tributes, Greenacres Memorial Park. This web-page has been created as a way to announce my new focus on personally serving families through our Bellingham location and to highlight a few past accomplishments and plans for the future.

As a life long Whatcom County resident, Bellingham High graduate, and Western Washington MBA program student, Bellingham holds a special place in my heart. After graduating from Seattle Pacific in 1995 and getting married to my wife Anathea, it was clear to us both where we would settle down and raise a family. Additionally, our Whatcom County Family business, established in 1890, was something we wanted to see continue independent of large corporate influence, free in its continued mission to provide healing rite of passage events that celebrate and honor life.

Since purchasing our Bellingham location, originally Jones Funeral Home in 1968, our family has worked to make this mission a reality in Bellingham through excellence and innovation. Click here to learn more about our family and history of service to the community.

Since 1996, it has been my pleasure to focus daily efforts in serving at our Ferndale and Greenacres Memorial Park locations and also our many friends at the Lummi and Nooksack Indian Nations. Throughout these years, it has been an honor to lead a period of innovation here at Moles.

As time has gone on, it has become clear that what families need and value from a funeral home has fundamentally changed. In response, we have undertaken a number of new changes and improvements.

One important change was to add options which fill a void for families who are not interested in a traditional funeral but are still searching for a different way to create a meaningful memorial event for surviving family and friends. To serve these families, we began offering what we call Farewell Tributes, a unique memorial event that unites family and friends and focuses on celebrating the life of the person who has died in a very personal way.

A Farewell Tribute, when crafted correctly, seeks to tell the story of a life through the use of things like celebrants, memory boards and videos, favorite foods and drinks, non-traditional venues and special touches like dove releases, custom cards and family story telling opportunities to truly capture and celebrate a life well lived. Often, a Farewell Tribute will involve new ways of disposition like a Cremation Cemetery placement, natural boulder engraving or Green Burial. To reflect this new mission, we also changed the name of our business, to Moles Farewell Tributes to better reflect this focus.

We have changed many other things over the years but two that I am most proud of are both located at Greenacres Memorial Park. The first was the creation of Stillwaters Botanical Cremation Garden. This beautiful, natural setting was designed specifically for families choosing cremation but recognizing the importance of a final resting place for their loved one. Click here to learn more about Stillwaters.

The second major change at Greenacres Memorial Park was the creation of The Meadow Natural Burial Grounds, the first of its kind in the United States, and the first Green Burial site in Western Washington to receive the highest certification by the Green Burial Council.

The Meadow was the combined vision of myself and Brian Flowers, a good friend, Whatcom County resident, nature advocate, professional story teller and valued member of the Moles team. Brian was (and is) passionate about using the story of a lifetime to create beautiful ceremonies which unite families and reflect the natural way to say goodbye. Click here to meet Brian and get a sense for his vision for natural burial here in Whatcom County.

Moles Green Burial 3

Now, as my focus turns to Bellingham and Ferndale, I look forward to bringing this same type of commitment to providing innovative experiences that help in the healing process of celebrating life.

I am very proud of the team we have at Moles Farewell Tributes. I have personally selected every person on our team and have empowered them to do whatever it takes to serve your family. The Moles Farewell Tributes team is ready to continue our tradition of exceptional family care and innovative valued service to the community.

Feel free to call me any time. I look forward to getting to know you and discovering how, together, we can celebrate the story of your family.

John Moles