PETERBOROUGH — Long-time Jellison Funeral Home owner Daniel Keaveny has sold the company to one of his employees, Julie Thibault of Peterborough.

“Julie has been working closely with me at Jellison’s for nine years, and I’m happy and proud to have her take over the business,” Keaveny said in a statement. “It was important for me to sell the funeral home to someone in the community who will continue our tradition of offering compassionate, personalized services.”

He added: “I plan to continue working closely with Julie and our families, guiding them and letting them know what is available. My wife, Audrey, and I will continue to reside above the funeral home.”

Thibault is a second-generation Peterborough native with deep roots in the community. Before working for Jellison, Thibault had a career in the publishing industry. The uncertainty in that industry led her almost a decade ago to a part-time job at Jellison, where she found great personal satisfaction in her work.

“It’s inspiring, actually, to see the strength of some of these families that come through. You also see this strength that you probably don’t get to experience in other careers,” she said. “To provide what I consider a very profound service in my community is just very rewarding.”

Thibault is the eighth owner of Jellison Funeral Home. Founded in the 1850s, Jellison Funeral Home is one of the oldest continually operating funeral homes in New Hampshire. The funeral home offers a complete range of funeral and cremation services and products, from fully integrated services, cemetery burials and cremations to caskets and urns. Jellison offers services that are purchased at the time of need, and pre-arranged services that are purchased in advance.

“The process that you go through after that happens can either be really difficult or really easy, and we’d certainly like to make it easy,” Thibault said of the death of a loved one.

“We can’t stress that enough. All the records have stayed right here. Everybody that has pre-payments and pre-arraignments are guaranteed, and Dan’s not going anywhere for the foreseeable future,” she said.

Keaveny has been in the funeral industry for 50 years. He purchased Jellison in 1982 from Arthur Wheeler.

“I’ve definitely learned a lot from his experience,” Thibault said.

Jellison’s is still operating under Keaveny’s license as a New Hampshire funeral director and embalmer. Thibault is currently an apprentice to become licensed.

“Dan has been a wonderful mentor and role model for me. I look forward to providing every family with the same comforting experience that Dan has offered so many families over the years, and I’m especially pleased he will continue working with me,” she said.

Thibault is a graduate of ConVal High School and has a degree from Franklin Pierce University in psychology. Before joining Jellison, she worked as a social worker and for a large publishing company. She lives in Peterborough with her husband, Paul, and two children, Ryan and Rebecca.

mpierce@newstote.com