About Us
//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/23/about-life-story-funeral-homes-traverse-city.jpg Vaughn Seavolt felt something was missing.
After nearly two decades as a licensed funeral director, the Traverse City resident began feeling that something was lacking in the funerals he saw delivered day after day. He knew there had to be more than just selling caskets.
And then, he found what he was looking for.
“After a friend of mine died, I discovered Life Story® for the first time,” Seavolt said. “I underwent a personal transformation, and for the first time in a long time, I saw the meaning and relevance in a funeral service. That’s when I knew I had to bring Life Story® to the place I call home, the Traverse City area.”
Today, Seavolt’s dream has come to fruition, with the addition of the Traverse City Life Story Funeral Home®. The funeral home, owned and operated by Seavolt, is located at 400 Hammond Road West.
Seavolt, who graduated from Olivet College before attending Wayne State, says he knows the Life Story Experience™ will resonate with the people of the Grand Traverse area, just as it resonated with him.
“Consumer needs are changing, and people want something more than the same old funeral,” he said. “For the first time, people in the Grand Traverse area can choose a funeral home based on something more than just where they went the last time.”
As Seavolt says, his new funeral home is contemporary, accessible, and a tech-friendly celebration of life. There’s no casket selection room, no funeral drapes, and no fleet of hearses, either. Most of all, it’s a funeral experience focused on life and memories, not death and caskets, Seavolt says.
“The Life Story Experience™ is really unlike any other, and it truly takes funeral service into the 21st Century,” he explained. “Life Story Funeral Homes® are devoted to preserving the past, but not being stuck in it.”
Traverse City Life Story Funeral Home® will help people preserve and share a person’s professionally-written Life Story® in print, digital film and on the web, right here at www.lifestorynet.com. Life Story® funerals are focused on the life that was lived, and feature the reading of the Life Story®, and the viewing of the digital film on flat-screen TVs. There are currently 16 independently-owned and operated Life Story Funeral Homes® and affiliates throughout Michigan and Indiana.
Our Staff
Vaughn Seavolt
Life Story Funeral Directorvaughnseavolt@lifestorytc.com
//cdn.lifestorynet.com/fh/23/vaughn-seavolt.jpgVaughn Seavolt knows about loss as well as anyone.
The owner and operator of the Traverse City Life Story Funeral Home® has experienced several personal losses in his lifetime, each of which touched him, changed him, and reinforced his belief in the importance of funeral service.
In November of 1996, Vaughn lost two of his nephews, Shaun and Mark, just two days apart, one to a car accident and the other to suicide. Two years later, Vaughn’s two-month-old nephew, TJ, was diagnosed with leukemia. Vaughn often made the trip from Traverse City to Lansing to visit him, and later to the clinic in Indianapolis, until TJ died in December of 1999. Vaughn held his baby nephew just hours before he died, and made a commitment to rededicating himself to making the most of his own life, and to follow his dreams.
Today Vaughn lives that dream, that of owning his own funeral home, and helping families through the difficult periods of grief that he has faced throughout his own life. Vaughn is proud and honored to help families share and remember the life their family member lived, and proud to offer them the Life Story Experience™.
It was a long, winding road Vaughn took to get where he is today, yet one he was destined to travel.
Vaughn was born on November 17, 1964, in his hometown of Charlotte, Michigan, to Ron and Yvonne Seavolt. He was the couple’s last of three children, joining his big brother Jeff and big sister Shellie in the family home.
Vaughn suffered his share of health problems when he was little, and spent a good portion of his childhood in and out of the hospital. He began to dread anything associated with doctors and emergency rooms.
By the time he reached Charlotte High School, Vaughn’s career aptitude tests pointed him in the right direction, the funeral profession. He attended Olivet College, studying Psychology, before entering mortuary school at Wayne State. Degree in hand, Vaughn started his long career in the funeral profession, first in his hometown, then as a manager in Battle Creek, then Three Rivers. He became the General Manager of a collection of funeral providers in Traverse City in 1997, before becoming a contractual funeral director in Frankfort, Battle Creek and Gaylord in 2001. In every community Vaughn worked, he became involved, ready to help where he was needed.
The funeral homes Vaughn managed won 13 “Pursuit of Excellence” awards, a prestigious national honor, and he co-chaired several W.K. Kellogg Foundation Expert-in-Residence community programs, too. In Traverse City, he has been active in the Munson Hospice, and Michael’s Place, A Healing Center for Grieving Children and their Families.
Then, after nearly two decades as a licensed funeral director, Vaughn found an even better way to help families: Life Story®.
“After a friend of mine died, I discovered Life Story® for the first time,” Vaughn says. “I underwent a personal transformation, and for the first time in a long time, I saw the meaning and relevance in a funeral service. That’s when I knew I had to bring Life Story® to the place I call home, the Traverse City area.”
When he isn’t busy running his business, Vaughn enjoys going golfing, fishing or skiing in Traverse City, and spending time with his friends and family, especially his nieces and nephews. Though he has no children, Vaughn loves kids and is very involved in the lives of his nieces and nephews. He treats them as his own, and they’re truly his pride and joy.
Most of all, Vaughn tries to make the most out of each and every day, just like he promised.