Steel and Wolfe Funeral Home continues under new ownership

WEIRTON -- Steel and Wolfe Funeral Home has seen many changes in its almost 80 years of business in Weirton, and while one of its biggest changes has recently taken place the business doesn't expect it will have any effect on the way it serves the community.

The business can trace its roots to the early 1900s, when Marshall G. Steel opened his first funeral home in Chester in 1910 before moving to Weirton five years later. Harold E. Wolfe would become his partner in the business in 1947.

Steel died in 1948, with Wolfe carrying on and growing the business until his own death in 2003. Wolfe's daughter, Mary Hannah, and her husband, Doug, have carried on the tradition since then.

Recently, though, the Fintons opted to take a step back, to focus on family and other interests, and agreed to sell the business to the Steubenville-based Mosti Funeral Homes.

"This opportunity arose," Mary Hannah Wolfe-Finton explained. "It was an opportunity we felt we couldn't pass up."

Noting Steel and Wolfe was her family's business and her childhood home, Mary Hannah said it had been a difficult decision, but one they felt the timing was right to do. She explained their son and daughter have lives and careers outside of the area, and neither she nor Doug have any other family here anymore.

The Mosti family has been longtime friends, as well.

While the business, with locations on Main Street and Penco Road, is now under new ownership, the Fintons explained they won't be too far away.

"The Mostis want us to be involved," Doug Finton said, noting he has continued to assist with funeral services when needed. "We'll be around."

In addition, Ernest Nicholas III, a Weirton native with 10 years at Steel and Wolfe, has been named as general manager. Funeral directors James Courtney and Dave Barto and planning specialist Jeff Dopp also are remaining on staff, helping to make sure the services offered by Steel and Wolfe will continue as area residents have become accustomed.

"It's been a seamless transition," Doug said, adding the name also will remain.

Mosti Funeral Home was founded in Bridgeville, Pa., in 1917, by Eugene C. and Edith P. Mosti, who moved their business to Steubenville in 1927. Their sons, Donald and Myron, took over the business in 1955, with Donald's son, David, coming on board in 1993 after Myron's retirement.

Today, the business is operated by David and his sons, Justin and Jared.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)