Cardington man designs special 'last tribute' for motorcycle enthusiasts

By LeAnne Gompf -

Jay Axthelm of Card­ing­ton approached Funeral Direc­tor Gene Gompf of Gompf Funeral Ser­vice about build­ing a hearse that would give motor­cy­cle enthu­si­ast “One Last Ride”.

Want­ing to pro­vide a ser­vice to the fam­i­lies of fel­low rid­ers Jay, a Harley enthu­si­ast and rider him­self, spent time with Gre­gory and Gene Gompf gain­ing infor­ma­tion on dimen­sions and weights for an aver­age cas­ket size in his effort to con­struct a motor­cy­cle hearse.

“It was a labor of love,” Axthelm said, grin­ning ear to ear under his full beard. The hearse was hand-built by Mr. Axthelm and reflects the style of the sixty year old Knuck­le­head replica he cus­tom made, designed and still rides.

Axthelm has over 300 hours and $4000 invested in his hand­made hearse, topped with leather fringe. The cas­ket is securely held in place for a rev­er­ent ride to their final rest­ing place. Jay has built sev­eral trail­ers for his bike through the years, but his pride and joy is the hearse that offers biker’s one last ride. In spite of his pros­thetic leg and mul­ti­ple scle­ro­sis, 49-year-old Jay has a pos­i­tive out­look on life. Hav­ing recently retired to fully enjoy life, he loves to ride with the wind in his face, mak­ing sure loved ones have an afford­able and sen­sa­tional sendoff.

Robert “Bob” Adams, Sr. takes a final ride to Alum Creek Friends ceme­tery in a custom-made ‘hearse’ designed by Jay Axthelm (driving).

The first offi­cial use of the Motor­cy­cle hearse by the Funeral Home was last Sat­ur­day morn­ing. The weather for a Decem­ber morn­ing could not have been more per­fect for a win­ter morn­ing ride in Ohio. Tem­per­a­tures in the high fifties, sun shin­ing and gen­tle breezes served as the back­drop for a final coun­try drive to Alum Creek Friends Ceme­tery for Robert “Bob” Lewis Adams, Sr. . His daugh­ter, Joy Van Voorhis rode in the side­care, while his son, Robert and his wife Amie Adams, Jr. fol­lowed close behind on their own bike.

The motor­cy­cle hearse, which has been in ser­vice just a few months is just one of the many one –a –kind ser­vices offered by Gompf Funeral Ser­vice. The funeral home also owns two horse-drawn hearses.

Jay Axthelm con­sid­ers his Hearse a labor of love for all mutual Motor­cy­cle Enthusiasts.

Accord­ing to owner, Gene Gompf of Gompf Funeral Ser­vice, “Peo­ple are get­ting away from ‘tra­di­tional’ funeral ser­vices. We strive to offer unique ways to memo­ri­al­ize our fam­i­lies’ loved ones. For the bik­ing enthu­si­ast like Mr. Adams, this was a per­fect way to honor his life with “one last ride”.

Jay Axthelm stands with Gene Gompf of Gompf Funeral Ser­vice with his Cus­tom Made Hearse, offer­ing “One Last Ride” for the bike enthusiast.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Dec 5 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.