Zachary (left) and Wayne Shafer own Family Monuments and Memorials at 5010 Carolina Beach Road. Photo by Si Cantwell.
The little yellow house at 5010 Carolina Beach Rd. is the home of Family Monuments and Memorials, said Wayne Shafer, 52, who runs the business with his son Zachary, 23.
“I’ve been in business for 25 years, selling stones all over eastern North Carolina,” the elder Shafer said.
He used to have a retail shop in Pink Hill called Shafer Stone Co. They opened in Wilmington about two years ago at Zachary’s suggestion, Wayne said.
The business supplies monuments, mausoleums and pet markers, and also does repairs and engraving.
“When 2000 came around, you’d be surprised how many 19s I had to change to 2000s,” he said. Relatives had bought markers decades earlier, already marked for someone expected to expire in a year that began with 19.
Halloween night found Wayne in a cemetery making repairs to a monument.
“I do a lot of work at night,” he said.
He has marketing agreements with some area funeral homes, and his business expands by word of mouth.
Wayne has carved everything from military symbols to deer heads and tractors on markers.
“It tells the story of somebody’s life,” he said.
He advises people to put some thought into a marker for their loved one.
“The last thing you want at that time is regret – I wish I’d done this,” he said.
The business can be reached at 399-8080 or by visiting familymonumentsandmemorials.com.
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Date posted: November 1, 2012
User-contributed question by:
Anonymous
“Money Junction”????