Johnston & Williams Funeral Home Receives National Recognition - Three Years Running

For the third year in a row, Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory, with locations in both Ellensburg and Cle Elum, was honored with the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Pursuit of Excellence Award, placing it among an elite group of funeral service professionals. Pursuit of Excellence Award recipients raise the bar on funeral service excellence by adhering to the highest ethical and professional standards and providing unsurpassed service to families and communities.

To earn an NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award, a participating funeral home must meet or exceed business standards set forth by the program and demonstrate proficiency in key areas of funeral service, such as compliance with state and federal regulations; providing ongoing education and professional development opportunities for staff; offering outstanding programs and resources to bereaved families; maintaining an active level of involvement within the community; participating and actively serving in the funeral service profession; and promoting funeral home services through a variety of marketing, advertising and public relations programs. Participants are also required to adhere to a Pledge of Ethical Practices.

“This year’s Pursuit of Excellence honorees are a truly exceptional group. Not only are they serving grieving families with dignity and compassion, but they are finding meaningful ways to support and give back to the community,” said NFDA Director of Public Relations Jessica Koth, who manages the Pursuit of Excellence Award program. “The Pursuit of Excellence Work Group was very impressed by this year’s entries and enjoyed reviewing each and every one. The Work Group applauds Johnston & Williams for their hard work and dedication to providing a superior level of service to families and communities. We are proud to have them as part of our NFDA family.”

Johnston & Williams is the only funeral home group east of the Cascades, and only one of three NFDA members in the entire state of Washington, to be recognized for this award.

“There are many ways to parse what the term ‘locally owned’ means,” said owner Henry Johnston, “but when we say that we are your local funeral home, we mean it. We are headquartered in Kittitas County and our only focus is our communities. We don’t have locations elsewhere, we’re not part of a larger corporation. It’s us – here, serving folks when they need us most.”

More information about the NFDA Pursuit of Excellence Award program can be found on the association’s website, www.nfda.org/pursuitofexcellence.

NFDA is the world's leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.

Johnston & Williams is Kittitas County’s oldest funeral provider, with roots in Ellensburg going back to 1918 and Cle Elum in 1920. Prior to being purchased by Henry Johnston in July 2020, the firms operated for 22 years as Steward & Williams Funeral Home in Ellensburg and Cascade Funeral Home in Cle Elum.

NFDA President John "Jack" O. Mitchell, IV presents the 2023 Pursuit of Excellence Award to Henry D. Johnston, CFSP, owner of Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory (center) and Logan B. Henry, Intern Funeral Director & Intern Embalmer (right), at the 2023 NFDA International Convention and Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Henry D. Johnston, CFSP, owner of Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory (left) with Logan B. Henry, Intern Funeral Director & Intern Embalmer (right), displaying the firm's 2022 Pursuit of Excellence Award from the National Funeral Directors Association.

Henry D. Johnston, CFSP, owner of Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory, displaying the firm's 2021 Pursuit of Excellence certificate from the National Funeral Directors Association