Former chiropractor Chris Price has purchased Linde Family Funeral Service, which has offices in Port Townsend, Sequim, Bremerton and Lakewood.

The company will change its name to Linde-Price Funeral Service later this year, Price said Monday.

The sale to Price, 34, by Jason Linde, formerly of Sequim, became final Jan. 1, Price said, adding that in 2012, he may expand the Sequim office at 530-A N. Fifth Ave.

No changes are expected for the Port Townsend office at 280 Quincy St., Suite C.

Price said Linde will continue to be one of two funeral directors and will do consulting for the business.

Linde, whom Price said has moved to Blaine, did not return a call for comment Monday afternoon and did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview.

Price, a 1995 Sequim High School graduate, said he could not disclose terms of the purchase, calling it “a buyout over time.”

Little will change at Linde-Price in 2010, said Price, a former Sequim chiropractor and commercial developer.

In 2008, Price became Linde’s partner and began managing the business about two years ago.

“We began to add some things, make some subtle changes and improve things a bit,” Price said.

Linde also had to address ongoing health issues, Price said.

“It was just the right thing for us, to take over.”

The funeral service coordinates about 30 cremations and funerals a month in Clallam and Jefferson counties, about 80 percent of which are cremations, Price said.

Cadavers are transported to Marysville for cremation at crematory owned by Linde-Price Funeral Service, Price said.

Price, his parents and his two brothers also own American Cremation and Casket Alliance — a funeral home — in Marysville,

Price will probably close the Lakewood office next year to focus more on Clallam and Jefferson counties, he said.

“Next year, we plan on expanding, doing a little more with burials, including the potential of opening a larger office in Sequim,” he said.

Linde-Price Funeral Director Laurel Herrera, 50 — calling herself “ballet teacher by night, funeral director by day” — said the change in ownership was “seamless.”

“It’s the very best thing, dealing with families and helping them through periods where they really don’t know what is happening, what to expect,” Herrera said of her “day job.”

In 2007, Linde was storing cadavers inside a Carlsborg storage building before transporting them to Kent for cremation when he tried to make it easier to offer cremation services by building a crematory in Carlsborg.

Clallam County Hearings Examiner Chris Melly had approved Linde’s conditional use permit for the facility.

But irate Carlsborg residents, concerned about toxic emissions, formed a citizens group, hired an attorney and picketed in protest, successfully pressuring commissioners to reject the project.

________

Senior staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.