Why VGW?
- Family Run With Your Needs At Heart
Our Mission
Vancouver Granite Works has been artistically commemorating lives since 1921. During this time we have learned what makes an everlasting memorial tribute. Our experience in designing, crafting, and installing headstones, grave markers, and tombstones is second to none in the Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Washington, and Astoria, Oregon areas.
Our mission is to not only provide you with a tombstone but to provide you with the right tombstone, the one that will tell your story while fitting into your budget. As the only full-service retail monument provider in the area we can handle all your memorialization needs from initial planning of the grave marker to final inscriptions on the headstone.
A Bit of VGW History
Vancouver Granite Works opened its doors for business in 1921 on the corner of 5th and Davis. In the mid-1960s M.L. Fuerstenberg began working for then-owner George Mielke on a part-time basis. In 1972 M.L. and Gert took over the business and then in 1974 brought their son Bruce in. At the end of 1986, M.L. and Gert decided it was time to retire and sold the business to Bruce and his wife Vicki.
Bruce and Vicki quickly discovered that they were outgrowing their building. Their little building was sufficient for the era when it was established in 1921 but they needed more room for their expanding workload in addition to a modern display area. In 1993, they decided the time was right and moved to their new location on 18th Street with the help friends and family.
Shortly thereafter, they started their Vault Service business, digging graves and providing vaults and liners to area funeral homes and cemeteries. Their business continued expanding and in 1995 their son Joey joined the business. Joey’s daughter Rebecca joined the business in 2006, taking the lead on memorial layouts. In January of 2014 Joey purchased the business from Bruce and Vicki.
Upon purchasing the business, Joey promoted Rebecca to Office Manager to handle the day to day front end operations. Then in June, Joey promoted Rick Richards to Operations Manager to allow Joey to focus on building the business into the Pacific Northwest’s best and largest monument retailer. In July of 2017 we added a second location in Astoria, Oregon, serving the folks from Ocean Park, WA to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Today, Vancouver Granite Works provides artistic commemorative and remembrance products and cemetery services to the Portland/Vancouver and Astoria areas and beyond. They have a diverse presence on the Internet and have developed their own software package for managing monument businesses that they market across the nation.
Vancouver Granite Works are members of the Monument Builders of North America and the Pacific Northwest Monument Builders Association. Joey is a past-president of the PNMBA.
When choosing Vancouver Granite Works for your gravestone needs you will receive:
- Memorial Grade Granite or top quality, lead free Bronze for your monument
- Artistry that stands the test of time and tells your story
- Not just a paper layout but a color rendering that shows you what the grave stone will look like for you to approve
- A reinforced concrete foundation or a polished lawn-mower proof edge for those headstones not requiring concrete
- A written warranty on all our memorials
- All granite memorial markers come with all lettering included and your choice of any of our thousands of standard designs
A Certified Memorialist is to the monument industry what being a Certified Public Accountant is to the accounting industry. And we have the area’s only CM on staff certified by the Monument Builders of North America. Individuals that achieve this designation have undergone extensive study, experience and have committed themselves to ethical business practices and continued education.
With the largest indoor and outdoor display in the area, you will see shapes, designs and ideas that you can’t find anywhere else. You will be able to see and feel the different sizes, colors, styles and textures of headstones and grave markers.
Plus we have a variety of different tombstone accessories such as flower vases, bronze attachments, glass inlays and porcelain pictures. We even have GPS enabled online memorial tributes that are included FREE with every porcelain picture purchase. We are always looking for new ideas to enhance your tombstone, so stop by our showroom to see all these options and more.
We are very picky about the granite we use and the accessories we attach to it. Most of our granites are domestically quarried and manufactured. We believe in supporting companies in the USA. For those granites that are imported, we use domestic suppliers to import and manufacture them when able. For our accessories like vases and porcelain pictures, nothing but the best will do. Our porcelain pictures are the best, longest lasting in the industry with a guarantee second to none. If the accessory won’t last as long as the memorial, we won’t sell it.
Vancouver Granite Works is by far, the most experienced monument retailer in the area. By choosing us to help you with your headstone, you can be assured that you will end up with a memorial tribute that is enduring, artistic and will fit with your budget. We look forward to helping you with your cemetery memorial marker. Contact us today.
Meet Our Partners
