About Us

The Lake Geneva Chapel Heritage

Steinke Funeral Home Inc, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, was founded on Saturday, July 1, 1944, by Arnold E. Steinke when Arnold purchased the former Whiteman Funeral Home. The family tradition continued in 1972 when Arnold's son, Gerald "Jerry," became a partner in the firm.

Through the years, the funeral home has been continually updated, and several major expansions were competed. Additional parking was provided and complete handicap accessibility was incorporated. Steinke Funeral Home Inc. would now be the largest funeral home in Walworth County.

Gerald Steinke was pleased to introduce the Lake Geneva community to Steven Lazarczyk, his wife Rebecca, and their children, Ethan and Amelia. Gerald also proudly announced that he had entered into an agreement to transfer ownership of Steinke Funeral Home Inc. to Steven. 

With this succession plan in place, the new Steinke-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home was positioned to ensure that the long practice of family service would continue far into the future. Steven Lazarczyk will continue the tradition of being a locally-owned family funeral home. 

Steven immediately announced that Jerry would be staying on as a funeral director and will continue, just as he has for the many previous years, to serve the families in all of the South Eastern Wisconsin area communities.

The Delavan Chapel Heritage

Sterling Emmett Betzer founded the Betzer Funeral Home in Harvard, Illinois, in 1909 with horse-drawn hearses and ambulances.

Then, in the early 1930s, Edward M. Schutt (S.E. Betzer’s son-in-law) and his partner, Z.F. “Dick” Cerny, bought the business location. S. E. Betzer then moved to Delavan to start another location at 111 South 2nd Street.

Today, it is known as the Delavan American Legion Post 24, across the street in competition with Lackey, Liddle and O’Brien Funeral Home. His son, Robert Sterling Betzer joined the family firm in 1936.

In about 1940, Loreazo Lack and Robert Liddle retired, and Robert S. Betzer, S.E. Betzer’s son, who was operating the Betzer Funeral Home at that time, joined in partnership with Thomas Henry O’Brien at the current location of 118 South 2nd Street and closed the location across the street. O’Brien and Betzer owned the only funeral home in Delavan until 1952. Thomas O’Brien retired in 1960, and Robert S. Betzer took sole ownership.

Robert S.'s son, Robert Gray Betzer, entered the Betzer Funeral home in 1969 and joined his father as the current owner and operator of Betzer Funeral Home. Robert S. Betzer retired in 1987.

In 2021, Robert G. Betzer was pleased to introduce the Delavan-Darien Community to Steven Lazarczyk, the current owner of the Steinke-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home in Lake Geneva. “I could not ask for a better person to go into business with. He is very compassionate and caring with the families that I have served for many years. He is what a true funeral director is of this generation, bringing new ideas to the Delavan-Darien Area.”

With this succession plan in place, the new Betzer-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home was positioned to ensure that the long practice of family service would continue far into the future. Steven Lazarczyk will continue the tradition of being a locally-owned family funeral home. 

Steven immediately announced that Robert would be staying on as a funeral director and will continue, just as he has for the many previous years, to serve the families in all of the South Eastern Wisconsin area communities.

We have always been family-owned and operated and pride ourselves on individual attention to those we serve. Now offering two chapels, the Betzer-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home in Delavan and the Steinke-Lazarczyk Family Funeral Home in Lake Geneva, we can bring our care and compassion to more people.

We earned our motto, "The People who care...MORE” by treating people the way we like being treated, and we will continue to prove that and give our families “A Tradition of Trust and Compassion.”