After more than 40 years in the funeral business, the past 13 in Langley, Brent and Marge Trimble are retiring to Utah.

“It’s hard to leave,” Marge Trimble said Monday. “There are so many people here we love and adore. It’s been fun living here, but now it’s family time.”

The Trimbles are leaving Visser Funeral Home in Langley, which they’ve owned since 1996. Trimble said Visser will become affiliated with Burley Funeral Chapel in

Oak Harbor.

The business will join Burley as part of the Key Memories network, Trimble said, specializing in customized funeral and memorial services.

“By affiliating with the Key Memories network and Burley, Visser will have access to special services unique to our area,” Trimble said.

She said the changeover will probably take place by the end of this week.

Visser Funeral Home is one of just three funeral homes on Whidbey Island. The third is Whidbey Memorial Funeral & Cremation Service, also in

Oak Harbor, another family-owned business.

Visser offered a full line of mortuary services, handling arrangements on Whidbey and off-island.

The Trimbles have seven children and 15 grandchildren, all living in Utah and Colorado, she said. “We just want to be near them for birthday parties, school plays and soccer games.”

After owning or managing funeral homes in Idaho and Utah, the Trimbles jumped at the chance to buy Visser 13 years ago.

“The Northwest was one of the places we always wanted to live and we got that,” Trimble said. “We were lucky.”

She said she wanted to thank everyone in the community for being so gracious to them, and especially the area’s church leaders, who smoothed the way during difficult periods in people’s lives.

What next?

“We’re going to rest for a minute or two, then go from there,” Trimble said. “At least we won’t have a telephone glued to our ear 24/7.”

“People don’t make appointments to die, so you have to be available,” she said. “We always understood that.”