Our Story

Bauer-Torrey & Mach Funeral Homes

On April 15, 2013, Keith and Toni Torrey turned over day-to-day operations of the Banta-Torrey Funeral Homes in Alma and Wilcox to two Holdrege businessmen: Ryan Bauer and Seth Mach. The name was changed to Bauer-Torrey & Mach Funeral Homes to reflect the new ownership, as well as holding on to the long community tradition of their predecessors. In October of 2020, Seth and Hana Mach assumed full ownership and management of the funeral homes. 

Our Alma and Wilcox History
The first known funeral home in Alma was the F. Pricket Furniture and Undertaking in 1883, but closed up before the 1890s. The next funeral parlor, G. W. Joyce and Son Furniture and Undertaking, appeared in Alma in the early 1900s. In October 1941, Stamford natives, Clarence Zulauf of Superior, Nebraska and Paul Zulauf of Wilcox, Nebraska purchased the Joyce Furniture Store and Funeral Parlor. The Zulauf brothers had been successors to the J. M. Zulauf Furniture and Undertaking business at Wilcox. With this purchase, the Alma and Wilcox funeral homes were linked with buildings at both locations.

Late in 1949, the Zulaufs built the current funeral home in Alma. Ten years later in January 1959, the Zulaufs named Kent Banta as a partner in the funeral business, which was then called the Zulauf-Banta Funeral Service. Banta bought out the Zulauf’s interest in the business in the 1960s. The Banta’s sold the business to Keith and Toni Torrey in 1975, and in 1977, the business name was changed to the Banta-Torrey Funeral Homes.

We are honored to continue the legacy of Keith and Toni Torrey’s commitment and dedication to Alma, Wilcox and the surrounding areas.