bury me in a
Simple Pine Box
Mark Coen was a Catholic Priest for twenty years.
He needed to retire early to reduce stress and simplify his life.
When his father died he began making affordable caskets and urns.
Mark was granted laicization from the priesthood and is now married to his wife Kathy.
Our woodshop is a ministry to help families at the time of death.
Here you will find the caskets and urns we personally and prayerfully make
in a century-old church building in Hibbing, MN.
And you will find those resources we wish to share to help you in preparation for eternal life
and in grieving the loss of a loved one.
Welcome to our Woodshop
~ Mark & Kathy Coen
Mark’s father died in 2013. Our family “rented a casket” for Dad’s wake and funeral for $1,000. After the funeral, Dad's body was transferred to a cardboard box and cremated. The funeral home sold a cloth-covered particle board casket for about that price… but it looked cheap… even cheaper than Ken Coen himself!
This inspired Mark’s woodshop “Simple Pine Box”… to prayerfully make caskets out of real wood, crafted by hand, sanded inside and out, with no metal parts, and delivered personally in Minnesota… all for less than $1,000.
Many people are cremated these days, as such, Mark also makes beautiful wooden cremation urns… as we are trying to “urn” a living. We also really need to “think outside the box” and are making custom wood-burned photos from your favorite pictures… so there is something for you to purchase here even if you are not “dying” to buy an urn or casket. (Ok… yes… we have a sense of humor… hope you do too).
Kathy joined Mark in this adventure with the Lord when they were married in 2022. She enjoys learning more about Mark’s craft and participating in woodworking and brings additional support to the business.
We would love to visit with you by phone, text, or email. You are welcome to stop by the woodshop by appointment. We want this to be a ministry to help people as they journey to Heaven. The “wooden overcoat” we make is only part of that… we keep you in our prayers also… God Bless! ~ Mark & Kathy
Land of 10,000 Stories
In the summer of 2018, Boyd Huppert at Kare 11 spent an afternoon at our woodshop and produced this feature story.
Back then before the cost of wood went sky-high the casket price was $650 (as mentioned in the video). Also the video talks about Mark dating a woman from the Twin Cities... well, she is now Mark's wife, Kathy.