A bilingual funeral home is opening in North Tulsa inside a former church that integrated Black and white parishioners during the Jim Crow era.

El Camino Real Funeral Home plans its grand opening Sept. 26 at 2330 N. Quaker Ave., according to the funeral home's website. The business offers traditional funeral services, cremation, veteran services and pre-planning resources. Its phone number is 918-289-0651.

The name means "the true path" in Spanish.

Three co-owners launched El Camino Real: Anayeli Gomez, Brook Reutter and Ana de la Torre. Funeral director Robert Simons and his wife, Rhonda Simons, complete the staff. The team includes Spanish-speaking members.

De la Torre said she conceived the business after struggling to find Spanish-speaking staff while arranging funerals for her own family. She told KJRH she "saw the need of a Spanish-speaking personnel in a funeral home … they don't know the culture, they don't know your backgrounds, they don't even know the language."

Rhonda Simons said she focuses on pre-need planning, which she said saves families money by helping them make decisions before the pressure of an immediate loss.

The building sits in a 9,045-square-foot former church that was listed at $300,000 in a commercial real estate posting. A Facebook page for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church lists the same address.

Reutter told KJRH he learned the building's history during renovations. A local nonprofit applied for and received preliminary approval to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places, he said. The congregation was formed in the early 1950s as a place where a Lutheran pastor brought Black and white parishioners together, Reutter said.

The nonprofit's name has not been publicly identified. The exact status of the historic designation is unclear.

El Camino Real is at 2330 N. Quaker Ave., Tulsa, OK 74106. Residents can call 918-289-0651 or visit elcaminorealfuneralhome.com for details.