With solid schools, a thriving economy and loads of services, including the promise of wireless Internet, Dublin is a great place to live.

As a place to die, however, it lags.

Dublin joins Whitehall as the only Franklin County suburbs without a funeral home.

"We've always thought that was kind of odd," said Susan Jones, vice president of the Central Ohio Funeral Directors Association.

Rutherford opened a chapel in Powell 10 years ago that serves many Dublin residents. And Schoedinger's chapel in Upper Arlington, along with Hilliard's Tidd Funeral Home, also serve many from Dublin.

On Monday, Schoedinger introduced plans to Dublin City Council to build a funeral home on an 8.8-acre site in Dublin's south end.

It's a longtime company goal, said Michael Schoedinger, executive vice president of Schoedinger Funeral Service and Crematory.

"We've known that Dublin is a great growing community and our company has always been about community," he said.

But the cold reality of mortuary science dictates where and when a funeral business expands.

"There just aren't enough deaths in Dublin," he said. "We hope in the near future that that will change."