SERVING DALLAS,TEXAS AND THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES
The Distinctive Life Veteran Experts Dallas Care Team, including our licensed funeral directors, are available around the clock to meet with your family when and where it is best for you, whether it be your home, the hospital/hospice, our location, or wherever is most convenient and comforting for you. If you don’t have a place of worship and want more than a graveside service, don’t worry – we work with chapels, social halls, and reception rooms all around the Dallas area from which you can choose. Or, you can choose to have a service in a location that’s meaningful to your loved one and your family.
Whether you need to plan a full chapel or church-based funeral service, a memorial service, a cremation-only service, or a simple graveside service, Distinctive Life can help. We believe that every life is distinctive, and every life deserves to be honored in a highly personal and meaningful way.
Beyond our Immediate Need services, Distinctive Life also offers comprehensive pre-planning services to help individuals and families plan ahead, minimize costs, and ensure a legacy is preserved.
Conoce una directora de funerales en Distinctive Life en Plano, Texas.
ANDY STARR
Owner/Executive Director - Andy Starr has always had a knack for business, but he’s also always had a deep desire to serve people at critical times in their lives, whether they’re suffering from an injury, caring for aging parents, or enduring the loss of a loved one. As owner and executive director of Distinctive Life Funeral Homes, Andy has led the company’s efforts to change the way individuals and families are served by the funeral industry, focusing on honoring every life in a highly personal and meaningful way.
Before leading Distinctive Life, Andy co-founded and served as senior executive of Hearthstone Assisted Living, helping foster the company’s growth from scratch to more than 30 communities in 10 states. Before Hearthstone, he was a senior member of the founding management team for U.S. Physical Therapy, helping guide its explosive growth from a start-up to more than 75 clinics nationwide and transitioning it to public trading on the NASDAQ exchange.
Andy started his career as a real estate & banking attorney at the Houston firm of Hirsch & Westheimer after graduating with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in New Orleans.
ZANE BELYEA
Owner/Community Relations - From an early age, Zane Belyea knew he wanted a career that involved helping people. He earned a degree in social work and psychology at Southern Illinois University, then worked with abused and neglected children. Zane next worked in the education industry, eventually becoming vice president of recruitment for a large education firm. Many years of business travel and a growing family in Dallas led Zane to look for a new career path, so he followed the advice of one of his mentors and began a new career in the funeral industry.
True to his roots in social work, Zane finds it deeply rewarding to help families during one of the worst moments of their lives, and he’s instilled that passion for creating highly personal celebrations of life throughout Distinctive Life. “Every member of our team has a solemn commitment to serve all of our families well beyond their expectations,” says Zane. “We absolutely won’t let them down.”
LIZ VARGAS
Owner/Human Relations - As the vice president of accounting at Distinctive Life, Liz Vargas is responsible for the financials, procedures, budgets, and human resources for all Distinctive Life locations. Before joining the company, Liz worked as an accounting professional for more than 25 years in different industries. She specializes in the direction and setup of accounting systems, as well as establishing policies and procedures for financial and operational activities for startup companies. In her spare time, Liz enjoys working in her garden and watching the Houston Astros – her favorite sports team.
KYLE KO
Location Manager/Funeral Director - Kyle is a Location Manager and a Licensed Funeral Director for Distinctive Life. Kyle was born in South Korea and moved to the US when he was 9 years old. After spending his childhood in Alabama, Kyle moved to Dallas TX, where he attended high school and College. After experiencing a death in his family, Kyle directed his passion to help others in need by making the decision to become a Funeral Director so he could help ease the pain through simplifying funeral arrangement processes for families. He started a new chapter in life of being part of the Funeral Industry in 2017. Kyle is married to his one and only love of his life Joan where they met at their Church both serving in the Children’s Ministry and in the Worship Team.
As a funeral professional in the funeral service industry for several years, Kyle has brought dignity, respect, professionalism, and compassion to everything he does. He manages daily operations and makes sure that the families we serve receive the best quality care and comfort they need while making informed decisions about how to honor their loved one's life, and also works hard to exceed families’ expectations by overseeing our staff and promoting their professional growth. “I love being in the funeral industry, it is an honor and a privilege to serve families. It’s more than a job, more than a career. It is my calling; it is a true blessing.”
Kyle is also a member of Texas Funeral Directors Association and National Funeral Directors Association.
CRISTELA EDWARDS
Funeral Director - Cristela is a Native Texan from Rockport, Texas. She moved to Dallas in 2008 and graduated from Dallas Institute of Funeral Service in March of 2017. She is the mother of three beautiful children and a Yellow Lab named Hawk.
As a proud single Mother, her family is extremely important to her as is her passion to help less fortunate children. She likes to spend time volunteering with the Shriner Hospital which is dedicated to ensure all children have access to top notch health care regardless of their family’s financial ability. Cristela is also an avid animal lover and spends time volunteering to the Wildlife Conservation Society that fights to save endangered Animals.
Cristela is a parishioner at St. Francis of Assis Catholic Church.
“I got into the Funeral Industry to help guide others through a very tough time and to make their experience a little easier.”
MASHA HARRIS
Community Liaison - Masha Harris was born in Odessa, Ukraine. She is married to the love of her life and enjoys family gatherings and traveling when she can. Family is first in her heart. This “family comes first” motto translates into her career as well. Masha comes to Distinctive Life from a long standing career in the North Dallas area as a Funeral Planning Advisor for over 12 years. She truly enjoys educating people with regards to end of life decisions and knowing your options. Masha works closely with local hospice organizations, churches and anyone who wants to have a frank conversation about how they want to be honored. She loves helping families be creative with putting emphasis on somebody’s celebration of life. Whether it is a traditional funeral ceremony at a church, to an outdoor picnic in a beautiful park, she wants to be part of that plan. She is also fluent in Russian thanks to her parents insisting the language being kept in the home
ESMERALDA CASTILLO
Administrative Assistant - Esmeralda Castillo was born and raised in Texas to her Mexican family. As a kid she traveled every summer to Mexico and is very grateful for being able to go, for it helped her keep up with her Spanish.
"Respect and kindness are the most important things for me and I am so grateful to work here and help make our families comfortable in such tough times. My dream is to be an embalmer and a funeral director because I grew up being afraid of mortality until my great grandfather died. His death taught me that even when people are gone, they remain in your mind and heart always. Working at Distinctive Life means so much to me because I get to spread my kindness and maybe even help someone smile at such a hard time. One day I would like to own my own funeral home so when I have kids, they can follow in my footsteps if they would like. When I die, I would like to be remembered as kind and respectful successful mexican woman who did anything and everything to help others."