STURGIS | Seldom a day goes by that people passing along Junction Avenue in Sturgis don't see Marlowe Kinkade in front of Kinkade's Funeral Chapel tending to the lawn, the sidewalks or the building.

Thomas Kinkade, the self-styled “Painter of Light” who died Friday at 54, once said he worked to “create images that project a serene simplicity.” But despite his astonishing commercial success with ...