About Us
Our funeral home was founded in March 1916 by Lee Patterson. Now located on Clayton Street and Route 222 in Perryville, the funeral home started on a nearby farm on Reservoir Road.
In the early 1900s, the funeral business was very different. Most funeral homes evolved from a livery business-everything was done by horse and buggy.
Funeral Home - circa. 1940s
The deceased were prepared for burial at home and the viewings took place there as well. If not at home, then viewings were held at a church.
These trends began to change, however. Sensing this, Lee Patterson went to school to learn more about the profession. He would ride a horse to the B&O Station in Perryville and take the train to Baltimore. He attended the Johns Hopkins Anatomical School to learn embalming, becoming the first licensed embalmer in Cecil County. In the 1920s, Lee moved the business from the farm to a double-house on Clayton Street very near its current location.
In this section
Thomas Patterson
Ross Patterson joined his father in 1955 and became a licensed funeral director in 1958. He bought the business from Lee in 1963. In 2002, Ross’s son, Thomas, purchased the family business, becoming the third generation to run the funeral home.
Thomas continues to see changes in the funeral business. The funeral home's reputation as a family-run business has grown beyond Cecil County and now regularly serves families from Havre de Grace and other surrounding communities. The popularity of the traditional funeral remains essentially unchanged. However, pre-planning is certainly becoming more popular. When Ross bought the business, there were only three pre-arranged funerals on the books. Today, the funeral home has several hundred.
Our funeral home offers a range of personalized services to suit your family’s wishes and requirements. We’ll carefully guide you through the many decisions that must be made during this challenging time. You can count on us to help you plan a personal, lasting tribute to your loved one.
There is a wealth of information available here on our website that you can access from the privacy of your home. We also invite you to visit our funeral home during our regular business hours. If you have questions or need immediate assistance, please feel free to call us at any time or day of the week.
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